After COVID-19, you might have a strong desire to remodel your home. Perhaps it started with pricing bathroom vanity tops in the Montgomery County area or comparing paint colors for that spare bedroom. Eventually, your attention will probably turn towards the big project lurking in the background: your kitchen.
As one of the most active rooms in your home, it’s understandable that you’d want to make sure every detail is ideally suited to your needs, especially the countertops where a lot of the prep work is done. Picking the right countertop surface can impact everything from food prep to cleanliness to ongoing maintenance, so it’s a critical decision in the kitchen renovation process.
Finding somewhere that has the best selection of natural materials for your kitchen design dreams can make or break a kitchen renovation project. Luckily, Suburban Marble, Granite, & Tile has recently stocked new quartzite perfect for that purpose.
What is Quartz?
Quartz is a crystal that forms in the earth and can be mined for use in everything from jewelry to countertops. It’s made up of a mixture of silicon and oxygen and is one of the most abundant minerals on earth.
However, for those who aren’t interested in the geological processes that go into making quartz and are more interested in what it means for your kitchen remodeling process, quartz can be thought of as a manufactured material.
Quartz can’t be mined in a large enough quantity to cover your counters with, so fabricators will use a combination of quartz crystals and artificial resin to create your quartz kitchen and pantry countertops or dry or wet bar tops. This process leads to a more durable final product that has consistent coloring throughout.
Why Use Quartz on Counters?
Your kitchen counters see a lot of use throughout their lifetime, which means they need to be durable. As a nonporous stone, quartz provides a perfect option for kitchen counters because the stone will resist chipping and cracking and require incredibly low maintenance.
Increased Durability
A significant talking point for most countertops revolves around the material’s durability. Similar to granite countertops, which are considered one of the strongest materials out there, natural quartz is a harder material. It helps prevent dents, knicks, scratches, and other forms of damage to your stone countertop.
More Style Options
Other natural stone options can have a limited range of colors for homeowners to choose from for their upcoming kitchen remodel. However, quartz provides more options and color variety to choose from should you go that route.
As a manufactured product, manufacturers have more opportunities to create unique color combinations and designs in quartz than you would have with a natural stone such as soapstone. Quartz allows you to pair things like your kitchen backsplash with your countertops and overall kitchen aesthetic with ease compared to other materials.
In our inventory, we have quartz from Silestone in stock for you to choose from. These expertly built countertops come in various finishes and sizes, with the two most popular being the Eternal Calacatta Gold with a polished finish and Charcoal Stopstoe with a suede finish.
Streamlined Maintenance Routine
Your kitchen is one of the highest-trafficked rooms in your home, and with that comes a wealth of daily cleaning chores you need to address. For generations, finding ways to simplify your kitchen cleaning routine and make it more time-efficient has been a struggle for homeowners. Who would have thought that your countertop material would play such an integral role in helping simplify your cleaning process?
Nonporous materials are excellent for kitchens because they don’t require sealing; they resist stains and don’t provide footholds for bacteria to grow in. In essence, quartz counters just need wiping down to be entirely safe to use.
Are There Drawbacks to Quartz Counters?
Homeowners looking to consider quartz for their upcoming remodel not only have a long list of pros to consider but a potential drawback when making their decision. When it comes to quartz, the main drawback centers around UV exposure and high temperatures that the counter gets exposed to.
Since your kitchen is indoors, the only real consideration in terms of weather is how much sunlight your counters will be exposed to since high levels of UV exposure can lead to faster discoloration. With heat, the issue comes down to how you use your kitchen: would it create a massive impediment to your flow to put a hot pad down before setting a cooking pot on the counter?
If you are considering updating your kitchen and are interested in learning more about quartz kitchen countertops from Montgomery County-based experts, give the Suburban Marble, Granite & Tile team a call today!
