Live in south Florida. Getting new Amish made maple cabinets. What is the most durable, stylish counter tops?

Question

Ready to buy! Looked at corrian®, formica®, granite®, even concrete! Please advize to what worked best for you.

Answer 1

I highly recommend quartz countertops as durable, reliable and potentially stylish. (There are many that have a terrazo look that lots of folks don't like; others mimic concrete or slate.) I call quartz the "Miss Congeniality" of countertops as it's very family friendly and easy to live with. (Granite definitely gets the "Miss America" crown, but is a prima donna, maintenance-wise.)

Quartz never needs to be sealed and most brands include a 10-year manufacturer's warranty. It's sold as Silestone, Zodiaq, Cambria, Caesarstone and other brands. Because it's non-porous, it resists staining and bacterial penetration.

If you're doing black or stainless appliances with your maple cabinets, a solid black quartz top will look great with them and is nearly identical to absolute black granite. Silestone has a black with silver sparkles in it called Stellar Night that's gorgeous with stainless appliances.

If you're doing white appliances with very light maple, there are a few white quartz tops with cream veining or flecks that will coordinate nicely. Look at Silestone's Blanco Yukon and several choices from Cambria and Caesarstone.

Enjoy your new kitchen!

Answer 2

We just remodeled our kitchen. Granite has to be treated twice a year!! Forget it, too much maintenance. We chose Corian counters and sink, BUT: You CANNOT put anything hot on it, or it will melt! When you take a lid off a pot you are cooking in, you CANNOT set it on the counter. Before we knew about this we put a lid in the sink, and it actually melted a little groove into the sink. Hot casserole or cookie sheet out of the oven? You CANNOT put it on the counter. If I had to do it over again, I would choose tile. Also, if you are thinking about stainless steel appliances, which is what we put in, do you know that when you clean it you can ONLY rub in the direction of the stainless steel? If you go against the grain, you will scratch it. If you have kids you will be constantly polishing it to keep the fingerprints off. It's beautiful, but I would not buy stainless steel again.

Answer 3

I have a corian cutting board and it does scratch and stain. I have formica counters and they have chipped in certain areas. I have granite in my bathroom and I really like the shine, though you need to use a special cleaner on it. I have vintage marble in my other bathroom (we bought it at a salvage yard). This to me requires the most work. Anything will stain it. It also needs a special cleaner. So my first choice would be granite... very expensive, but worth it. To cut down on cost, you could consider using the granite 'tiles'. You'll have a grout line, but it's much cheaper than the full slab.

Answer 4

Just my area of expertise! I work at an Amish cabinet factory and we make stone countertops that are just awesome! Any color you want. Some even have the sink molded right into them. Beautiful. I live in Grabill Indiana and my factory is Graber Canbinets and Stone. E-mail me if you want a phone number. I don't want to get into trouble for advertising. But, you can surprise them and ask for Chris Graber. He is the main man. The owner. What I like about them, is that they look and feel similar to marble. I like the solid surface. That means no germs what so ever can get into tiny crevices and live and grow. ( I'm kinda a bit of a germ freak! LOL!) We ship all over the states. Actually, and you can check this out for yourself if you want to, Grabill is the number one "town" ( it's a very small town ...lot's of Amish and horses and buggies. ) that sells custom made cabinets to all of America! Isn't that cool?! That's custom made, not the stuff you can get at the hardware stores. Alot of hard work goes into these. Well, e-mail me and I will send you the number if you wish to check us out.

Happy Hunting,

Shari

If you can afford a trip, we give lots of tours of the factory so you can see for yourself how things are done.

Answer 5

Personally I prefer granite, but corian and silestone are also good choices. Granite happens to be tops for resale value right now.

Answer 6

Granite ! Excellent choice for resale. Kinda durable. Corrian or something similar are more forgiving

Answer 7

well I have never owned any granite countertops but they say you cannot scratch it and to me that is awsome and plus it the big thing right now. Everyone is getting granite.

Answer 8

granite is the best but very expensive