Purchasing New Countertops

Going through the many types of replacement counter tops shouldn't make you tear your hair out, but you’re going to want to make sure you know about all of your choices. Here's some of your options.

Laminate has to be the market leader out there. A skinny layer of sandwiched plastic/paper that’s been compacted under tremendous pressure, and then bonded to a structure of substrate. You may have grown up with one. They’re affordable, relatively durable, come in almost any color and they work!

Solid surface has been around for 30 years, and is still a very popular choice. A multitude of factories produce sheets, it's hard to keep track. It’s a large step up from laminate, and the integral sink is a large feature to many homeowners.

Engineered stone/quartz: There’s a growing number of companies that will manufacture a granite-like product for you. The technology to manufacture the engineered stone is usually licensed to one company per country. You can get slabs from the US, Spain, Italy, China, Korean, Isarael, Canada, and others quite readily. It usually prices out like a level 3 or level 4 natural stone, but you can have hundreds of color choices within the same cost. Most countertops shops will be happy to cut the color of your choice.

Natural stone: Usually referred to as “Granite Countertops”. The polished material is currently imported in mass from Italy, India, China, Brazil, Canada, & and a few varieties from the USA. There are thousands of varieties available, and each block or batch can be different than the one that came from 20 yards away in the same mine. With careful planning, one can make appointments to visit several locations to find the perfect mix of colors, depth, swirling, graining, texture, and randomness that can has yet to be matched by engineered stone, solid surface, or laminate.

Some people can choose the variety of stone in one day, others may take their time. It’s common to come upon that you’ve have several likely contenders, and making the final selection can get difficult. Picking the stone cutter is actually more difficult than picking the slabs. You’d have to go out of your way to pick a “bad” granite, but thousands of homeowners have picked a “bad” fabricator. Ask the fabricator how long they’ve been in business. Have them describe why their tooling provides the best product. What are the names and experiences of the templater, sawyer, polisher, installers? Do they have samples of their work in a showroom to look at. Many of the top fabricators belong to industry trade groups like the Marble Institute of America (MIA), or to the Stone Fabricators Alliance (SFA). Many small shops like granite countertops or larger ones like granite marble turn out artisic quality work because of the experiences and knowledge that are shared within these organized fabricator communities.

Buying a new kitchen doesn't have to be a chore, and if what you have now is bringing you down, we hope to see you in picking colors!