Orchidflower
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2007
- Messages
- 3,323
I watch quite a bit of HGTV, and see many are using concrete that has been stained. Much cheaper than other tops I understand, and looked great to me.
For us, the visual impact made the difference. The composite quartz was too consistent a surface - we wanted to see the variations of granite.
Thanks, Amethyst, but the upgrades helped sell it fast in a neighborhood of cookie cutter-homes (most approaching 10 years old, most without any upgrades):It's a beautiful desert pattern, WS, yet I never quite saw the point of making beautiful upgrades to one's home just before selling it. To me, it always felt like a gyp to make my house nicer for strangers, than it was while I was in it. Make it nice for me, that's my though t.
The house we are moving to is a big step up... we are buying it primarily as an investment, but you have to live somewhere...I assume the place you're moving to is even more spectacular?
It's a beautiful desert pattern, WS, yet I never quite saw the point of making beautiful upgrades to one's home just before selling it. To me, it always felt like a gyp to make my house nicer for strangers, than it was while I was in it. Make it nice for me, that's my thought.
I assume the place you're moving to is even more spectacular?
To all of you that have never resealed their granite countertops - I personally know two couples that spilled red wine on their granite and didn't clean it up right away. The porous granite sucked up the wine. One of them is living with the stain. The other one hired somebody to come in and grind down the countertop to get rid of it. I don't think it would have mattered much if the countertops had been darker, but on their's it was really obvious.
I have quartz, so I don't know for sure, but when I was shopping all of the sales people told me you needed to reseal every year. We were going low maintenance, and we loved the color options we had available, so we went with the quartz. We've only been here 1 1/2 years. I'll report back in 8 more and let you know how it's working out.
I loved my (black) granite countertops in my old house that I discussed in posts #21 and #25 above (see photo below). To me as a buyer, granite would have been a big plus; I'm not familiar with quartz so maybe that would not have been as attractive to me. Maybe ask a local realtor? When I sold that home, the new buyers immediately did a complete kitchen remodel, tearing out everything including the countertops. So there went my gorgeous granite. Oh well, it's their home now.I am resurrecting this old thread instead of opening a new one. I hope it's OK?
I am trying to decide if we should go with granite or quartz, and before reading this thread, I was leaning toward granite, but since I want a light-colored countertop, I may be safer with quartz.
Your opinions change since 2009?
As for the resale value of the home although we have no plans to sell in the near future, does anyone know if it makes a difference, granite or quartz?
I am resurrecting this old thread instead of opening a new one. I hope it's OK?
I am trying to decide if we should go with granite or quartz, and before reading this thread, I was leaning toward granite, but since I want a light-colored countertop, I may be safer with quartz.
Your opinions change since 2009?
As for the resale value of a home although we have no plans to sell in the near future, does anyone know if it makes a difference, granite or quartz?
We are remodeling our kitchen at the moment. We chose a natural stone. If you want light colors you might go with quartzite. The industry does not always refer to the rock types as the geologists do. Some granites will have a mix with plenty of light colors. Quartzite (a metamorphic rock) is usually more expensive but it is fine grained and can be beautiful.
FWIW, we chose dark colored stone slabs. They are "Saturnia" by name but are really a schist which is a metamorphic rock that is not quite as fine grained as some quartzites. See: Schist Happens: Get to Know This Brilliant Stone - Use Natural Stone
I loved my (black) granite countertops in my old house that I discussed in posts #21 and #25 above (see photo below).
To me it was simply a cost issue. Granite was a lot less expensive than quartz. .... If I didn’t have a tight remodel budget, I’d go with quartz, but it was at least twice as expensive and we had a couple large counter tops. It was a few thousand more in our application to go with quartz.
Yes, very beautiful. Too bad the new owner demoed it.
To me it was simply a cost issue. Granite was a lot less expensive than quartz. Our granite came sealed with a ten year guarantee. I don’t plan on resealing but I also don’t plan on leaving wine or oils sit on the counter for and length of time. We had one accident (sweet potato in a basket went bad and sat on the counter and got moldy) that caused a stain, but all we had to do was soak a paper towel with hydrogen peroxide and let it sit on the stain overnight. Took two days but the stain did come out. If it hadn’t, we’d have called the place we bought it from as we’ve only had it about two years. If I didn’t have a tight remodel budget, I’d go with quartz, but it was at least twice as expensive and we had a couple large counter tops. It was a few thousand more in our application to go with quartz.
I thought so too! They didn't demo the 1960's bathrooms, complete with pink plastic tub/shower surround. Just my gorgeous kitchen. The photo of the black granite countertop in my old kitchen, was after 13 years and re-sealing maybe twice (10 minutes each time). I used Windex on it just before photographing it.
I just added a photo of the laminate countertop in my new house.