Quote:
Originally Posted by Choro&Swing
From a This Old House web page:
“ Is Quartz is Better Than Granite?
Their primary ingredient is ground quartz (about 94 percent), combined with polyester resins to bind it and pigments to give it color. For some designs, small amounts of recycled glass or metallic flecks are added to the mix. The resins also help make these counters stain and scratch resistant—and nonporous, so they never need to be sealed. Compare that with granite, the reigning king of high-end countertops, which typically requires a new protective top coat at least once a year.
In the past, the biggest knock against quartz was that it lacked the patterns and color variations you get with natural stone. But that's a moot point now, with all the manufacturers offering multihued slabs with enough flecks, swirls, and random patterning to make them almost indistinguishable from the real thing.
They were once available only with a polished finish; now you can get one with a honed, sandblasted, or embossed treatment.”
The article says to expect $60-$90 per square foot, installed. I’d say splurge on something beautiful, not something plain. Likewise, my house came with chocolate brown granite. Boring! There’s so much granite out there that is astonishingly beautiful, and some of the quartz is, too. I love beautiful stone.
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I do want to mention that when an article states that it is primarily granite, or even give a percentage of granite to resin (usually 92-97%), they are talking about WEIGHT not VOLUME. Granite is extremely heavy compared to resin, thus not that much granite in reality in Quartz.
Quartzite is a wonderful alternative if you want something astonishingly beautiful.