Kitchen counters: marble vs other stone

[ActorDan]

For those who might know about counters, here is our case history.

We are at the end of the choice phase of our kitchen renovation. We need to pull the trigger on counter top material. The cabinets are inset doors from Woodmode painted white, floors are 2.25 inch quarter-sawn oak slats. We prefer an historic, sedate white Vermont marble with low veining which looks great but may not be as impervious to stains as granite (generally too busy for our taste) or white quartzite ("Luce de Luna" at Stone Source in NYC) which is hard to find in the proper width. Any advice would be appreciated.

[fifi]

Marble is not a very practical choice. It is particularly vulnerable to attack by acids. (Think lemon juice, vinegar, FIZZZZZ!) Marble is calcium carbonate that has been transformed by heat. Calcium carbonate is a realtively fragile stone. Granite is a silicate and therefore resistant to a lot of chemical attack, thus its popularity. I wouldn't do a whole countertop in marble. An insert for messing with pastry, maybe. A whole countertop... probably not.

[Jason Perlow]

Artificial Granite, also known as Silestone. Made out of solid quartz.

Expensive, but well worth it. We have it in our kitchen.

http://www.silestone.com/index.php

Home Depot and Home Depot Expo carries it.

[jackal10]

I assume you will want to cook in your kitchen, rather than just look at it.

If so don't use marble.

Marble stains easily (beetroot, tomato, food colour etc)

Marble etches (lemon juice, vinegar, pickles..). Leave a half lemon cut side down for an hour and its there for life.

Marble scratches.

The only thing marble is good for is rolling pastry. Even then the surface gets sort of greasy.

For kneading bread end-grain wood is better.

I have black granite and I love it. The trick is to get it in 1/2 inch/1cm, roun edge, and support it invisibly with marine ply let into the top of the carcass. Most suppliers try and sell 1 inch material, which gives too heavy an edge

There are some very nice white granites: Kashmir white, Panna Fragola, Bethel White.

Bethel is the brightest white.

[Blondie]

Zodiaq is another brand of engineered stone, similar to Silestone.

A newish material is Pyrolave. It's a volcanic rock that's enameled and fired. It's quite expensive because the tops are manufactured in Europe, but they are beautiful. Most of examples on the website are more modern settings than what you'll be doing. But if you do an ogee edge, or other more traditional profile, along with one of the lighter off-white or beige enamels, you'll have a gorgeous look. Call Jean, the US rep, and ask if he can send you some samples.

[slkinsey]

Other good stone surfaces are slate, soapstone and bluestone.

[Blondie]

Other good stone surfaces are slate, soapstone and bluestone.

Those are some of my favorites that I wish more people would consider, but I think ActorDan is looking for light-colored stone.

[Cusina]

I'll add in my 2 cents for solid surface materials. I like my corian a lot. Even did the backsplash in it. It cleans up beautifully. I'm especially fond of my seamless sink. Scratches and stains just buff out with a scotch brite pad. It's only enemy is heat. Can't take a pan immediately off the stove and put it in the sink or on the counter. I would suggest light colored counter tops too. I had dark ones in another house and they never seemed to look really clean for me. Always some sort of wipe mark or spilled salt or little fingerprints that made the surface look dirty.

[Cusina]

shucks, posted before I was done, sorry. Trigger happy.

Wanted to say congratulations on the new kitchen too. It sounds just beautiful! Hope you enjoy many, many great meals from it.

[budrichard]

I offer another alternative to stone. For our kitchen remodeling, we progressed through black granite of some esoteric type to a veneer material that looked like end grained butcher block that some local outfit was trying sell us. I eventually thought, I know where to get the real stuff. http://www.johnboos.com If you want to to cut, roll dough and do just about everything except chocolate, consider real butcher block, which is what we installed. We just oil it periodically with food grade oil and when it becomes too rough due to cuts, we will sand it. After 3 months of using these countertops, I am really impressed with how well they work. -Dick

[NVNVGirl]

Or even colored concrete! Dont' get marble! We've got marble counters and shower in our master bath and it's just a giant pain. And it's not even used that much, but EVERYTHING mars it; even water. If you want to continuously be spending money on having it restored, get marble; otherwise do something more practical. We've got a dark granite which goes with our kitchen, but there are literally thousands of different granites out there with different characteristics. Go to a tile and granite "store" and have them take you out to look at slabs of granite instead of just tiles of it. I love granite and it's great for rolling out pastry and is virtually indestructible. Try putting a hot just from the oven or stovetop pan onto marble someday. That'll change your mind. Good luck; your kitchen sounds like it will be lovely when it's done.

[glenn]

Artificial Granite, also known as Silestone. Made out of solid quartz.

Expensive, but well worth it. We have it in our kitchen.

http://www.silestone.com/index.php

Home Depot and Home Depot Expo carries it.

Looks very nice. Is Silestone better than granite? More expensive?

[Blondie]

Artificial Granite, also known as Silestone. Made out of solid quartz.

Expensive, but well worth it. We have it in our kitchen.

http://www.silestone.com/index.php

Home Depot and Home Depot Expo carries it.

Looks very nice. Is Silestone better than granite? More expensive?

It's similar in price to granite, but more uniform in look and coloration.

[browniebaker]

I love my granite countertops in the medium-gray pattern that is called "Luna Pearl." Very low maintenance because nothing shows on it -- no stains, no crumbs or other food tidbits, no dust or dirt. No one would notice if I didn't wipe down the countertops in a whole week. Don't lay a trussing needle on it or you'd never find it.

[marie-louise]

I love my granite countertops in the medium-gray pattern that is called "Luna Pearl." Very low maintenance because nothing shows on it -- no stains, no crumbs or other food tidbits, no dust or dirt. No one would notice if I didn't wipe down the countertops in a whole week. Don't lay a trussing needle on it or you'd never find it.

I have grey concrete counters w/ little flecks of colored stones. They look great, are very practical, and match the two fireplaces in my house or I'd rip them out, but it bugs me that I can never tell if they're clean or not. I'd prefer a nice white counter, or a shiny black one, that I KNEW was clean when I was cooking.

I once read a great piece of advice about kitchens: Pick a floor that hides the dirt and a counter that shows it.

[Jason Perlow]

Artificial Granite, also known as Silestone. Made out of solid quartz.

Expensive, but well worth it. We have it in our kitchen.

http://www.silestone.com/index.php

Home Depot and Home Depot Expo carries it.

Looks very nice. Is Silestone better than granite? More expensive?

It's similar in price to granite, but more uniform in look and coloration.

A thing to remember about Silestone and other solid quartz countertops is that they are non-pourous and they are a manufactured synthetic stone, so they dont have natural fissures in them like granite or marble does. In other words, you can spill stuff on them and they wont stain, and you can put a hot pot on them and theres no chance of the heat causing a fracture or melting the surface. You get the best of both worlds of corian and granite.

Of course, under close eye scruitiny it doesnt look like granite. However Its a cool looking, high tech semi-organic looking material that comes in a a LOT of colors and patterns.

From their online brochcure:

Silestone® is the world’s leading quartz surface. Composed of 93% quartz combined with resins through a highly advanced manufacturing process, Silestone® is a dense surfacing material that combines the look and feel of natural quartz with superior physical properties to create the ultimate surfacing material.

Thanks to its advanced manufacturing process, Silestone® combines the best of nature with the best of technology. Silestone® retains the hardness and crystal-like look of quartz, but has properties that are superior to natural stone. Unlike natural stone, Silestone® does not require sealing. And Silestone® has greater heat, scratch and stain resistance than natural stone. Plus, Silestone® has a color consistency that cannot be achieved with quarried stone. By combining the best of stone and the best of technology, Silestone® is the perfect surfacing material for kitchen countertops, flooring, wall facings and more.

[elion_84]

We had Silestone countertop installed in our kitchen in late August and I think it's great. It feels cool like granite, and looks similar, although the color variations are not as natural. The color that we got is Blue Sahara which is brownish with blue spots and looks beautiful in our kitchen.

As Jason mentioned, Silestone is not porous as granite, so you don't have to worry about sealing it to avoid staining. You can put a pot right off the stove onto the counter without causing any damage. Still, you can't leave a pot of soup or a lasagna to cool on the counter since heating a small are will cause it to expand and lead to a crack. This is common with all stones - natural or man made.

Silestone costs about $50/sq ft. This varies with color and location. In some areas it's more expensive than granite, in others it's cheaper. Here in Austin it's about the same price. When we placed our order Silestone had a promo for a free sink. BTW, you can get an intergrated stainless steel sink which is another cool option that you don't get with granite.

Overall I'm very happy with our choice and I would strongly recommend silestone to anyone.