Green Living Home

Natural stones like quartz, granite or marble make beautiful luxury stone kitchen tops. However, there are several differences between the natural stones counters and the luxury quartz counter tops. You might want to stop and analyse the differences before making your final selection. These differences between natural stone and manmade quartz countertop materials are detailed below.

Visual

There is no question that granite is a beautiful and unique stone. This is probably why many home designers and homeowners choose it as their preferred kitchen countertop material. However, these luxury stone kitchen tops do need more maintenance and upkeep than the more colourful and stylish man-engineered quartz. There are people who like the natural defects, patterns and striations in granite, but there are also those who do not. These natural defects, colour differentiations and patterns are not found in quartz countertops. It is in this type of material that you get all of the beauty without any of the defects. Those people who like uniform colour and patterns, often choose quartz over the naturally occurring granite.

Installation

A granite counter top comes from mined stone, which is then cut and polished. Because the stone must be cut in slabs, often multiple slabs are needed for a kitchen counter area. Problems arise when you need to match the granite colour perfectly, as there are variances in colour and it does not naturally occur uniformly. Quartz on the other hand, is man-engineered, so colour dye is added to crush quartz pieces. This allows manufacturer has to create a colour uniformity in all pieces. Quartz has another distinctive feature in that luxury stone kitchen tops made from this material are moulded, so you can find one entire piece in the size you need.

Stains

Natural granite has naturally occurring pockets of the air. These pockets occur when the different minerals fused together with the earth’s high temperatures. These pockets create porous areas within the stone. Spills that occur in these areas, which are not cleaned up immediately, usually cause permanent stains. Mould and mildew can eventually grow in the air pocketed porous, saturated, stained areas. Quartz, on the other hand, is nonporous, so it is considered a more sanitary material. Water cannot be absorbed, so mould and mildew cannot grow in it.

As you can see there are many reasons why quartz is often chosen as a luxury stone kitchen tops solution. It is more versatile, durable and sanitary.

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