Counter help

We are building a new home and there are too many choices (some say that's what wrong with the world today) but we are stymied on Counter Tops We will have a good size kitchen with a huge island and can't decide between Granite, Corian or Quartz. We love the depth that Granite brings, but love the warmth that Corian brings. We don't care about resale value, we are very simple and we just want to be comfy. We have Corian now and it's great just thinking it might be a little boring. Please give me some feedback or horror stories.  Thanks

 Wife's opinions appreciated 

We have granite in the kitchen and marble in the master bath.  Marble is beautiful but not nearly as durable as granite.  Our bathroom counter tops have lost their sheen and I don't think anything can be done about it.  The kitchen granite is about 10 years old and looks as good as the day it was installed.  The only gripe we have is the dark color makes it impossible to see anything on it.  I think it gets cleaned far more than really necessary because we can't tell.  I don't know anything about other surfaces but granite is hard to beat in my opinion.

Thanks Martin how many times have you had it resealed in the 10 years?

Never had granite but we do have Corian in the kitchen. I love it. If it gets scratched you can sand and polish it out. The small superficial scratches that it gets from day to day use polish right out. Sand with some 1500 wet and polish looks like new.

galvanized sheet metal or colored and polished concrete seem to be popular on some of the projects i have worked on.

If it were me I'd go with butcher block countertops.

Granite is the best in my opinion.  It's natural from the earth.  Holds it value.  Isn't a fad.  We love our granite and with the left over, used it on our fireplace hearth.  I've had it for 8 years now and have never sealed it.  I just use some spray on stuff called Rock Doctor.  There is a cleaner, a polish and a sealer, but I used the sealer once and realized the polish was more than enough. 









Fireplace Hearth using left over kitchen granite;

I love the way granite looks, it is actually pretty affordable down here in the bay area, lots of competition and quality installs.

My GF had her kitchen done about 3 yrs ago, beautiful, but I'm used to old laminate counter tops.

Three years never sealed and looks like the day it was installed.

the Granite is HARD, too hard, I don't like the feel and sound of it, if you put anything down without being really careful you wonder if your gonna break something. 

There is a minuscule difference in hardness in counter top hardness, you can't really feel it but it's there, kind of like walking on hardwood or concrete.

So for me it's a personal thing,

We had our kitchen remodeled at least 10 years ago using granite.
It pretty much looks like the day it was installed. Never did any maintenance to it besides basic cleaning.

We just clean it and occasionally polish it with some kind of granite polish we bought from Amazon. No real maintenance at all.

I put granite in my bathrooms a while back & we love it. Wish we had it in the kitchen as well. Someday maybe.

If you want something out of the box, look into Soap Stone for your counter tops. 

Might be a fad but a well done concrete top gives a modern/rustic feel to the house..

Antonio, we have that same granite in one of our bathrooms.  Great choice.  Not too dark or too light.

Granite is cheapish and has the most patterns and depth.  I do a lot of high end kitchens in the bay area and it seems people are transitioning to ceaserstone and quartz, they are both more durable and require zero maintenance.  You don't have to seal the granite all the time, but it is porous and susceptible to stains, and if you don't seal it, it doesn't feel as smooth.  We've only seen soapstone in one kitchen, it looks super cool, but needs constant oiling and scratches easily.  It can be buffed out simply, but it's just another thing to do.  Congrats on the new home Mike, that's exciting!  Also look at copper and polished cement, both look awesome, and don't rule out a mix of materials, get a little butcher block in there!