Kitchen Countertop Advice...Which type?

rezarxt

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Hey everyone,

My wife and I just bought a new home and gutted the kitchen. We already ordered our cabinets and cannot decide for our countertops. We've been all over the map.

First we wanted Marble, then quartz, then granite..then back to quartz....Basically we can't decide what is best for our lifestyle.

Our cabinets are Kraftmaid Cherry with Chocolate stain and ebony glaze (think dark cherry).

A couple things we know we don't want:

-Must stay under $100 per SF
-Cannot etch or stain if we put red wine or tomato sauce on it
-Must be durable
-We really like something that looks like marble (we fell in love with Cambria Britannica, but they want $120 per SF. Too expensive)

Please post your experiences and even pictures if you have a recent kitchen remodel. Any advice would be helpful, because we are looking for first hand experiences.
 

03cobra#694

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Cambria quartz here.
 

03cobra#694

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Whats your opinion on it?
Love it. It's uniform and so easy to take care of. Also, I'm not a huge granite fan, it's pretty, but I've seen irregularities in samples and the installed product. Those were done 14 years ago and still look great with almost zero maintenance.
 

rezarxt

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Love it. It's uniform and so easy to take care of. Also, I'm not a huge granite fan, it's pretty, but I've seen irregularities in samples and the installed product. Those were done 14 years ago and still look great with almost zero maintenance.

14 years? Thats insane. It looks like your kitchen was updated within the last 5. Very nice job on it.
 

03cobra#694

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14 years? Thats insane. It looks like your kitchen was updated within the last 5. Very nice job on it.
Thanks, did it myself, except the tops. Raised ceilings, lighting, walls and solid cherry boxes. Spend a ton on it. That's another thread though. lol
 

ford fanatic

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We just did a full kitchen remodel, we went with granite. It was quite a step up from the original laminate tops the we put in when the house was built, so we're more than pleased with the granite. Zero maintenance/problems so far.
 

NY03SonicConv.

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I spent a number of years in the manufacturing end of the marble/granite industry. Stay away from marble for counter tops,it's porous. Shades of black granite will be pretty consistent in color,but others will vary as the slabs are cut from huge blocks and the veins of color run through them. Quartz wasn't popular when I was in the business,but I like its look and have heard it's as durable as granite
 

1wild-horse

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I like the irregularities in my granite.I think it gives it character. If you seal it properly there's no need to worry about staining. The price varies for the piece, but it averages under quartz. Granite used to be the high end finishing for tops, but quartz has taken its place, and the price reflects that.
 

Blown 89

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Here are a few pics of my concrete bar top.
Every concrete counter top I've ever seen has been terrible. You're the first one I've seen that is pretty bad ass.

We have granite in our kitchen and quartz in the garage. A counter is a counter IMO, get what looks good.
 

TxCobra76

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I literally just got a bid on granite yesterday for one of my flips.$32 a foot. It's gonna be a standard tight pattern color. As mentioned before if you seal the granite shouldn't have any problems.


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