Granite worktops

pelirocco

dirty_magic wrote: »

We decided against granite because we wanted light worktops and granite is porous. I didn't want the hassle of sealing and maintaining it, and I don't want curry stains on an expensive worktop. We're going with quartz from a local supplier.

I didn't want laminate because we've saved to get an nice kitchen and I didn't want to compromise on worktops. I'd always regret getting laminate instead of waiting till we could afford what we really want.

I've had granite for last15 years , only maintenance I've done is wipe it clean lol , there's not a mark or chip on it ( I was unaware granite was supposed to be high maintenance until looking feature a new kitchen yesterday)

The only downside is you have to learn to put plates etc down gently

Davesnave

My local stone & slate supplier stores their worktops in a field. How is that high maintenance?

ryder72

Granite being porous is the biggest lie that gets peddled around, to a great extent by worktop fabricators who often make better margins by selling unbranded chinese quartz which is arguably worse.

While its technically true that granite can be porous its also true that drinking water out of a river will give you poisoning from heavy metal contamination.

A good supplier will seal granite and only a small percentage of granite ever sold is of the highly porous type. Most granite is black or grey and this is probably the least porous type of granite. So buy what you like rather than what someone will have to believe is a better product.

As for quartz being better - wait till you see some of the Chinese rubbish being pedalled.

Furts

ryder72 wrote: »

Granite being porous is the biggest lie that gets peddled around, to a great extent by worktop fabricators who often make better margins by selling unbranded chinese quartz which is arguably worse.

While its technically true that granite can be porous its also true that drinking water out of a river will give you poisoning from heavy metal contamination.

A good supplier will seal granite and only a small percentage of granite ever sold is of the highly porous type. Most granite is black or grey and this is probably the least porous type of granite. So buy what you like rather than what someone will have to believe is a better product.

As for quartz being better - wait till you see some of the Chinese rubbish being pedalled.

I second this, but I remain surprised by consumers reluctance to accept reality. I posted in #8 and got a puzzling feedback.

My worktops are quartz, they are not Chinese (would never let the stuff through my door), but they are still sub standard. Par for the course with quartz, and I live with it. I also have a Duropal worktop and in contrast there is nothing sub standard about this.

EssexExile

Furts wrote: »

My worktops are quartz, they are not Chinese (would never let the stuff through my door), but they are still sub standard.

Further to my question above, what is "sub standard" about them? I'm not being awkward, I'd like to know for future reference. We have Caesarstone & as I said it's been in about 10 years & is still as good as new. The company that put it in, on the other hand, were terrible (a bit awkward as he was a neighbour) trying to pass us off with bits that didn't match & cutting the holes for the sinks in the wrong place. Then again they did put it all right but I wouldn't use them again.

Furts

EssexExile wrote: »

Further to my question above, what is "sub standard" about them? I'm not being awkward, I'd like to know for future reference. We have Caesarstone & as I said it's been in about 10 years & is still as good as new. The company that put it in, on the other hand, were terrible (a bit awkward as he was a neighbour) trying to pass us off with bits that didn't match & cutting the holes for the sinks in the wrong place. Then again they did put it all right but I wouldn't use them again.

Caesarstone is fine and the technical detailing is better than that offered by a big competitor - but I have not checked for a while. These companies supply inert soild slabs from oversees - there is not much than can go wrong provided it is a reputable company with quality procedures in place. This, of course, rules out many Chinese products hence the comments made by ryder72 and me.

The problem is the UK end where the templaters, polishers, cutters, designers, and installers are at best adequate. This is what you have experienced, and you have answered your own question. Bluntly it is a case of the Emperors New Clothes - consumers say "isn't it lovely" without looking any further or checking anything out. I can accept this with a laminate worktop - this is cheap and disposible and if it goes wrong just buy a new piece.

The quartz market make out they are a premium, top end, product when the reality is often far from this. This is compounded by UK consumers not knowing, and frequently not caring, about anything.

ryder72

If I was having quartz worktops, I would generally stick with silestone, ceasarstone, compaq, quartzforms and maybe a couple of other bigger brands. That doesnt mean these brands dont get problems, but the likelihood is smaller.

My personal experience with silestone has been very good (over say 500 kitchens, so a very good sample size) and with ceasarstone not as good. IMHO the main difference lies in that silestone are present themselves in the UK whereas ceasarstone are present through distribution so the service levels one received are variable. The other factor is that silestone have stronger relationships with select fabricators and buying worktops through one of these gives better response to problems than some of the others.

I am so far talking only about material quality.

Then take into account fabrication. This is a very competitive low margin business, so an easy way for fabricators to boost margins is to make it on material (given that other costs are more or less the same for all fabricators) and this is where the junk that gets dumped mainly from china but also, turkey, egypt etc comes in. The number of people just come in as say I have white mirror chip quoted cheaper than your silestone blanco stellar isnt even funny. Customer never gets told the brand of the product, just gets sold the 'look'.

If you buy only on price you most likely get what you pay for.

Furts

ryder72 wrote: »

If I was having quartz worktops, I would generally stick with silestone, ceasarstone, compaq, quartzforms and maybe a couple of other bigger brands. That doesnt mean these brands dont get problems, but the likelihood is smaller.

My personal experience with silestone has been very good (over say 500 kitchens, so a very good sample size) and with ceasarstone not as good. IMHO the main difference lies in that silestone are present themselves in the UK whereas ceasarstone are present through distribution so the service levels one received are variable. The other factor is that silestone have stronger relationships with select fabricators and buying worktops through one of these gives better response to problems than some of the others.

I am so far talking only about material quality.

Then take into account fabrication. This is a very competitive low margin business, so an easy way for fabricators to boost margins is to make it on material (given that other costs are more or less the same for all fabricators) and this is where the junk that gets dumped mainly from china but also, turkey, egypt etc comes in. The number of people just come in as say I have white mirror chip quoted cheaper than your silestone blanco stellar isnt even funny. Customer never gets told the brand of the product, just gets sold the 'look'.

If you buy only on price you most likely get what you pay for.

An excellent post and I second this. Countless consumers want something cheap and they want it now! They could not care less about quality or anything else, which is also the gist of a number of replies on "Why are Tradesmen Bad". Well done Doozergirl and others here.

madeinireland_2

Which is generally cheaper - granite or Quartz. I've been thinking of getting Quartz for the very reason mentioned earlier - I thought granite was very porous. I have seen granite that I would probably prefer - star Galaxy or something like that I think it was called. Would that be much more expensive compared to silkstone?

goodwithsaving

You're all knowledgeable and helpful, thank you. Any more insight? Redmalc, may you message the supplier? I just want to have a look :-)
Thank you