Picardy Project

building shit & raising girls

Picardy Poll: What’s Your Favorite/Most Hated Countertop Material?

I love polls 🙂

I’ve been thinking about this one a lot lately because I went against my natural instinct and put Quartz in an old Victorian for my brother’s project. I don’t generally make myself stick by time period (hello, our counters are granite and we’re in a 1920s house), but I also don’t really like to go super modern in a traditional home. This project of course is trying to marry modern and traditional, so I think it was a nice touch with the Shaker style cabinets. 
But it got me thinking about the PLETHORA of different countertop materials and what people do and don’t like. So I’m going to do TWO polls here. 
The first will be what counters are you favorite. People are definitely material specific. Some people LOVE granite or LOVE marble or think concrete is cool and a bit different. I have a client who loves her ceramic tile counters and I have a personal aversion to them. There are just so many different opinions. 
And it seems like there is so much love for a certain material by people, but that there are also strong opinions about what people DON’T like. Many folks are getting sick of granite, think ceramic tile or butcher block are unsanitary….people, there are lots of ideas 🙂
So let us ask: what is your FAVORITE and also what is your HATED countertop material –> FOR YOUR KITCHEN? There are so many choices out there, but I’m going to stick with these “most common” (although how can this many choices be most common) eight choices
Granite
Lovely creamy white kitchen design with shaker kitchen cabinets painted Benjamin Moore White Dove, Kashmir White Granite counter tops, polished nickel modern faucet and Vetro Neutra Listello Sfalsato Glass Mosaic- Bianco tiles backsplash. Benjamin Moore White Dove.:
from here
Marble
Painted White beaded inset cabinets with Distressed black on cherry breakfront. Marble Island surrounded by Caesarstone quartz countertops. Wood floors mosaic backsplash. By TheCreativeEdgeInc.:
from here
Butcher Block
My Butcher Block Countertops, Two Years Later — Domestic Imperfection:
from here
Quartz
creamy white shaker style kitchen cabinets, subway tile back splash, crystal knobs, nickel pulls, quartz counters:
from here
Concrete
If I had a studio, I'd love to do something like this and have some tables be wood and some be concrete.:
from here
Soapstone
Mudroom - This soapstone counter with a doublewide, extra deep integrated sink is a great asset. With the vegetable garden just steps away and two dogs who love baths, the sink will be quite useful. As a trained floral designer who loves fresh flowers in the house year round, I know I can put it to use as shown. <3 the glass door allowing the natural light to shine in. #bhg.com:
from here
Ceramic Tile
Blue tile countertop Handmade tiles can be colour coordinated and customized re. shape, texture, pattern, etc. by ceramic design studios:
from here
Stainless Steel
Suzie: Palmerston Design - galley kitchen with modern white kitchen cabinets, stainless steel counters:
from here
Want to know my choices? Of course you do 🙂
My favorite material: soapstone. I pine for the day when we can do another kitchen and I can put soapstone counters in (if I feel like it fits). I wish we had done soapstone here. A small regret by both Chris and I.
My least favorite: it’s a tie between butcher block and ceramic tile. But I think butcher block edges out ceramic tile by just a hair. 
Okay, what are your opinions?

What is your favorite kitchen countertop material?

What is your least favorite kitchen countertop material?

Comments

  3. I've only had granite, formica, redwood and ceramic tile. Ceramic tile can be beautiful (mine wasn't, it was white with dark brown grout, yuck) but never seems like it's a clean surface…maybe just for backsplashes. Redwood was too soft (it picked up lots of dings).

  4. For me it totally depends on the space, so I have such a hard time picking one. I love Quartz, but would never be able to afford it. And I'm so indecisive that even in my dream kitchen I would probably have two different countertops actually. In fact in my current kitchen I have vintage laminate, which I actually really love (white with gold flecks–and its in amazing shape for being 60+ years old), and butcher block. I love the butcherblock because it's warmer than stone and I'm always cold. 🙂

  5. Anonymous – I TOTALLY spaced on Corian. I've actually heard from a few people that really love them. They're super practical.

    Priscilla – didn't even THINK of Zinc. That is actually pretty awesome. I think a zinc island would be pretty splendid.

    Cathleen – Redwood counters!? That's pretty cool in theory, but yeah, I would hate how soft they are.

    Erin – you are completely right that it depends on the space. Right now I'm loving deep blue cabinets with white Quartz counters, but that certainly wouldn't work everywhere. And you are right that butcher block feels warm. There is a "loved home" quality to it.

  6. You know, we just got our island redone and we went with a marble look but a durable material. Its called Dekton. And so far we LOVE it! It does have a sort of weird texture to the touch but its been great with the kids. The 'marble' picture you posted is actually Dekton! It's a bit pricey but if it holds up to its promises, its worth it if you want the marble look without the high maintenance.