Granite countertops or something else?

[randomkid]

I'm sick of looking at our pink laminate countertops that came with this house. They are also just getting plain old and I can't get stains out of them anymore. This is not our forever home, so I had not planned to invest much in it. I felt to get new countertops, we would have to completely redo the kitchen. However, I was recently at a neighbor's and they put in a new sink and granite countertops with the existing cabinetry. They just added molding around the top of the cabinets which really made a difference. So, I am now thinking we could do this - all we need is a new stove, new sink (probably new garbage disposal) and countertops. We have a lot of counter space mostly because we have a raised counter above the regular counters that runs the entire length of our counter space. I am wondering if granite is our best bet or if there is something else that is good, but less costly. I know several of you have done kitchen renovations lately and would like to hear your thoughts. I don't want anything that responds poorly to heat - I've heard Corian is like that. My brother has it in his kitchen and it has turned brown on both sides next to the stove.

[gatorsmom]

Go granite. We went cambria in this new house and I regret it.

I agree that you can change your countertops without replacing your cabinets and it will really change the look of the kitchen. We did that in our last house and got tons of complements.

[BayGirl2]

We have Ceaserstone and love it. It requires no maintenance and cleans easily. It's not heat sensitive, I put bakeware on it right out of the oven. Ours is light (Jerusalem Sand is the color) and it doesn't strain. Almost 5 years and it still looks perfect. There are a variety of looks but I think some look similar to Granite.

[twowhat?]

I'd go with either granite or engineered quartz (e.g. Silestone). Prices will be about the same; resale desirability will be about the same. Silestone is great for heat - you can set a hot pot on it momentarily, and I have totally done that. I also love the look of the solid color quartz (not the kind that tries to imitate granite).

To update the look of the kitchen, could you remove the higher countertop (I assume it's a bar that wraps around the whole kitchen?) and just make the bar counter-level? I love that look and it improves the perceived amount of counter space because instead of 2 levels, you have just one big expansive level of countertop. Also opens up the kitchen to the adjoining rooms.

[ourbabygirl]

Yeah, we're moving out of this house soon, but we wanted to upgrade from the white laminate countertops, so we switched to a pretty creamy granite with brown and gold running through it. Kept the (builder-basic oak) cabinets the same, just put in new granite counters, a new sink (changed to an undermount, which is so much nicer to clean), and new faucet. I think we even kept the old disposal! It made the kitchen look a lot classier, and we were able to get a ton of countertop done (including an island) for around $3K a few falls ago, during the construction slump.
It's been great in every way, including putting hot things on it. You might want to see if you can get the 'non-shiny' granite, though (I don't know if it's called honed?), because our shiny stuff shows all the water marks constantly (like splashes from the sink, or if I'm emptying the dishwasher and set a couple of wet dishes on the counter, the marks are very obvious later).

[squimp]

We had granite put in our kitchen replacing grungy white tile. Love! It is so awesome. I say go for it. The granite place threw in a free sink, so you could always ask about that.

[Green22]

I love granite. I have heard people talk about how much "work" it is but not one person i know with granite does anything special to the countertops and they look fantastic.

Quartz is kind of popular nowbut I think it can look bathroom-y if not just right imo.

Sounds like a nice way to update!

[hellokitty]

We've had quartz for 10 yrs and love it. It has held up very nicely. I know that there was another thread about quartz with microban infused into it, which is the brand that Gatorsmom has. That is NOT the kind of quartz that we have. The quartz we have did not have any antimicrobrial infused into it, we have been able to put hot pots/pans on ours w/o any issues, we also did not have to seal it, which at the time we got it, was still necessary for granite. I believe now that the newer granite doesn't need to be sealed regularly, like before.

[scrooks]

Another one here who did basic granite on top of typical builder oak cabinets. It really changed the look of our kitchen. The granite people threw in the undermount sink for free. We didn't need to replace anything else.

[gatorsmom]

We've had quartz for 10 yrs and love it. It has held up very nicely. I know that there was another thread about quartz with microban infused into it, which is the brand that Gatorsmom has. .

Nope, not Cambria, you are thinking of Silestone. Silestone has Microban in it. Cambria does not, thank goodness!

[randomkid]

I'd go with either granite or engineered quartz (e.g. Silestone). Prices will be about the same; resale desirability will be about the same. Silestone is great for heat - you can set a hot pot on it momentarily, and I have totally done that. I also love the look of the solid color quartz (not the kind that tries to imitate granite).

To update the look of the kitchen, could you remove the higher countertop (I assume it's a bar that wraps around the whole kitchen?) and just make the bar counter-level? I love that look and it improves the perceived amount of counter space because instead of 2 levels, you have just one big expansive level of countertop. Also opens up the kitchen to the adjoining rooms.

We already have a very open floor plan. I think if we leveled the countertop, it would be too wide and look awkward. It would open up the space more, but I think it would be too much. We have vaulted ceilings and the peak it right where that elevated countertop is. IDK, seems like it would be too flat in here. It is a very long, wrap around counter and it would probably be rather costly to do that. Besides, we have barstools at the counter and use that space often for eating, reading mail, DD sometimes does her homework there, etc. I like that it is sort of separated from the sink and kitchen space. I do agree that it would give more counter space, but just don't know that it would look right in here. I'll have to think about it, though. In the long run, it might be less costly because it would be a wider countertop, but less square footage overall.

[crl]

Whether or not granite needs to be sealed depends on the type of granite you get. We had blue pearl tiles in our first kitchen (DIYed by dh) and that variety does not need to be sealed. "Granite" is really a marketing label and the actual type of stone varies widely by variety. Plus different stone yards sometimes use different nomenclature. Cost of granite also varied hugely by variety.

I don't love granite and I am thinking we will do soapstone in this kitchen when we remodel, which will be a while. Soapstone is usually in the middle price range of granite.

Other countertop options include concrete (prone to cracking and needs to be sealed, can be expensive to have made, tricky to DIY), stainless steel (usually pricy), tile (cheap if you can DIY, but have grout lines to clean), new laminate, marble (prone to staining and etching) and more.

If I were looking for inexpensive countertops, I'd seriously consider IKEA butcher block. We had it for a year in our last kitchen largely because I could not make up my mind about counters when we remodeled and so we went with the cheap counter option that I liked figuring we could replace them down the line if we were unhappy or fell in love with something else. I was actually quite happy with them. We had our carpenter install them and I oiled them with mineral oil.

I suggest the kitchen forum at Gardenweb to learn more about countertops. There is a wealth of information there. If you decide to go granite you can learn a lot there about which types need sealing and what types of sealers there are and so on.

Catherine