Granite vs marble

[WinniWoman]

View attachment 2483
The cabinet below mine has a trash can. Recycling can and space for the compost.

Loadsa room under this sink.

Yes- I have set up in another cabinet. I keep my cleaning supplies and so forth under the sink.

 

[WinniWoman]

Thanks for your many pictures and suggestions. I especially like the idea of visiting developments and looking at different tops that way. Better than looking a the slab by itself.

I agree. I think looking at slabs might give you a headache.

 

[Elan]

I'd suggest removing a cabinet door or drawer and taking it with you to hold next to the granite.

 

[WinniWoman]

I'd suggest removing a cabinet door or drawer and taking it with you to hold next to the granite.

Excellent suggestion.

 

[JudyH]

My relatively inexpensive Lennar house in FL came with common granite found at Home Depot. The very slab you see outside when you walk in. Kind of gray and beige and black. Been here two years now. It's held up like new. Doesn't show any dirt or fingerprints. I'm getting ready to seal it soon. I wouldn't have chosen it but it's better than anything I've had in the past.

 

[Ron98GT]

My relatively inexpensive Lennar house in FL came with common granite found at Home Depot. The very slab you see outside when you walk in. Kind of gray and beige and black. Been here two years now. It's held up like new. Doesn't show any dirt or fingerprints. I'm getting ready to seal it soon. I wouldn't have chosen it but it's better than anything I've had in the past.

I'd really recommend Home Depot. For several years we went to the local granite yards to look at granite, but time after time we had problems with contractors. When our neighbors remodeled, they used Home Depot, which was painless, quick, and it looked great. So we went with Home Depot. Big selection. to pick from. There are always sales going on for granite upgrades and edges. The granite, along with the installation, was from a large granite company here in Las Vegas, which is where we went to pick out our slabs. I did the demolition to save a few buck.

We're remodeling our bathrooms, so I went to Lowes to check out their granite. I'll stick with Home Depot, Lowes was a joke.

We're looking into building a home on Hawaii in a couple of years when I retire. I'm looking at the Home Depot Silestone/Quartz. It's one of the hardest materials, so it's scratch resistant. It's also non-porous, so it's great for the high humidity.

BTW, well be using Silestone in our 3 bathrooms that we're upgrading before our move.

http://www.silestoneusa.com/customer-service/frequently-asked-questions/

http://www.silestoneusa.com/what-is-silestone/

 

[Kal]

Quartz (i.e. Silestone, Cambria etc) typically contain about 94% pure quartz while granite contains 40-60% quartz along with other porous, weaker minerals. In addition, granite has natural "fault lines" and is far more subject to fracture than quartz.

When purchasing mineral countertops most vendors charge for the full slab rather than the section of interest. However, Cambria just charges for the selected section. Having said that, IMHO Cambria is at a higher price point than other quarts goods.

 

[raygo123]

My relatively inexpensive Lennar house in FL came with common granite found at Home Depot. The very slab you see outside when you walk in. Kind of gray and beige and black. Been here two years now. It's held up like new. Doesn't show any dirt or fingerprints. I'm getting ready to seal it soon. I wouldn't have chosen it but it's better than anything I've had in the past.

I think you have uba tuba. Is there shades of blue sylica that gives it that gray look, and like botches of brown threads, for lack of a better word, and may have some gold specks?

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[Elan]

Resurrecting this thread to ask if anyone has experience with granite with a leather finish. Although my wife isn't completely sold, I really like the look. Just wondering if there are any negatives or other considerations to the leather finish?

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[rickandcindy23]

We have quartz countertops with a triple ogee edge, color is called cappuccino. It's quite dark and has dark brown, medium brown, some white and some silver tones, but my cabinets are light, so I am good with it being dark.

We have remodeled our kitchen from the original cabinets and really didn't want to remodel a third time, so we got new countertops instead. My cabinets are raised panel golden oak, and that is how they will stay the rest of my life. I love the look of them, but already, they are out of style. It's only been about 17 years. We have been in the house for 37 years. Maybe the style will come back again???

I really dislike my stainless steel sink and want to replace it, but that is going to be a battle I won't win, so why bother. Rick installed the sink himself, after the quartz was professionally installed, and there was very little room under the sink for the connection. He cussed a blue streak putting that thing in, and I vowed to never ask him to do another sink in that hole. I am stuck. I cannot believe how scratched it is. It's been about 7.5 years.....

 

[PStreet1]

We're redoing kitchen and bathrooms right now--templates due to be done tomorrow. We're taking out corian and putting in granite (we have marble in Mexico). We'd never do marble again--in addition to stains, it water spots.

The solid surface (corian is one kind of solid surface) isn't very heat resistant, and we'd absolutely decided we'd do man made quartz because it is so durable and I like the clean look--then at the granite "yard," we looked at the slabs of quartz and looked at the slabs of granite......and reserved granite slabs. We spent considerably more than we had intended, but we love the slabs we got, so I guess over the years, we'll get the money back in enjoyment.

As someone said above, counter tops are really personal preference: lack of heat resistance really didn't bother us, but it would some people. The water spots on the marble bothered us a lot, and wouldn't worry other people. The hard granite surface won't bother us (I don't think), but will bother others. It seems like each one has definite pluses and minuses--except maybe for real quartz, and the only minus I can think of there is the price--so you have to weigh all of them, and then, like us, you may change your mind when you're picking the material.

 

[WinniWoman]

Deleted. Misunderstood above post.

 

[Conan]

Resurrecting this thread to ask if anyone has experience with granite with a leather finish. Although my wife isn't completely sold, I really like the look. Just wondering if there are any negatives or other considerations to the leather finish?

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We have an island counter in granite with leather finish [I think--see below].
No problems at all.

Edited to add: Actually, I'm not sure if we have leather or only 'honed.' If you run your fingers along you'll feel a texture, but it's a uniform finish. If leather means a layered structure to the surface that's not what we have.

 

[raygo123]

We're redoing kitchen and bathrooms right now--templates due to be done tomorrow. We're taking out corian and putting in granite (we have marble in Mexico). We'd never do marble again--in addition to stains, it water spots.

The solid surface (corian is one kind of solid surface) isn't very heat resistant, and we'd absolutely decided we'd do man made quartz because it is so durable and I like the clean look--then at the granite "yard," we looked at the slabs of quartz and looked at the slabs of granite......and reserved granite slabs. We spent considerably more than we had intended, but we love the slabs we got, so I guess over the years, we'll get the money back in enjoyment.

As someone said above, counter tops are really personal preference: lack of heat resistance really didn't bother us, but it would some people. The water spots on the marble bothered us a lot, and wouldn't worry other people. The hard granite surface won't bother us (I don't think), but will bother others. It seems like each one has definite pluses and minuses--except maybe for real quartz, and the only minus I can think of there is the price--so you have to weigh all of them, and then, like us, you may change your mind when you're picking the material.

Sorry, but you will still get water spots on granite. Granite is much harder than marble, but still spots. Since granite is much harder, it will disappear much much quicker.

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[klpca]

We have quartz countertops with a triple ogee edge, color is called cappuccino. It's quite dark and has dark brown, medium brown, some white and some silver tones, but my cabinets are light, so I am good with it being dark.

We have remodeled our kitchen from the original cabinets and really didn't want to remodel a third time, so we got new countertops instead. My cabinets are raised panel golden oak, and that is how they will stay the rest of my life. I love the look of them, but already, they are out of style. It's only been about 17 years. We have been in the house for 37 years. Maybe the style will come back again???

I really dislike my stainless steel sink and want to replace it, but that is going to be a battle I won't win, so why bother. Rick installed the sink himself, after the quartz was professionally installed, and there was very little room under the sink for the connection. He cussed a blue streak putting that thing in, and I vowed to never ask him to do another sink in that hole. I am stuck. I cannot believe how scratched it is. It's been about 7.5 years.....

Do you use Bar Keeper's Friend (a gentle comet-like cleanser) on your SS sink? If not, then give it a try. I have a 28 yo ss utility sink in my laundry room. It looked terrible. I used the bar keepers friend and it looks almost new.

We also have oak cabinets. The grain was nice and tight so about two years ago we had them lacquered. We went with a gray color, but I have seen others do white and they look great. I was really nervous, but I love the change. It made our kitchen look brand new.

 

[pedro47]

One more vote for Home Depot and their contractors. No hassle.

 

[IngridN]

Don't know how I missed this thread. We're just finishing up Phase I of our remodel...master bath, hall bath and laundry room. Phase II, kitchen & downstairs bath will begin in 2 weeks.

We did a lot of research and initially decided on quartz due to its durability. However, granite was too beautiful and we installed/are installing granite everywhere. Our granite comes from all over the map, but is finished in Italy. The above comment about granite from China refers to the finishing, not the quarry source. We were warned away from anything finished in China as the quality can be suspect, e.g., thickness of slab not uniform.

We were also advised that Quartzite was similar to granite, however, some is softer like marble. One of the vendors identifies such quartzite slab as 'behaves like marble.'

Another item to note is that I've read and assumed that granite is initially sealed by the finisher/manufacturer. Not so in our case. We are using 2 vendors for our granite and neither imports granite that is already sealed. Our contractor did the initial sealing and we'll do it again once the water stops beading.

Ingrid

 

[klpca]

FYI - Home Depot would not cover a theft that happened during our carpet install. My daughter's ipod (back in the day when it cost about $200) was in her room when she left for school, and gone when she returned. Her room was not being carpeted but they used it to stage their tools. I had put everything valuable out of sight but I didn't know that she had left her ipod out. HD wanted a police report (complete waste of time - since we didn't SEE them take the ipod, they wouldn't do a report). After that, HD took the position that as far as they were concerned, since we couldn't prove that it had happened, it never happened. No reimbursement, no apology, no nothing.

A few years before that, we also caught them overcharging for a tile install. We paid for everything by the square foot - install, special cuts, materials - but when the job was completed, they left all of the unused and unopened boxes of tile at my house. We had ordered 800 sq. feet and I had to return 200 sq. feet of tile - which weighed a lot - and that got me thinking about how much extra we had paid for. I'm not going to complain about 10%, but 25% - that's another story. They did eventually refund the installation cost associated with the 25% that wasn't installed, but it took months of arguing with them.

So for us, no more Home Depot. Their customer service was lacking. Of course, I'm just one person so your experience may be different. This last time around we hired a decorator. Her prices were very competitive with HD because I double checked. The tradespeople that she recommended were amazing - the best we have ever used. She ran interference on everything, holding them to timelines and budgets. I didn't have to do a thing. It was the way to go.

 

[raygo123]

Don't know how I missed this thread. We're just finishing up Phase I of our remodel...master bath, hall bath and laundry room. Phase II, kitchen & downstairs bath will begin in 2 weeks.

We did a lot of research and initially decided on quartz due to its durability. However, granite was too beautiful and we installed/are installing granite everywhere. Our granite comes from all over the map, but is finished in Italy. The above comment about granite from China refers to the finishing, not the quarry source. We were warned away from anything finished in China as the quality can be suspect, e.g., thickness of slab not uniform.

We were also advised that Quartzite was similar to granite, however, some is softer like marble. One of the vendors identifies such quartzite slab as 'behaves like marble.'

Another item to note is that I've read and assumed that granite is initially sealed by the finisher/manufacturer. Not so in our case. We are using 2 vendors for our granite and neither imports granite that is already sealed. Our contractor did the initial sealing and we'll do it again once the water stops beading.

Ingrid

You must have had an x timeshare salesman as a granite salesman. China granite is always perfectly flat.
Just like points are points whether developer or resale. Yes, it is 3/4 inch thick over 3/4 inch plywood, but it's granite. Any thickness granite will crack if installed on an unlevel surface. Also, it has a factory finish on a precut sized to fit slab.

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[PStreet1]

Everyone we know has found that Home Depot takes a pretty good markup on the price the independent contractors are actually getting--same with Lowes. If you can find your own contractor, I bet you'll save money. And since each Home Depot uses contractors they've picked out, the contractors are going to vary, sometimes significantly.

 

[PStreet1]

Sorry, but you will still get water spots on granite. Granite is much harder than marble, but still spots. Since granite is much harder, it will disappear much much quicker.

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So, to prevent them, I just make sure I wipe up any wet spots?

 

[raygo123]

So, to prevent them, I just make sure I wipe up any wet spots?

Yes wipe up. But, it will clear by itself. The longer between sealing the granite the longer it will remain. Water is not really a problem, but oils for sure should be dealt with immediately as they are much thinner than water. I wish I had a dollar for every time I was called to deal with a water spot, and told a customer it was normal, and call me in an hour if not gone, they never call back. Also, it has to be there for a while to create water infiltration.

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[Zac495]

We are starting a remodeling on the kitchen. We got granite counter tops. Hard to choose the color. I like the light color - my husband prefers a little darker.

The place (called Colonial marble) showed us different granites ranging from level 1 to way up (maybe 9 or 10). The higher, the more unusual patterns. We choose level 3.

It's always a balance - the house and the vacation! Only my TUG friends get that!

 

[MuranoJo]

A few years before that, we also caught them overcharging for a tile install. We paid for everything by the square foot - install, special cuts, materials - but when the job was completed, they left all of the unused and unopened boxes of tile at my house. We had ordered 800 sq. feet and I had to return 200 sq. feet of tile - which weighed a lot - and that got me thinking about how much extra we had paid for. I'm not going to complain about 10%, but 25% - that's another story. They did eventually refund the installation cost associated with the 25% that wasn't installed, but it took months of arguing with them.

While 25% is a bit high, I can testify that having extra tile (maybe more than you'd expect) is a good thing. Our house was built 23 years ago and we had extra tile which we stored away. Last year we had to replace the floor pan in the walk-in master shower and they needed to take out tile up a few rows to get this done. Contractor was shopping all over the country to find replacement tiles as they had changed in size & been discontinued. DH remembered we had a few extras stored away and we had barely enough to finish the job. So I'd say--get some extras and keep them on hand.

Also, if I had to do it over again, I wouldn't even use tile in a shower, but that's a different story.

 

[Patri]

We went through this dilemma about two years ago, and chose quartz. We love it. I was all set to go with Lowe's. Had a decent price and the 5% discount. But at time to sign contract, suddenly there were necessary things that had not been included in the original quote. Cannot remember the details.
I went to a local independent business to compare their pricing. They came in similar to Lowe's, with all costs presented up front. I wanted to support a family business so went with them.