If you’re designing your home remodel and thinking about natural stone, consider quartz countertops for your kitchen and bathrooms. Natural stone is usually mined, cut into slabs, and polished into shape. This process takes time and considerable effort.
Quartz countertops result from a different manufacturing method. These countertops are made of a combination of real quartz dust and a tough resin that binds the slab together. For some specific styles, other natural materials are added to give the countertop a unique appearance. The quartz can be made to look like stone and has many of the same characteristics at a lower price per square foot. Quartz, in particular, works well in high-demand areas like kitchens and bathrooms. Aside from the price, here are four other reasons to pick quartz as the countertops for your new custom home.
1. Non-Porous Surface
A quartz countertop is made of about 93% quartz chips and dust. The rest of the space is filled entirely with resin. The countertop material is poured into a mold and cured completely. Once the resin is hardened, it is polished to a smooth and non-porous surface that needs little further treatment or long-term maintenance.
In contrast, natural stone requires routine sealing to maintain a non-porous surface. Even with the right sealant, some types of stone countertops remain at least partially porous. Quartz countertops are easy to clean and sanitize. The non-porous surface makes it naturally harder for microbes to live and hide. This provides a cleaner and safer area for food preparation and ensures your bathrooms are getting truly sanitized when you clean them.
2. Modern and Natural Style
If you’re looking for something different from the usual options for a truly beautiful remodel, quartz countertops provide a surprising variety of options. It’s easy to add metal shavings, chips of other stones, and shells during manufacturing. Don’t forget about the wide assortment of dyes for creating the look you want as well.
You can choose whether your counter is translucent or opaque by changing the resin proportions. Choose a slab that mimics your favorite type of stone or create something from out of this world with under countertop lighting options to make translucent slabs glow. If you would like a smooth, unified look with minimal seams to clean, a custom quartz countertop can be made to order in one piece.
3. Long Term Durability
When you consider long term use and wear, quartz countertops have some unique characteristics to increase overall durability that natural stone lacks. Quartz counters tend to withstand cracking and chipping better than stone because there are fewer seams and the resin binder is slightly resilient. Bumping a pot against the edge of a quartz countertop won’t necessarily damage it.
Quartz counters can handle heat up to 400 degrees before discoloring or damage occurs. Stone must be sealed repeatedly over its life to prevent moisture damage, but quartz countertops do not need resealing or resurfacing once they are installed. There’s no need to worry you’re at risk for staining just because you have gone a few years without applying a sealant or because a family member uses a curling iron and sits it down on bathroom countertops.
There are many hair styling tools and personal care products that can stain natural stone countertops. It’s expensive to resurface a stone countertop every time you have a spill. Quartz countertops can eliminate that problem. The non-porous properties allow you to easily wipe away spills with a lower chance of residual staining.
Whether you’re designing the bathrooms in a new custom home or are just considering a bathroom remodel, quartz countertops are a natural choice for your guest and master bathrooms. You can find this material in every color and style to match the rest of the bathroom’s decor.
If you’re considering a home remodeling project, give us a call!