| Granite or Quartz?
Consumers are increasingly asking is quartz (SileStone, Techni Stone, Legacy or Caesar Stone) better than granite? The simple answer is no, it’s different. When I was a sales person and a client was interested in new counter tops the first question I asked was, “do you prefer this, a solid color material with various fleck through out or do you prefer this material with all sorts of swirls and irregular patterns?� Almost with out exception the client felt very strong one way or the other. If the client preferred the swirls and irregular patterns then we only considered natural stone (with the exception of one Caesar Stone product). If the client preferred a solid or consistent material, I would asked if they where familiar with quartz? I would either get a "we want the real thing" or I've heard of it what’s the difference". Usually we would be standing next to a quartz counter top and I would tell them "this is quartz and the main difference is this is virtually indestructible, made from 93% ground quartz and 7% polymers or acrylics and dies, non porous, extremely stain resistant and nearly impossible to scratch, but for most people and typical every day use granite will perform wonderfully, after all granite can only be scratch with diamonds or granite", I also point out the unique colors and mirror chip products offered in quartz. If at this point the client is still interested in quartz I ask a few more life style questions and look at their cabinet lay out. Quartz slabs usually are available in 52" X 120" or 54" X 118", sometimes the seams need to be added or material waste can drive the price way up. Most quartz product cost the fabricator 50 to 100% more per square foot than lower end priced granite. This is where waste plays an important role. If the kitchen is 72 square feet and the lay out requires only two quartz slabs then the quartz could usually be done cheaper than using two 60sq. ft. Uba Tuba (granite) slabs. Sometimes clients wanted granite because it was less expensive, I never had a client go with quartz because it was less expensive. The quartz clients where usually engineers (who loved to use a graphs to show the benefits of quartz, over 100% natural stone), or clients that wanted a color that didn’t naturally occur in nature. I installed quartz in my kitchen, five years ago. I have deliberately abused it every way I can. It has met all my expectations. If I wanted a change and replaced it, I would probably use granite, just to have something different. Except for very harsh environments the only question is which one looks better to you.
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