Granite Countertops in the Kitchen

T

TrashMaster G

250+ Posts
I would really appreciate it if anybody who has experience in living with granite countertops could offer up a little advice on the pros and cons.

Thanks.
 
Pro?
Beautiful stuff.
Con?
Expensive as ****.
My neighbor works for Moe Freid Marble and Granite...that's marble as in "Italian", not that cultured crap.
They did some work for Lance Armstrong.
 
If you can afford it, there are no cons in my book. We absolutely love ours.

Just a little TLC and they are good to go. Clean with mild soap and water avoid abrasive cleaners and extreme pH cleaners like bleach, windex, 409, etc., avoid leaving spills around, especially the likes of citrus, wine, etc. But that goes for most counters anyway.
 
shop around... granite isn't that expensive... there is a place here in Houston that gets prefinished pieces from China and sells them cheap.. $250 per 6-7' long piece I believe.. and they are already bullnosed... so just find yourself an installer and you've got a great deal...

when I did my old house in granite I called around to find the best deal... got about 22 linear feet done including 4" backsplash and 3' bar for $2500..
 
The reason I ask is that we are looking at building a house and I want to know if the extra $500 or so over the price of Corian is worth it.

I love the look of granite. I just wanted to know if there are any maintainence issues I needed to be aware of or if there are any limitations.
 
I figured Corian was a little bit more expensive, I think it is if you can find the right deal on Granite. We are also building a house and have the same question.
 
Plain Corian will be cheaper, but once color comes into play, granite is competitive.

My new cabinets are half-way in, so I will be shopping for my granite counter tops soon.
 
seriously.. shop around....
I've found that granite is cheaper than Corian.. and in many cases MUCH cheaper... not to mention granite looks much better to me.... Corian is a better overall surface, but just looks like a fancy laminate surface to the eye...
go with granite and shop around...avoid places like Home Depot and such for these items... there are so many stone distributers that it doesn't make sense to shop otherwise..
 
Somewhat depends on personal preference. I like the granite – more natural look than a corian or other solid surface. But this also means that it can have much more irregularity and ‘movement’ of the grains (as they call it) which I prefer.

Don’t pick a granite based on a small sample – you’ll want to actually get a variety of options, and then go to the yard where the slabs are, and then pick out your slabs.

Cost is dependent on the color/grain/type of granite (and if its from Brazil, etc.) you like – but in terms of resale, the $ spent for granite will be worth it in my opinion, and it won’t be that much more than another solid surface.
 
the absolute greatest determination for cost is location of the quary -- our granite is local, cream, black, tan and burnt orange (
hookem.gif
), but looked like some types 3X as expensive from Italy and Spain.

We didn't really shop around, just told the builder to get it done.

I think corian looks terrible, but that's just me. I don't think the maintainence issues are that bad for the better look.

I do think you are supposed to reseal them every 3 to 5 years though.
 
tropheus...
valid point... there are a few grantie quarries in Texas... in fact a few years back we used to ship about 3,000mts a month of the stuff to Taiwan... but that dried up with the Asian crisis of 1998-99...

at any rate.. we found this place in Houston that had the prefinished slabs... it is still the best deal I can find... they get them pre-done from China or the far East.. this seriously cuts down on the install expense as well as the slab itself being cheap... of course the 1 drawback is that you're limited to whatever they received that month which is usually about 6-10 different styles of granite..

just to give you an idea we got a 7' slab of Black Galaxy for a bathroom in Galveston for $250.... the cost to install with backsplash and do an undermount sink brought the total to $550 which is a hell of a deal..
 
We have granite and I love it. It is more durable than Corian and better looking IMO. When we built our house ~4 years ago, the granite was comperable to colored Corian.

The only possible downside to granite is that if you are clumsy, it is easy to break ceramic plates or glass if you drop it on the countertop. I've broken a couple of plates moving them from the sink to the dishwasher when I clipped the edge of the counter... Ooops. Still, it is definitely a better deal than the alternatives IMO.
 
DWP...
Colours of the Rainbow... it is on the feeder of 59 just east of Newcastle... so coming from downtown you'd have to exit Weslayan and stay on the feeder...

a place I used before was called American Marble and Granite.. they were located in the NW part of town somewhere.. ironically enough it was a Chinese family owned business... they had good prices too...
 
like I said, don't use extreme pH or abrasive cleaners, use mild soap and water, polish for shine occassionally and I hear you should reseal every 3-5 years.

Anybody else?
 
We put granite in virtually every new kitchen. Corian is slightly less expensive on average, but granite will keep you satisfied long after your corian is worn out. Corian will get "low spots" over time where it is wiped and used most.

Invest in the granite. NO question. You will be happy long after you have forgotten about the extra cost.
hookem.gif
 
The only thing I don't like about granite is that if any grease gets on it, it leaves a dark spot that is a ***** to get out. It's enough hassle that I doubt if I would get it again.
 
[The Graduate] Think "Silestone" [The Graduate]The Link We just put it in our kitchen in our new house. It's great, has lots of color choices and best of all.....................no maintance!

You have to seal Granite at least once a year.
 
NickDanger- you should have ****** pots and pans!
wink.gif


I would think that from a resale perspective the Granite would be worth the extra $500. Corian is nice without a doubt, but Granite is nicer IMHO. IF you get the color that looks good with yoru other stuff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Weekly Prediction Contest

* Predict HORNS-AGGIES *
Sat, Nov 30 • 6:30 PM on ABC

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top