Ganite Countertops

Hi, I was wondering if anyone had their kitchen (or other) countertops replaced with granite ones from Plan-It Granite in Sterling? I was there yesterday and received the worse (or no) service there at all and left after sitting around for over 20 minutes waiting for someone to acknowledge me. When I sent an email to complain about this, someone actually called me back and all he said was to say come back, and don't pass on to your neighbors. Obviously, at this point, I would not go back and wondered if this is the norm with them.

 

Do you find granite to be the best for your application? I was thinking about upgrading my kitchen and researched a lot of materials for countertops. I found granite is porous and can crack. Since it is porous it can stain if you spill something like spaghetti sauce (yes, I know you can seal it, but its more maintenance).
Stainless steel looks nice, but it scratches, and fingerprints and stuff are a constant constant chore.
Tile, yuk, the grout is a problem for me.
Laminate, yuk, i have that now....;(
Concrete, another porous material. And can crack.
Wood, no thanks, itll end up looking like my cutting board....blah.
Slate I hear is good, but I dont like the looks.
Silestone is what Ive found to be the best compromise. Non-porous, very hard (made from quartz), seamless, can have color and looks nice. I was wondering if anyone has silestone, because with the best of all worlds, im curious why more people dont use silestone...... www.silestoneusa.com/eSilestone/eAdvantages.cfm

Im not a seller or anything, I was "sold" on it when I did some research and wondering why its not as popular as "granite" or some of the others....:/



DwArFlOrD

 

We have granite. We chose it over Silestone (and other manufactured stone materials) mostly for the looks. Silestone is too uniform for our taste. We like the uniqueness of granite.
Different types of granite have different degrees of porosity. Generally the black granites are the least porous. We have had no problems with stains but we also wipe spills as they happen.

 

Can you recommend anyone? Also, if you don't mind, can you tell me the general prices of doing the kitchen countertops and backdrops? I got a single quote and am in the process of getting others, and was a bit shocked by the prices. The lowest quote I've gotten so far was in the upper 5 to 6K range. Does that sound about right?

Thanks.

 

barry:

we used Granitech in springfield. http://www.granitechinc.com/home.html

large selection of stone

they have a "package" price of approx $90 per sq ft, but it includes everything.

 

So how does one seal granite?

-Teak

 

We just went through this last Nov. Made several trips out to Plan-it Granite. They do all the installs for Expo (Home Depot), and seem to do an ok job from what I hear from my friends. Plan-it Granite's prices seem a little high, but they are still less than most.

We also went through the Silestone v. granite decision, and ended up with granite because of cost (oddly enough!), and a unique granite color they had (that we both finally agreed on!!). Something to consider - which not many will tell you - are the quality of your cabinets. If you have good quality cabinets then you should have no issues. But granite is so heavy and if you have a larger kitchen with bad quality cabinets that you could have issues with it over time (buckling, etc).

In the end we chose USA Marble and Granite in Sterling. We have close to 70 sq. ft (I think) of counter space, got a stainless steel sink, new faucet, soap dispenser, filter water dispenser, installation, etc. all for around $5,000. The install went fairly smoothly, and was done quickly (with Plan-it there's usually a wait). Overall we're pleased. Found out later that some other friends of ours used them and were also very pleased.

As for sealing it - another friend of ours that has worked with granite warned us not to pay for the extra "sealing package" that these guys try and sell you. You can usually get a bottle of sealant for a few dollars at Home Depot and do it yourself.

 

Oh - if you are interested, USA's web site is http://www.usamarble-granite.com/

Good luck!