Searching for the perfect counter top is a challenging task. Four factors seem to come to mind: 1) Attractiveness, 2) Historical Appropriateness, 3) Ecologically Mindfulness, 4) Ease of Care.
Ease of care takes precedence since my husband and I do not have the best reputation of looking after things (read: we are klutzy slobs).
Granite has reigned top choice for many remodels looking for the “luxe look” over the past decade (Albeit, it has slowly lost its foot hold among the progressives). At this point, it is reminiscent of the white and hold trimmed end tables that were must haves in the late 80s and now leave a repulsive taste in the mouth….i believe the word for it would be gaudy. And yet enough time hasn’t elapsed for gaudy to turn into ironic fun! Ironically (given the luxe factor), granite would be one of the most economical choices. Granite despite its “mass appeal” is hugely environmentally destructive. Granite appears well beneath the earth’s surface and mining for granite shreds up habitats and gobbles up resources. Granite is a hard material but can scorch. Like all stones, granite must be installed by a mindful professional to reduce the width of seems.
Marble is wonderful for tempering chocolate and laying pastry dough but is too soft and porous to survive in my house!
Limestone needs to be sealed and cared for far too often. The colors wont fit into our kitchen palette.
Soapstone would be historically accurate. I love the look of it against white cabinets. The feel of soapstone is velvety and cold, quite nice! However, it is a soft stone and does weather quite a bit. The weathering of soapstone is usually part of its charm. Of course that is within normal wear and tear. Given that myself and my husband are self proclaimed slobs, I seem to think that the weathering process will surpass the quant and charming and inch towards ugly. Also, as I said I love it next to white cabinets, and the cabinets that we choose are primarily a dark wood, so dark on dark would be overkill.
Cesarstone is a man made composite. Usually that means that they are hardy, but in the case of cesarstone, it scratches easily. It does come in some nice colors and can mimic soapstone.
Corian is another man made composite. Like Cesarstone it does show scratches, especially on the darker colors. It is seamless which is nice. I don’t like the warm plastic-ey feel of it.
Cement has a nice modern-yet-earthy feel to it. I like it in its ability to be a strong piece yet neutral in tones. I was surprised at how expensive it is. Regular cement can stain and crack quite easy. They have engineered cement especially for indoor use (floors and countertops) that is less porous, stain resistant and guaranteed not to crack. That said, I have not seen a guarantee beyond 10 years.
Wood is lovely but we would not be able to care for it. A small piece of wood like a butcher block in the corner or as a top for an island work table would be manageable.
Steel is too loud and will dent. It also looks too cold as a countertop. Zinc and copper are materials that look much more neat and are period accurate. I like the matte and warm look that zinc provides. Copper is more ‘old world’ looking than Americana but still looks neat. Both are quite expensive. However, like soapstone (and the majority of other options) the wear and tear “weathering” of the materials would surpass a tolerance level given us (my husband and myself) as its proprietors.
Tile is a good option. It can be period specific and quite economical. It can take on various ‘looks’ ranging from cute/cottage to modern/sleek. It has a lot of personality to it but seems to not be very popular nowadays when most folks are looking towards stone. Tiles wipes clean and is almost fool proof. The grout can get nasty, but a bit of baking soda can do the trick. For the careless, regrouting tile as a last resort, is not too painful of a consequence. My hesitation in our case, would be that I really am keen on having subway tile as a backsplash. If we had tile as a countertop as well, there would be too much tile. It would become a tile explosion in our kitchen. Add to equation the possibility of an Aga or LeCorset stove (which both are cast iron with enamel overlay- which produces a porcelain like appearance) and tile floors and its death-by-tile…when what we all really want is death-by-chocolate!
THE WINNER ↓
Silestone ….this is what we are finally deciding upon. Let me sing its merits! It is more expensive than many of the other options (more expensive than soapstone, less expensive than cement), but its ease of care is what is the big seller. Its burn proof, stain proof, scratch proof….fool proof ! Its a composite of primarily quartz. Quartz is abundant and is easily minded making it less harmful to the environment. Silestone is rank under LEED building standards. The company Cosentino that produces Silestone practices ecologically minded manufacturing techniques. It comes in an array of colors and options. It can be an uniform solid (good for modern kitchens) and it can show natural elements. Some style look like sand, some like concrete and others like granite. They even have a few that have the palate and marbling that soapstone have. In this way, you can retain some of the historical look of a kitchen with a ton of modern conveniences. Silestone feels smooth and cool just like soapstone does.
We are going with Grey Amazon. Here is a link for the color: http://www.silestoneusa.com/colors/colors.cfm?ColorID=80
The link doesn’t do it justice. In person, the color has hints of brown and gold which will pick up the wall color (golden yellow) and the cabinet color (brown). It does have a grey neutral color which will allow it to connect nicely to the nickel elements (hardware on cabinets and windows, ceiling tiles, sink, and appliances). While it does play to role of unifier, it still has its own identity and has some marbled effects to it.
