When it comes to picking the material to use for your brand-new kitchen worktop, you’ll probably have heard that the major players are quartz and granite. Both have their pros and cons, and it is important to take these into account when working out the ideal material to choose for your worktops.
Granite
All-Natural Stone:
The key thing to remember about granite is that it is a fully natural material. This means that no two slabs of granite are the same. Each piece has its own patterns, colours, and little imperfections that make it truly unique. With a granite worktop in your kitchen, you can guarantee that no one will have one quite like yours.
Although granite is available in a beautiful variety of natural colours and shades, man-made materials (such as quartz) come in a wide range of bold styles that you couldn’t find in nature. As with most natural materials, the appearance of the granite is organic and can be very inconsistent. Therefore, it is important to visit our yard and view the whole granite slab (not just the sample) before committing to a purchase! What you see in one small sample is not going to be representative of the whole piece of granite that will be used for your countertops.
You can view our range of granite slabs on our website
(Don’t) Treat it Mean but Keep it Clean!:
Granite is extremely tough and durable. Being virtually heat-proof and scratch-proof, a granite worktop in your kitchen will have no problems keeping up with your everyday usage. Nevertheless, there is a very small risk of chipping or cracking if accidentally hit with a heavy pot or pan, which is something to consider if you are a little on the clumsy side!
Here at Landford Stone, we seal all natural polished stones with new sealants that come with a limited lifetime warranty. Once your new granite worktop is fitted, we provide you with a Stone Care Kit for care and maintenance, and we keep an in-house specialist technician for any resealing, cleaning, and damage repair needs.
Quartz:
Man-Made Material:
Quartz worktops, on the other hand, are an engineered material consisting of over 90% natural quartz but supplemented with resins, pigments, and other decorative elements (such as metallic flecks or glass). This means that man-made quartz worktops can come in a variety of styles, colours and patterns to fit with your new kitchen. It is even possible to mimic natural stones such as marble, to give the appearance of a natural stone with fewer of the drawbacks.
Being artificially manufactured, you will not get the detail and depth in quartz than you will find in natural granites, and therefore some may think quartz lacks the same dynamic and unpredictable character. However, if you’re looking to achieve a more contemporary, modern kitchen, quartz could be the material for you.
Take a look at some of the brands we stock: Silestone, Caesarstone, and Landford Stone’s own range, Oyster Quartz.
Tough to Crack:
An advantage that quartz worktops have over natural stone is that they do not have to be sealed as they are not porous and require very little maintenance to keep them performing at their best. Quartz worktops are practically stain-proof and are exceptionally durable, meaning that they are perfect for everyday use.
Extreme heat, however, has the potential to mark or even melt the resin element in your quartz worktop. While normal everyday use is unlikely to generate the temperature needed, we recommend you keep in the back of your mind that while granite can be repaired if damaged, it’s far more difficult if not impossible to repair quartz!
Verdict:
Getting your dream kitchen fitted can often come with an overwhelming number of options and choices to be made. Hopefully we have made this one a little easier by going over the individual pros and cons of granite and quartz worktops! They both have their unique features that make them perfect for different kitchens. We can’t give you a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ choice, only pick what you think would work best for you.
Come and have a look at our range of both granite and quartz worktops today and have a chat with one of our experts who will be able to advise you based on your own individual kitchen requirements!
