OT: Kitchen Countertops -- Granite or Corian ? Need your experience!

[Dyonia]

DH and I just signed the contract to buy our first house! Yay, isn't it exciting to go deeper into debt? Hehe.... So we're sitting here going through all the options, and we've got to decide between granite or Corian for the kitchen counters. I should mention that I love to cook, and turn the kitchen into a disaster zone (hehehe...the results are always good!), so I need to pick something that is fabulous to work on and very durable! Price aside, which is the better surface? I'm thinking mostly in terms of durability, and ease of maintenace. I've heard some wierd things about both surfaces: granite is actually fragile and can crack if you drop something on it (true??) and I've also been told that Corian will blister if you set a hot pan on it (true??). If you have one of these surfaces, would you pick it again, given your experiences with it?

So ladies and gents, I ask for your thoughts and experiences to guide my choice! Thanks for any input you can share!

--Donna

P.S. Does anyone have one of those refridgerators that has the freezer on the bottom? How do you like it? Would you consider it to be a greater hazard with kids? Thank you!

[crl]

Well, I wouldn't choose either granite or corian if it were entirely up to me. But between the two I would go with granite.

We have blue pearl granite tile (installed by dh during our kitchen facelift a couple of years ago). Different granites have different properties--and a lot of it isn't actually granite; blue pearl isn't. Some granites can stain so you would want to choose one that doesn't. (One way to check is to get a sample and test it with ketchup, red wine, etc.)

I haven't heard of granite cracking. And ours is very easy to keep clean, except for the tile lines which I assume you won't have. You can put things straight out of the oven right on the granite, which is a huge advantage to me. The downside is that things break easily on it. I've broken a glass that was only dropped from a couple of inches above it. (As opposed things dropped from three feet up onto the cork floor and not breaking.)

I've never had corian, but it is my understanding that it is somewhat heat resistant, but NOT heat proof. So you can't just plop a pan of lasagne straight from the oven down on it. And I've even heard that if you get the integrated corian sink you have to run cold water when you pour boiling water (like from pasta) in. Don't know if that's true.

I have a bottom freezer and LOVE it. But no kids here yet (soon). I'm not sure why it would be a greater hazard though.

Congratulations on your new house and good luck with the decisions!

[hez]

We have Corian in our master bath, and spent a week of vacation a month ago with my aunt whose new house has granite countertops in the kitchen.

Our bathroom sinks are one piece with the countertops, which I like. However, they're only a year and a half old, and I'm noticing scratches in the basin, and possibly one bit of staining. I can't remember the actual color name, but the countertops are a sandy mix, and the basins are cream. I'd have chosen something different for the basins if I did it over again.

My aunt's kitchen countertops are gorgeous-- the majority of them are this deep, deep green with some pearl to it, and they look black unless you get them in the right light. Her island granite is kind of a tan with streaks of black and dark brown and pearl. We picked her brain about it because we're considering what we would want long term for ourselves in the next house. She did say you could accidently chip an edge so we needed to be careful around the sink edges and not go banging stuff around. She said she would immediately call someone to repair the edge if there was a chip to prevent it from wearing further.

That said, I loved cooking in her kitchen! We could throw a hot pan or cookie sheet wherever we needed to without worrying and worked directly on the counter surface.

Good luck with the choice! You're giving me the remodeling bug now, and it's NOT in my budget :)

[Marisa6826]

Granite definitely. It's more resistant, and you will absolutely get your money back if you decide to eventually sell the house. We put ubatuba in when we redid our kitchen over the winter. I love it.

I've had Corian in the bathroom and it does tend to scratch sooner or later. The granite is pretty impervious and relatively maintenance free.

Marble is more fragile than granite. Maybe that's what you're thinking about? As far as the granite cracking if you drop something, it's the other way around. Whatever you drop will break, not the granite. I put a dishtowel on the counter when I'm putting dishes away to kind of cushion things if I lose my grip.

Good luck!

-m

[lfp2n]

We inherited Corian with our house, it does look nice, with the continuous sink etc, but it does scratch (if DH cuts things without a board!!) and you do need trivets or something to put things on out of the oven. Ive never worried about the boiling water in the sink thing though.

Anyone got any ideas for getting ballpoint pen off white corian- DDs latest art project.

Lucy DD 3/03

[almostamom]

We have granite slab (the color is called "Tropic Brown"). I LOVE it! My in-laws also have granite (they have Uba Tuba - really beautiful when the sun hits it in the morning :) ). I have chipped one of my crystal vases on ours, but the granite was not affected at all. I have found it to be very easy to clean (MIL gave me a recipe for homemade cleaner -- I like it much better than the one they sell at the stores). One suggestion: Have you thought of an undermount sink? I didn't even know there was such a thing when we built our house, but our rep at the design center recommended it and I'm so happy we did it -- makes cleaning up quick and easy.

Here's a link to the place we ordered our granite through. It may not be near you, but at least you could look at the many color options: http://www.arizonatile.com/

HTH

~Linda~
Baby #1 due Nov 17, 2004

[Mom2Miri]

When we remodeled our bathrooms we chose to go with a quartz surface - looks close to granite but wears better, doesn't crack or stain as easily. There are many manufacturers - Zodiaq is what we chose but Silestone, Caesarstone, Avonite are some others that come to mind. What sold me is the bathroom of the Expo store we went to - they used granite and you could clearly see the water stains around the sink. If we redo our kitchen, that's what we'll use.

Here's some info
http://www.zodiaq.com/

HTH,
Helen & Mirielle 2/25/03

[suribear]

We like our corian, but it does show tiny scratches. I think if you can afford granite, that may be best.

As for the freezer, I would avoid that type for safety reasons (in case they climb in and close the door - yikes). It does happen :(

Kris

[DebbieJ]

We are currently making the same decision! I have to see the prices, though, to really make up my mind.

As for the bottom freezer, we have one and we've grown NOT to like it so much. It was nice at first having the fridge on the top and all. But the freezer doesn't seem to hold as much and it's more difficult to keep it organized. In our new house we're going with a side by side.

~ deb
Mommy to my sweet boy
B born 12/03
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/10023.jpg http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/10029.gif

[urbanmama]

When we built our house, I had the same dilemma. I ended up installing Uba Tuba granite on the center island with the built in cooktop and Corian on the perimeter countertops. I love the different textures and it looks so great with our cherry cabinets. I love having both granite and Corian. The Corian is great because it is non-porous and scratches buff out easily. I always cut meat on the Corian (on a cutting board, of course) because the Corian is non-porous. However, I love the way the granite looks (I've never heard that granite could crack if you drop something on it, but it is pretty unforgiving so things can break if you don't place them down gently enough on the granite) and I love that you can set hot things directly on it. It is more porous though and can potentially stain (you really need to make sure that nothing oily gets on it) and it should be sealed once a year or so.

They both have their pros and cons. Good luck on your decision!

Marie

[janeybwild]

We have Corian, and it hasn't grown on me (it was DHs must have...he gets these strange ideas every now and again!), although I do love the integral bowl.
We also have the freezer on the bottom which I do like in theory since it is much less bending down for the fridge, but we have a pull out drawer which is a huge pain, and I wouldn't get that again. HTH!

[JacksMommy]

We have the freezer on the bottom and love it. It's nice not having to bend down to get into the fridge which we open much more than the freezer. And it seems to hold enough, although we are not huge freezer-people. My 2 yo son has not been able to open the freezer on his own, and I don't really see how he could possibly wedge himself in there should he desire to do that. But there are locks you can buy if it's something you're worried about. I wouldn't let safety deter you if you think it's something you'd otherwise like. We had a side-by-side before and absolutely hated it. It seemed we had less room in either the refrigerator or the freezer and big items (like platters) can't fit in eithe side - it drove me nuts.

We're remodeling our kitchen, too, but granite isn't in the budget -sigh!

Laurel
Working Mama to Jack, 6/4/02
EDD #2 12/24/02

[cinrein]

I have Corian and like it. I like granite too, but at the time we picked our kitchen stuff out there wan't a granite light enough for me. I like a light bright kitchen. :)

Geez, I didn't know you weren't supposed to put hot stuff directly from the stove or oven directly onto Corian! I do it all the time! Nothing has happened yet, should I stop?

Cindy and Anna February 2003

[NancyJ_redo]

We're right in the middle of contracting for granite so I can't comment on that other than I love the look of it!

As for the bottom freezer refrigerator, we've had one for two years now and I love it. Although we do a lot of frozen stuff, we still open the fridge about 90% more than we open the freezer so it works great for us. And it's kind of tough to open the bottom freezer due to the sort of 'vacuum' seal when you close the door, so I can't imagine my son will ever be able to open it before he's old enough to understand the danger of it. Plus we have it stuffed to the brim with food so there's nowhere for him to climb into. Lastly, although I think there are many nice/cool aspects of our house, without fail the thing people most often comment on is the refrigerator - people seem to love it. Btw we have one of the Amana retro-looking bottom freezer refrigerators with the built in water filter - a very nice and convenient feature. I would do the same frige again in a second. In fact, we're in the process of moving and the buyers of our current house really wanted our fridge but I wouldn't give it up!

[californiamom]

Granite, definitely! I grew up in a house with granite countertops everywhere, and even granite flooring and I have never seen granite cracking. I would imagine that for that to happen you'd need to drop something REALLY heavy on the surface as granite is a very hard rock. We used to put hot pans right on the surface and never had a problem with it. It's maintenance free and I think looks beautiful!

I don't have a freezer on the bottom refrigerator but I bought a new one recently when we moved to our new house (last November). The reason why I didn't pick one with the freezer on the bottom was because I didn't find one like that that comes with an ice maker... I also love the convenience of having the (filtered) water dispenser on the door on the side-by-side models... Anyway, just something to think about.

HTH!
Ana

[crl]

Ah, thank you for explaining the bottom freezer thing safety thing! Ours is three separate drawers behind one door so no child strong enough to open the door would be able to fit inside any of the drawers. I guess they could always open up the refrigerator door on a regular model and climb in though too?

[crl]

On the granite staining thing, this really depends on the granite you choose. Ours has never been sealed (and the stone experts don't recommend sealing Blue Pearl, the kind we chose) and it does not stain. Not even from oil spilled directly on it and left to sit for a couple of hours.

[Laurelsmom2002]

Aunt in law did a combo of both, since she couldn't quite justify the $$ if all granite- but really wanted it for her baking area, she said that nothing is better for rolling pie dough ect.
HTH

[kransden]

I just went through this and am getting the counters installed tomorrow!!!! (My kitchen has been torn up since Memorial Day) We have laminate due to the fact it was 3 to 6 times cheaper but I digress. After careful researching, the only drawbacks with granite I could find were these.
1. You normally have to seal it every year.
2. It is heavy - I am not sure why that is a drawback
3. It can crack - i.e. they don't recommend you standing on the counters.
4. Some styles can chip more than others.

We didn't even bother looking at the corian after finding it to be over 72.00 a ft. So I am no help there.
Congratulations and Good Luck!

Karin and Katie 10/24/02

[DDowning]

No advice other than to say good luck in whatever you choose. Also be thankful that your doing it now while the house is still being built rather than after. I'm just about to go through the process of installing granite in my kitchen now and the contractors come tomorrow to demolish the kitchen. We've already been to the slab yard and picked out to pieces of granite. The color we've chosen is Midora Gold given our cabinets are a mocha maple color and we have a warm gold faux color on our walls. Instead of doing all granite, we're also using a tumbled marble called Scabos for the backsplash.

I'll have it all done in about two weeks - PITA in the meantime being without a dishwasher or cooktop but I know it will be worth it. Finally! I'm glad to be rid of my tile!!!

[marie]

i suggest a visit to "That Home Site"'s kitchens forum.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/kitchbath/

it was an invaluable source of info for me when we did our kitchen remodel. after considering the quartz products (silestone, etc.) and granite, we went with soapstone! we cook a lot, roll out pastry, etc. and love it.

if you choose granite, be sure to put a sample through a series of tests: lemon juice, red wine, and oil. some granites are more porous than others and will stain.

we have a bottom-mount freezer and love it, too. it's been great since DD is crawling (and for our cats' sake!) because i can get something out of the fridge without moving anyone (or cat) out of the way. :)

good luck!

[ALLEYCAT]

Granite slab. My husband is a building contractor and I get to help in the design decisions. We have gone exclusively to granite slab for its durability and beauty. Be sure to specify you want slab and not tiles. Do an undermount sink and pick out the faucet, hot water dispencer, soap dispencer and sink and show it all to the sub-contractor doing the slab so you can get the best recommendations from him. Granite comes in a georgous array of color in several price ranges. Very little maintenence required.

[mum1day]

I have Uba Tuba granite, like a PP said, with cherry cabinets. It's wonderful. I had corian in my old house and would chose granite hands down any day. We are now in the process of getting it in our bathrooms!

I am an avid cooker and love granite for the following reasons:

Easy Clean-Up
Natural surface
Heat resistant
Looks gorgeous

I did crack a tiny piece of my granite when changing my paper towel holder, but there is a filler you can get to fill in the granite when this happens.

I say, get granite--you will love it. :)

(PS) My parents have the Kitchen Aid bottom freezer. They love it, but I don't think there is a lot of room in there. Also, If you don't really shut the freezer drawer, it can cause your fridge to have some issues, so maybe I wouldn't do it with wee ones. I know my GE Monogram fridge has an alarm to notify you of an open door, which might be good if you're thinking about getting the bottom freezer.

[Melanie]

You might want to consider a quartz surface, too. We are getting caesarstone. To me, it seems like it will be perfect. Not as scratch or heat-sensitive as corian, but no need to seal.

I talked quite a bit with our contractor about granite and learned that the darker the granite the less porous. However we were not wanting to go with a dark surface so we opted for quartz. If we had wanted a very dark counter, we may have gone with the granite.


http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_sapphire_24m.gif

[smilequeen]

We have granite and really like it. I'm not a big cook or an expert :) but the house (new to us) is 5 years old and the granite still looks great...I haven't noticed a single chip or a stain anywhere on it. It's obvious you can't drop anything breakable on it though :) Ours IS a darker color (shades of brown) which looks awesome in our particular kitchen (antique cream colored cabinets).

[August Mom]

We have Corian and really like it. It will scratch, but in most cases you can buff it out. It is easier to remove scratches from lighter colors than darker ones.

I have put hot pans/dishes on it without incident except once. I have a stovetop smoker which gets very hot. I put it on a Corian trivet and it did discolor spots on the trivet.

I can't compare it to granite, though.

[hobey]

I second the recs for quartz. We put Silestone into our kitchen mainly because of the increased color choices over granite but I love it and would do it again in a heartbeat.
We had considered Corian but I was playing around with some samples and was disappointed that it seemed to scratch easily and was not as heat proof as I'd like it to be.

Raquel
Nathan's Mom 12/19/03
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