Tachus

We have granite. Verdi butterfly - a very dark green with gold seams running through it. It does look beautiful. However, the two things which concerned me before getting it have proved to be true. If you drop a drinking glass on it the glass will break. If you are sitting at the island and lean your arms, or any part of your body, on it you soon get cold.
What I didn't expect was to be told not to put a pan straight from the stove top or oven directly on the granite.
We were advised to reseal it yearly but have never done so (11 years).
I've never thought to defrost directly on it, that's a new idea.
We were advised not to leave food directly on the surface as this could cause mold to grow on the underside. One has to wonder how much of the advice was valid.

Legal Bill

We have white corian as well, Val. If I ever did anything to my kitchen it would be to change the countertop. That huge expanse of white is truly boring.

jukngene

Here are a couple pics of the island in our kitchen with the quartz (Silestone) counter top:

boltonblue

Me likey Gene

Do you remember what color it is?

jukngene

Thanks, Jerry.

I'll see if I can find the invoice from the installation (some 7 or so years ago.) Otherwise, maybe my +1 will know. (She's out running errands currently.)

valentine

Mine is not a large expanse of white. I believe the exact name is Zodiac by Corian and the white has a blue stripe that runs along the edge of the white. The navy countertops (on the lower side of the kitchen island, the kitchen desk and coffee bar are navy with a white stripe along the edge). I like the white as it is very clean cleaning and if I put in the quartz I'd go with something that is mainly white.

UnkieTrunkie

Joy and I did full replacement of our kitchen cabinets and countertops back in October. We went through Lowe's for the whole thing, and were generally happy. Per the countertops, we narrowed it down between quartz and recycled glass. In the end, the pattern that looked best with our cabinets was quartz and on sale. We've loved it. If you're looking for something with the feeling of granite, but more austere/subdued in appearance, it's a choice. We've been very happy. I'll see if Joy has photos around the web somewhere. . .

UnkieTrunkie

Here's the before and after:


We did get screwed slightly by the quartz installer - make sure you, and your contractor review the measurements the quartz cutter has before they cut the stone - they miscut ours with a 1/8"-1/4" overance on one side of the stove: our cabinet guys/general contractor visually shimmed it up so it looks fine, but it would have been better with the quartz guys doing a better measuring job.

jukngene

Big improvement!

jukngene

Can't find the invoice and neither of us remember the color. Sorry...