Goodbye, Granite..... What do you think?

[Mark Meriaux]

Six "hot" new surfaces. Do you think ANY of them have a chance?

http://dishwashers.reviewed.com/feature ... medium=cpc

[Dan R.]

I have been reading about the demise of granite for many years. Statistics of some sort or other are always quoted, yet we get busier every year installing granite counter tops. there will always be alternatives.

Is wood really that new or earth shattering of a material? Hardly.

Cheap good and looks like granite will be the winner, wait that would be granite.

It seems that all the other materials are chasing granite. Wouldn't that make granite the leader?

[Stone Dude]

Glass and Ceramic I can see. I don't know anything about the nanotech materials. Wood and stainless have been around for a while, but prove to be pretty expensive. Tile? No.

This is a report from a show in Italy. That stuff will trickle into the US but look how long it's taken for ES to blow up.


The one thing I tell my clients when it comes to choosing stone- Repairability. All of these products are great, but if you have a problem, granites the easiest to deal with when repairing damage.

[steven nenzel]

Yeah, he failed to mention in his article that most of those materials, with the exception of tile and wood, cost significantly more than granite.

[Mark Meriaux]

I agree with both you guys. It was just another article to remind everyone that it's always popular to "knock" the leader. We all need to keep working to stay on top!

[Miles]

Did Al the Carpenter write that article?

[Curtis R. Marburger]

if men really had their way it would be Tar paper and Plywood , or whatever else can scrounge up , maybe old pallets

[Curtis R. Marburger]

Tempard glass reminds me of car windshields

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QeLz_iUF6c

Code: Select all

[Nick]

Granite is definitely being redefined, maybe not on the way out, but on the way down to normalcy from a spike in demand and attainable luxury. Like others said, glass, porcelain/ceramic and probably nano whatever is all that is viable on the list, but granite is being mostly replaced with other various natural stones from what I have seen. The article does not address this, but it is reality from what I see. Marbles, quartzites, limestones etc.

The comments are nauseating and a sea of misinformation, I like the person that boasts about their solid quartz countertops that are not quartzite like home depot and lowes sells, but a stone that is harder than granite and looks like a marble as well as the multiple references to the "maintenance" required by granite . I had to stop reading. Does anyone ever perform maintenance on their granite kitchens? Ever? I didn't seal mine, I treat it like crap, and other than cleaning out and re caulking around the sink every now and then have done nothing to it. I can't imagine a maintenance issue ever coming up, they make it sound like your buying a 1992 range rover for gods sake.

[RBatstone]

1992 range rover

What a perfect reference

[Curtis R. Marburger]

porcelain vs. glass


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FK8HmovUlA

[szw21]

I agree with Nick - it is about 6 years now since I did my kitchen and bathroom vanities and I'm horrible at keeping things clean. Regardless of how sloppy I am a quick clean and they look like new. The laminate tops which were in the kitchen prior to the stone was stained thanks to my poor maintenance habits. For me high on my list is easy maintenance and I find stone work for me.

I've also had tiled countertops and absolutely hated having to keep cleaning the grout.

[Curtis R. Marburger]

We installed 2 cm Travertine full slab in shower and surrounding walls over 5 years ago in our home . never sealed it and still looks the same as when we installed it and cleans up very easy

[Alex DiPietro]

Around here granite is done. Its that simple. I couldn't give it away... Even colors that I find rather nice, once they find out its granite. Its off the list. All I hear about are quartzite's, and the gross amount of misrepresentation about them online... And white marble's always in.

[Nick]

Around here granite is done. Its that simple. I couldn't give it away... Even colors that I find rather nice, once they find out its granite. Its off the list. All I hear about are quartzite's, and the gross amount of misrepresentation about them online... And white marble's always in.

We are almost there. If a granite "looks" like it isn't a granite then it is still OK here, people are not snubbing it by name, but by look. I have stopped importing based on this trend since importing only benefits bringing in those "exotic" colors.

[Miles]

Market stratification.

We only do quartz on commercial. We do about two quartzite jobs a month and maybe four or five marble jobs. Everything else is granite.

[Jesse]

It is interesting seeing the trends. By the time it gets to us there will be a new trend! For us it is quartz on commercial and designers, marble is designers only, and the general public wants granite. But we are as far away from trend setting as possible. Welcome to Idaho...please set your clock back three years!

[Steve A]

I have a tempered glass dinner table. The wife and I loved it at first (6 years ago). Now we both hate it with a passion. First off is the scratches, I would not say its "easy" to scratch, but its not hard either and plane as day once its done. As for cleaning it... we have 2 kids under 3 years.... It is the single worst item in our house to clean/keep clean. I could not imagine having a glass counter in my kitchen.

[mark s]

" stainless is nearly as played out as granite" - considering that "granite" includes literally thousands of different looks this statement is simply a gross display of ignorance by a supposed expert.

That said I expect sooner or later someone will come up with a manufactured material that closely (repeat "closely") mimics the look of a carerra type marble without all the material properties of the real thing and they'll make a killing with it. Silestone dekton might be such a product.

Cambria is doing the most development but if "stainless is nearly as played out as granite" one must ask why the most popular cambria colors have always been the ones that mimic a natural stone. I believe their most successful color ever is a knock off of blue pearl gt and it looks like crap when placed next to the real thing (which, incidently, is prominently on display in my showroom.)

I'll keep growing my business with played out granite.

[Alex DiPietro]

We only sell the solid color ES for the most part. Usually white. We've cut maybe 5 slabs of the ones that look like granite

[Nick]

That would be 3 more than me.....no one buys ES that looks like granite.

[Dan Dauchess]

That would be 3 more than me.....no one buys ES that looks like granite.

in Florida.......

Our customers love that shit here in VA.

[Nick]

Really? I would think the cost difference alone would kill that even if they wanted the look. Granites that resemble the ES colors are all pretty cheap. I guess that is advertising and marketing at work.

[Dan Dauchess]

Really? I would think the cost difference alone would kill that even if they wanted the look. Granites that resemble the ES colors are all pretty cheap. I guess that is advertising and marketing at work.

You're right... they've drunk the cool aid! We also get the ones who want white marble without the 'staining' issues.

Its all green to me.

[Nick]

If they like it, I love it