Corian or Granite

[Hummingbird]

The hubby and I are planning on moving to TV as soon as our home sells, or sooner if we find a lot that will accommodate the home we picked.

I'm undecided on what to get for our counters, Corian or Granite.
What would your preference be and why. Is one easier to clean, maintenance, expense ???

Thanks in Advance

[hdh1470]

Dupont zodiac or silestone only ones approved to be used in food service

[flamingo]

I have granite in kitchen and corian in bathrooms, and I prefer the corian. Don't know exactly why, except that the granite has chipped a bit from dropped objects.

[joannej]

Love my granite countertops. Easy to maintain and so beautiful. It catches the light from our solar tube and it catches the colors in the granite. Should never have to replace it either.

[ilovetv]

Granite is highly over-rated and expensive, and most of the brownish ones look ugly....like somebody lost their lunch, unless you pay even bigger bucks. It is porous, too, as the previous poster said about food sanitation.

Synthetic materials are nice because you don't have a literal fortune in it and can change after a few years for an updated look if desired. Newer laminates are extremely tough too, with endless color/pattern choices.

[starflyte1]

Have you considered quartz? It does not stain like granite and comes in several color choices that are much lighter than granite. I love mine.

[ncr2482]

It is personal thing....I like granite and have not had a problem with chipping (surprised to read a previous poster mentioned that). I like the natural differences and shine of granite rather than the sameness of the man-made stuff.Two months ago I accompanied a friend when she was looking to replace her laminate countertops with corian/silestone/granite. They owner of the company noted that the man-made product pricing has increased signifcantly due to the price of oil, while granite pricing has held steady. FYI - the only maintainance with the granite is a once a year resealing.

[l2ridehd]

I have Corian in my Virginia home and granite in my villages home and have had both in the past in other homes. I would never have Corian again if I can avoid it. Corian scratches, needs to be polished by a professional (huge mess by the way) every few years and NEVER again looks as good as when it was installed new. Granite never needs anything but a clean wipe after every use. Granite looks natural in any color and Corian looks synthetic in every color. Granite has a very solid look and feel, Corian does not. For me there is no choice except granite.

[JenAjd]

I'd go with Silestone....have heard some good things about it, have a friend up north who has it and loves it! As stated here it's nice for food prep and I could be wrong but don't think you have to keep treating it each year. Granite is a fad and I think is over-rated (also stated here) and you have to treat it regularily plus it will crack! Corian will scratch and you have to treat it every so often as well.

[Uptown Girl]

I would never have Corian again if I can avoid it. Corian scratches, needs to be polished by a professional (huge mess by the way) every few years and NEVER again looks as good as when it was installed new. Granite never needs anything but a clean wipe after every use. Granite looks natural in any color and Corian looks synthetic in every color. Granite has a very solid look and feel, Corian does not..

I agree with all these points. In addition, Corian can be damaged by heat, like a hot cookie sheet or pizza pan.
I do like quartz engineered surfaces as well, although friends have had them, not myself.
We have outstanding granite (cream w/yellow and rust vein) up north and is one of the things I will remember fondly when we sell. I had it treated with a once a year sealer (professionally applied) that held up to anything.

We have formica-type counters here and although I wasn't thrilled at first, I am impressed with the 'current generation' of product. I'm not going to do the type of cooking I've done in the past, so for now I'm content to have what I have. It's actually very fresh looking to me at this point, and I'm not concerned about it's price point one way or the other.
Once I finish decorating, I may long for something more beautiful to make my kitchen pop, or I may find these counters don't stand up well to light usage. If so, I'll see what else may appeal to me later.

I do have friends who have soapstone counters, and one family member who had a custom one piece ceramic tile counter made.$$$$ But the coolest I ever saw was made of poured concrete, 4" thick, and polished smooth as a baby's bum. It was really gorgeous. My wonderful friend was a writer of cookbooks and figured concrete would stand up to whatever she could 'dish out'!

[memason]

I have Corian in my Virginia home and granite in my villages home and have had both in the past in other homes. I would never have Corian again if I can avoid it. Corian scratches, needs to be polished by a professional (huge mess by the way) every few years and NEVER again looks as good as when it was installed new. Granite never needs anything but a clean wipe after every use. Granite looks natural in any color and Corian looks synthetic in every color. Granite has a very solid look and feel, Corian does not. For me there is no choice except granite.

I completely agree.... Within the year, we'll be replacing corian with granite.

[2 Oldcrabs]

We have granite with an under mount sink. The wife has chipped the corner with large pots in the sink. Small chips that I was able to repair. Corian in bathrooms, they do lose their luster. Not sure what we will use in the future.

[graciegirl]

I have granite in kitchen and corian in bathrooms, and I prefer the corian. Don't know exactly why, except that the granite has chipped a bit from dropped objects.

Good morning Flamingo...

First I will do a slight Hijack...sorry admin, but Flamingo, the saying at the bottom of your posts is so NICE!!

Granite...We had Black Galaxy in our last home and it was beautiful, but required wiping off a LOT, several times a day, because it showed every water spot and glass ring and palm print because it was so shiny.

I have heard a lot about whether granite can be kept as sterile as other surfaces but I always chop and prepare food on those tempured glass chopping surfaces that go in the dishwasher anyway.

We are getting a multicolor sand color in the house we are building. I have been told it doesn't show every water speck.

All granite is of course is a big shined up rock. I always collected "pretty rocks" when I was a kid. I have seen both Corian and quartz that I have just loved from a design perspective. There is a quartz with sparkling stuff embedded in it and it can be quite dramatic.

Pick just what you love and enjoy it. This is YOUR lily pad.

[philnpat]

The lighter the colors of Corian are less likely to show scratches than darker colors. The installers suggested we use a product called "Plexus" to maintain it's lustre. It comes in a spray can and can also be used to clean and protect golf cart windshields as it is a plastic cleaner, protectant and polish. It's sold online as well as RV and motor sport shops.
Corian is less expensive than granite. It does scratch easier but is easier to repair than natural stone. We also like the undermount sink that is totally seamless.
There's pluses and minuses to all types of tops. Do your homework. Enjoy!

[salpal]

We just put granite in and got rid of the formica. Had Corian in former home, did not like it....scratched and looked dull after awhile. We had black granite in our bathrooms, and constantly had to wipe up water spots.

If you purchase granite that is dark or almost a solid pattern, you will experience the constant wiping of water spots.

We opted for a more expensive granite and I am not constantly wiping up water spots and easily clean with soap and water. The more random the pattern on granite, the more expensive. This is our last house, so we splurged.

We used Duncan Stone to do the work and were extremely pleased. We shopped around and found them to be best overall.

Good Luck!!!

[Ohiogirl]

I have had both Corian and Granite - the Corian for less than a year (moved) and the granite for about 5 years in our home up north. Have never resealed. Also have an undermount sink (stainless steel).

The Corian sink stained easily, and the countertop got scratched by and unnamed someone's keys (I think - best to move on).

Our granite is a dark sandy color (tannish), hard to see anything unless you get down to eyelevel. No chips/stains, love it.

In TV, we still have formica, won't replace until it shows wear/tear or is damaged. It's 5 years old as well. Once I do, will probably go with a granite even lighter than sand color, just for something different.

As for the sink, I might do the black/brown one (not sure of the material) as both ceramic and stainless also show stains/scratches. My sister and a friend have one, and it looks brand new after several years.

[jblum315]

I had gorgeous black-and-green granite up north. It was a struggle to keep it looking gorgeous. Needs more than just a daily wipe. Also if a glass tips over on the granite it will shatter.

[SALYBOW]

I have had granite twice and Corian once. I prefer granite for several reasons. One, you can take a pan right off the stove and place it on granite...not so with Corian. Granite doesn't scratch anf Corian does. My corian sink got stained and it had to be polished out. Granite sparkles! I have never had trouble cleaning either one. Granite acts as a cutting board if you so desire...Corian gets knife marks if a knife is used on it. The granite I chose was permanently sealed so I am not supposed to have to seal it again. However, sealing is very simple. You just wipe over it as if you are cleaning it, then you polish it off. It takes about five minutes. I give granite a :thumbup:. The granite we got was reduced by 50% so it was even cheaper than Corian.

Satisfied Sally:BigApplause:

[Hummingbird]

Thank you for all the replies. It will help in my decision making.

When building a new home in TV do we have to choose what the builder or designer team offers? If so, do we have many choices or are we limited?

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Hummingbird - I know your original post was regarding Corian versus granite. Others have mentioned quartz which, in the mix of things, you might want to review and consider as well. We have it in our current home in OH and really like it. The fact that it requires no sealing and is also non-porous were pluses to us.

If it's simply the beauty of natural stone that you're after, granite beats out quartz. Quartz priced out less than granite when we installed it three years ago - things might have changed since then.

Quartz-based countertops are manufactured under a variety of brand names: Caesarstone, HanStone, Silestone, and Zodiaq to name a few.

Bill :)

[dwbevan]

HGTV has been advertising surfaces from Wilsonart recently. Does anyone have any experience with this for countertops?

[SukiChu]

We put Wilsonart in the kitchen 3 years ago. It still looks brand new. Hard to scratch, tough, and beautiful. Tons of designs. We went with a darker color, but next time I would go with something neutral and light. Ours has a granite look to it, but has a mix of shiny and dull texturing (hard to explain). I love it. My daughter put the black in her bathroom. All you have to do is wipe it off. You might want to Google "Wilsonart" and check out the samples. Also can be found at any large hardware store, and most cabinet stores. I would buy Wilsonart again if building a new home.

[VillagesFlorida]

Granite and stainless, especially if you might want to sell in a few years. Here is what we did last year and I have not found my granite to be any more care than the formica that was there before.

[rubicon]

I'd go with Silestone....have heard some good things about it, have a friend up north who has it and loves it! As stated here it's nice for food prep and I could be wrong but don't think you have to keep treating it each year. Granite is a fad and I think is over-rated (also stated here) and you have to treat it regularily plus it will crack! Corian will scratch and you have to treat it every so often as well.

Your spot on. We have granite and it requires too much care for my taste. We had silestone iin our last home and it was kitchen-user friendly

[dwbevan]

We put Wilsonart in the kitchen 3 years ago. It still looks brand new. Hard to scratch, tough, and beautiful. Tons of designs. We went with a darker color, but next time I would go with something neutral and light. Ours has a granite look to it, but has a mix of shiny and dull texturing (hard to explain). I love it. My daughter put the black in her bathroom. All you have to do is wipe it off. You might want to Google "Wilsonart" and check out the samples. Also can be found at any large hardware store, and most cabinet stores. I would buy Wilsonart again if building a new home.

Thank you, SukiChu, I will definitely research further.

[l2ridehd]

rubicon, I disagree about granite being a fad. It was one of the first solid surface counter tops and it's been around for at least 30 years that I know of and will be here long after you and I have departed. Many of the others are newer, quartz, Corian, silestone and concrete. All are nice and each to their own. I really like the natural look of granite. It's the only one that has it. Every thing else is manufactured and looks manufactured. Granite is natural, is real and looks real. But that's why they make so many different ones. Everyone has their own preference. But granite is not a fad.

[ldj1938]

We had granite installed by All Star Granite, next to Publix on 466, and love it. The install was quick and perfect. Picked out samples and then went to their storage yard to pick out the exact piece we wanted. Install in the bathrooms was free! We love it and would certainly recommend these folks. Plus they are in The Villages.:thumbup: We also ordered the deep black granite double sink in the kitchen and wife loves it...

[ssmith]

the laminite Wilsonart has really improved over the past years....now they take a picture of a slab of granite and it looks pretty close!