# Trying to decide between granite or solid surface countertops



## Proulx06 (Jan 8, 2007)

I like the looks of both. I like the the word granite alone will make my house more appealing (we'll be here for another 3-5 years). I like that solid surface is cheaper. I like that you don't have to seal solid surface and there are better seams. I like the look of the integral sink (plus it's free if we decide to go with Lowes). I also like the stainless sinks you get with granite. 

Am I missing something obvious that would sway me one way or another? I'm a bit worried about the white integral sinks...do they stain? Can they be replaced if we decide to stay longer and they stain or scratch? We had a white sink at our old condo, and it was scratched and stained to hell. I'd hate to have to replace the entire countertop if it's integral. Any opinions, one way or another?


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## dougrus (Sep 16, 2006)

Love my granite!!!
I have it both in the kitchen and in the bath I just rennovated. Go to stone places and look for a reminent that is about the right size for your area...Some places have a bunch of them and you can get great deals on them...you'll pay less then new solid surface (corian, etc) if you get them this way.


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## billinak (Mar 16, 2005)

I just installed Himacs solid surface and we love it. Granite was a little out of our price range so we did not even look at it. We went with the drop in sink so we could change it if we wanted to. Integral sinks can be changed out, but I hear it's pain in the butt. I love the solid surface, it's got a great look, but I think it comes down to personal preference.

I had several places say the integral sink was "free", but the contractor we chose said the integral sink was $500 extra. His bid was 30% below the high bid with integral sink, so we bought our own (Thermocast composite) sink and saved $1,000 over the next guy. I was suprised at the range of bids for the exact same job, ranging from $2,300 to $3,300.


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## Proulx06 (Jan 8, 2007)

billinak said:


> I just installed Himacs solid surface and we love it. Granite was a little out of our price range so we did not even look at it. We went with the drop in sink so we could change it if we wanted to. Integral sinks can be changed out, but I hear it's pain in the butt. I love the solid surface, it's got a great look, but I think it comes down to personal preference.
> 
> I had several places say the integral sink was "free", but the contractor we chose said the integral sink was $500 extra. His bid was 30% below the high bid with integral sink, so we bought our own (Thermocast composite) sink and saved $1,000 over the next guy. I was suprised at the range of bids for the exact same job, ranging from $2,300 to $3,300.


Mind if I ask what the sq footage on the job was? We're looking at about 60sq ft with backsplash. I've gotten one quote for granite from a real hoity toity upscale place at $4900, which is way more than I figured. Going to the normal places (lowes and HD) tonight.


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## redline (Mar 5, 2006)

Proulx06 said:


> We're looking at about 60sq ft with backsplash. I've gotten one quote for granite from a real hoity toity upscale place at $4900, which is way more than I figured. Going to the normal places (lowes and HD) tonight.


Is this a straight piece or does it have angles to it?

around $100 per foot for granite if you find a left over slab, number of cuts, type of edging, if the front lip is built up...


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## Proulx06 (Jan 8, 2007)

Here is the diagram of our kitchen. It certainly is not one piece, there are a few turns. 

Do you mean $100 per sq ft? We've only begun looking, but that seems really high to me. Maybe I'm going to learn soon that it's not. I was thinking 60-75 per sq ft as that's what I've seen so far (installed) from a few trips to Lowes/HD. Going tonight to get a true quote.

And we've also been warned by this hoity toity place not to get dark-colored solid surface as it will easily scratch. Since we want a dark surface, their recommendation is that we go granite. Of course, they sell both and the granite is more $$.


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## billinak (Mar 16, 2005)

Let's see we had one run of 12 feet with the sink in it, another 1 foot section then a 4 foot with a radius cut on the end, I guess that adds up to 32 square feet. The $2300 was the total price start to finish with back splash and a bull-nose edge. Of course, being in Anchorage, you pay to ship the material up here from Seattle which adds to the cost. Like I said I got three bids and was surprised at the difference in cost. Ours is call Black Sand and is a dark color. I think what he meant is that the dark colors show the scratches more easily? We haven't had any problems with scratching, we use cutting boards etc, so I'm not sure what you would do to scratch it. The installer said fixing the scratches was easy with some very light sanding followed with a scrubby pad. I'll post a pic when I get a chance. I redid the kitchen from bare walls and I'm very happy with how it turned out.

I recommend taking your drawing and fax it to 5 or 6 places for a cost estimate. It only takes a minute and you might find a big price difference like I did.


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## billinak (Mar 16, 2005)

Here's a few pictures

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m191/billinak/P1210026.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m191/billinak/P1210027.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m191/billinak/P1210029.jpg


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## MattCoops (Jan 10, 2007)

A way of having granite and not paying extreme prices is to have a tile contractor install granite TILE.

You can save up to 50% off using granite tile as apposed to a full slab.
and you can create a custom backsplash that goes from counter to bottom of cabinets, rather than just that 6" backsplash the counter guys offer.

Here's what we offer our customers: http://www.cupantileandpaint.com/granite_countertops.html

We get our granite tile from: http://www.tileshop.com


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## Krichton (May 2, 2006)

Granite is nice but whether or not it increases the value of your home in Alaska is completely dependent on the market in your neighborhood. Solid surface should be good enough. Plus it requires absolutely no maintenance.


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## Proulx06 (Jan 8, 2007)

Alaska? Haha, who said Alaska? We have a 20-year-old hiproof colonial in a rural neighborhood that's slowly being populated with $400k+ colonials. The exteriors of these new places are gorgeous, so I can only imagine a few of them have granite countertops. 

Anyways, we've decided to go with granite. The cost difference between the two really is not that great, and where we're going to upgrade our kitchen once, we want to do it right the first time. Our first 2-3 quotes were for mid-to-high 4000's, but the last two came in at 3000 and 3500. We went to a home show last week and they had some great deals (including one kitchen design center that was giving away 10% off coupons). So I'll keep you posted and post pictures when it's done. Could be a month or so.


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## harleysilo (Jun 19, 2006)

Make sure you check out quartz. You don't ever have to apply anything to it to seal it, no bacteria can grow in it. Doesn't scratch can put pot of boiling water on it doesn't discolor......longer runs with no seams!!!

I love mine!


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## Proulx06 (Jan 8, 2007)

I like the look of quartz, the layperson can't tell it's not granite from what I've seen. Mind if I ask what kind of prices you were paying? I'm seeing similar prices on granite and quartz.


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## harleysilo (Jun 19, 2006)

Sorry, don't check here every day. It was similar to granite, but I can't remember exactly what it costed, over $40 square foot for sure...


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