In India, Kitchen is the centre of our family's day to day living, reason can be infinite gossip or peaceful morning tea or coffee. Having a beautiful kitchen implies a joyful family environment. While designing or renovating a kitchen, there are many parameters including cabinets, chimneys, countertops, duct, ventilation, hob etc. In this article, we will focus on one of the most important key element: Countertops.
Countertops: Kitchen tops selection plays a key role in overall kitchen look and functionality as we spend 80% time in the kitchen on countertops directly or indirectly through cutting, chopping, grinding, spillover and stains. A well-selected countertop should support all mentioned functionality along with family persona, so let's evaluate two widely available countertops material in India:
Granite
Quartz
Granite:
Granite is a completely natural stone and available in 100+ colours. Its hardness is around 6-6.5 on the Mohs scale:
Good at:
heat & scratch resistant:
super friendly maintenance
high durability
zero dampness possibility
no colour fade due to sunlight exposure
Should avoid:
who doesn't like the variation in pattern as being natural stone variation is granite's inherent property
Quartz:
Quartz countertops are man-made material re-engineered from natural mineral quartz, resins and pigments:
Good at:
super friendly maintenance
zero dampness possibility
high durability: it is the hardest material and therefore also less probability of having crack compared to Granite & Marble
Should avoid:
where the countertop is under direct exposure of sunlight as its pigments fade away. With technology advancement, this problem might get solved in future
who requires pocket-friendly option as quartz is costlier than granite (almost twice)
who loves natural beauty because of its engineered material manufacturing.
In essence, whether you opt for granite or quartz installations in your home is more of a personal choice depending on what your aesthetic preference is. If you like the uniformity and budget is not the constraint, Quartz is the material for us or if you are a nature lover and need pocket-friendly option then granite is the choice. Comment below and let us know what you choose!