Choosing a natural stone countertop for use in your kitchen, bath or both, gives your Atlanta home a considerable upgrade. We at A Polished Finish are often surprised at how natural stone countertops are amongst the first things requested by potential Atlanta buyers in a home; pretty much everyone wants their new home to have granite, marble or quartz countertops installed. Natural stone features are in incredibly high demand: it started in the 1980s and it just hasn’t really stopped. And it makes sense, considering how incredibly beautiful and durable natural stone options are.
Today we’re going to talk about each of the options to give you a preview of what to expect from each one. Let’s get started!
Marble
Marble is the leader of the pack in extravagance and elegance. Once the standard-bearer of natural stone countertops, it is typically cool white but it does contain other minerals in it which may cause red, yellow , gray, pink, or black as well as potentially a bluish color. It all depends on the oxidation of the minerals that naturally occur within the marble slab.
Marble has an authentic glossiness to it that can’t be mimicked, and because it is rather porous, it does stain and etch over time. Its elegant veining can’t be beat. If you notice that your marble slab is not staining and etching over time, it might not be marble after all but an engineered facsimile or granite. Marble also has a translucent quality to the slabs.
Granite
Similar to marble, granite is another natural stone. It is definitely different from marble in that it is a “phanerite” rock, meaning it has large, distinguished lumps of crystals present throughout the slab. This gives granite a speckled or grainy finish that you will not get with marble. There are no streaks running through the granite slab as there are through a marble slab. That said, it comes in white, gray, reddish, brown and black and because no two slabs are ever the same, you’ll never have to worry about someone having the same granite countertops than you do.
Granite is somewhat porous and does need to be sealed once a year. What that requires is you spraying on the sealing compound and then wiping it off. Takes about as long as you do to clean your countertops.
Granite has been enjoying a bit of a spotlight trend since the early 00s and seems to continue to occupy homeowners’ minds. Granite is extremely durable and tends not to etch or stain as easily as marble. You can also set a red-hot pan down on a granite countertop and you’re not likely to mar the finish, whereas either marble or quartz won’t hold up well to that kind of treatment.
Quartz
Quartz is a processed stone which, once complete, is about 90% natural stone and 10% resin componentry. Not that you would be able to tell, anyway. While they are engineered, the surfaces are incredibly attractive. You can even have your quartz made up to look like your favorite piece of granite or slab of marble, if you’d like. Because of the resin present, it is extremely important never to put a hot pan on a quartz countertop. The end result may be a ruined pan, countertop, or both.
Quartz does offer many different styles and options, and is extremely durable, like granite. It’s also completely non-porous, so it will not stain or etch, unless it is exposed to high temperatures, in which case it may scorch.
All of these countertop options present stunning upgrades to your current kitchen and/or bath, and offer decades of durability, strength, resilience and beauty. They will hold up to the test of time and wear and tear better than anything else available for your Atlanta home. Natural stone is the best choice for any and all of your countertop needs. Now, the choice is yours!
