Deciding what kind of new countertop to purchase doesn’t have to be difficult, but you’re going to want to make sure you know about all of your options.
Laminate has to be the #1 choice out there. A thin layer of sandwiched plastic/paper that’s been squeezed under tremendous pressure, and then bonded to a structure of engineered wood. Most people have had at least one, some people have owned several. They’re affordable, relatively durable, come in almost any color, and they work!
Solid surface really started making huge inroads a decade ago, and is still a very popular choice. There’s now so many different brands out there, it boggles the mind. It’s a huge step up from laminate, and the integral sink is a huge draw to many people.
Engineered stone/quartz: There’s been a large number of companies that will produce man-made stone slabs for you. The technology to manufacture the engineered stone is usually licensed to one company per country. You can get slabs from Canada, USA, Israel, Korea, China, Spain, Italy, 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 price range. Most granite fabricators will be happy to cut the color of your choice.
Natural stone: Usually referred to as “Granite Countertops”. The polished slabs are 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 3 import slab yards in a day to find the perfect mix of colors, depth, swirling, graining, texture, and randomness that can has yet to be matched by laminate, solid surface, or engineered stone.
Some people can pick their granite color in one day, others may take weeks. It’s common to discover that you’ve fallen in love with 20 different varieties, and making the final selection can get complicated. Picking the fabricator is actually more important that picking the stone. 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 fit and finish. 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 Chicago or larger ones like Granite PA turn out consistently high quality work because of the experiences and knowledge that are shared within these organized fabricator communities.
Picking out your new countertop should be fun, and if your existing counter top is bringing you down, we hope to see you in someones showroom!