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Quartz or Granite?

Contemplating what material to choose for your kitchen or bathroom countertop? Quartz and granite tend to be the most popular choices, so this article explores these options.

Granite

The joys of granite are many. The first being the originality it brings to your home. Granite is a natural stone that is mined from mountains in several countries, such as Italy, India and Brazil. Each piece of granite is unique and glorious in it's own way. Granite tends to be millions of years old and the formations or movements of each stone is dependant on the particular geological history of that region.

So with that being said, the glory of granite rests in the presence it brings to your home. It also does have some functional properties that are key points. The first, it can retain heat....a hot pot will not damage your granite countertops. Secondly, of all the natural stone counters available, granite is the most non-porous material available.

One of the biggest worries most clients have is the maintenance that accompanies granite countertops. All natural stone needs to be sealed to prevent staining. Granite needs one heavy sealing per year, as long as you use a daily cleaner designed for natural stone.

Granite contains quartz, which sounds confusing, but is easy to understand. Granite contains up to 50% quartz, but other natural elements found with the quartz is what classifies granite as granite.

Quartz

Quartz is 93% pure and therefore a much stronger surface and virtually impervious to water and staining. The process is a bit different to manufacture quartz, first the quartz is crushed down to a fine crystal. The crystals are mixed with pigment and resin, then compressed.

This process gives quartz a very uniform look, which is the opposite of most granite selections. There are some real keys points that make quartz countertops a great choice. First, they are more than twice as strong as granite, with a 7.0 on the Moh's hardness scale; which is used to measure the scratch resistance of materials.

Secondly, the are impervious to water and staining. Companies such as Silestone and Ceaserstone recommend quartz for hospitals and laboratories due to the anti-microbial properties quartz contain.

Conclusion

So is there a definitive answer to the question of which material is better? Not really, it really boils down to esthetics vs. function. In our opinion natural stone is stunning and visually nothing can compare. But the care free quartz is hard to beat in terms of maintenance.

In our showroom, we have both materials on display and would be happy to run through a side by side comparison for our potential customers. Thanks for reading!