The Best Countertops Materials For Your Kitchen
When it comes to choosing the right material for your kitchen countertops, the choice can be overwhelming. After all, you need to take into account a number of factors, such as budget, aesthetics, durability, and the appearance of the rest of your kitchen, as well as how much time you’re willing to put into the maintenance and upkeep of your kitchen countertops.
At Distinctive Kitchen & Bath, we want to make the choice as easy as possible, by laying out the strengths and weaknesses of each countertop material, so you can decide which best suits you and your kitchen.
And, as central Ohio’s leading countertop fabricator – and a trusted supplier of Home Depot countertops for 25 years, providing Home Depot quartz and granite, among a host of other Home Depot countertops materials – you can be sure that you’re getting the best of the best materials to adorn your kitchen surfaces.
Marble.
When it comes to aesthetic brilliance, you’re unlikely to beat marble, as the richly textured, usually white or light-coloured rock, is decorated with stunning natural veins, which highlight the depth of the stone.
However, there is no beauty without pain and – likewise – marble is one of the more impractical materials you could choose to build your kitchen countertops. This is because marble is a naturally soft rock, and is, consequently, susceptible to scratches and chips – moreover, marble countertops need to be sealed annually – in order to protect against potential stains.
Having said this, if your kitchen isn’t particularly ‘high action’ and you don’t mind putting in a bit of extra effort to keep your countertops safe from stains and bacteria (by ensuring your countertops are sealed annually), marble might be the choice for you – especially if you highly value the aesthetic of your kitchen.
Granite.
As another attractive natural rock countertop material, there is a huge variety of granite to choose from, coming in an array of textures and colors due to its unique mineral configuration. Namely, granite is typically made up of a combination of hornblende, quartz, mica, and feldspar, among other minerals, which account for the infinite styles available in Home Depot granite, and the granite from Distinctive Kitchen and Bath
More than this, granite is a practical choice, being scratch and chip resistant, and being less porous than marble, meaning fewer seals required to keep the rock stain-free. On top of this, granite is also inexpensive compared to other natural rocks, such as marble and quartz.
Quartz.
Natural quartz is the strongest component present in granite, meaning that – out of all the possible countertop choices – quartz is the most scratch, chip and damage resistant.
Moreover, many quartz countertop brands – such as Hanstone quartz – combine the natural quartz with a small percentage of synthetic material in order to combat the innate porousness of natural rock. This means that most quartz countertops don’t ever need to be sealed in order to retain a stain-free appearance, while simultaneously repelling – and not retaining – bacteria.
As a result of quartz’s unbeatable durability – without any compromise on appearance – and due to the fact that it’s incredibly low maintenance (and will never need repairing) this material is slightly pricier than granite, though still less costly than marble.
Laminate.
Laminate countertops from Distinctive Kitchen & Bath are made from recycled and renewable materials, while the manufacturing process releases low CO2 emissions, making it one of the greenest options for countertops materials available on the market.
Moreover, at Distinctive Kitchen & Bath only the most durable laminate surfaces are manufactured, to make the material less easy to scratch – though, compared to hard rocks such as granite and quartz, it will still chip and scratch under pressure.
Still, laminate countertops come in an enormous range of colors and styles, and while they may not have the same aesthetic status as natural rock, they almost certainly make up for it with their low price.
Solid surface.
Providing an aesthetic that imitates natural wood and stone, solid surface is a budget-friendly alternative to quartz, granite and marble.
What’s more, there are hundreds of different colours and patterns of solid surface available to choose from, to perfectly fit with the aesthetic of your kitchen, from vibrant block colours to patterns that simulate the look of stone or wood.
While they have the advantage of being non-porous – so they never need sealing – solid surface countertops can be scratched and chipped more easily than rocks such as granite, though they’re easily repairable..
So, if you’ve been browsing Home Depot quartz, granite, laminate or solid surface countertops and you haven’t quite found what you’re looking for, consider heading over to the Distinctive Kitchen & Bath website – or visit the showroom – to browse our infinite selection of countertops.
