What kitchen counter is best and has the least amt. of maintenance? Corian, granite silstoneor laminate?
Answers:
SILESTONE, let me tell you why...
Being a kitchen, bath, and renovation designer, I see a lot of countertops. My favourite at one point was Corian (pros... non-porous, easy to clean, invisible seams. cons... scratches easily but is repairable, must buff it every few years depending on usage).
But now, I will be purchasing Silestone for my kitchen (pros... non-porous, more difficult to scratch than granite, silestone specifically has microban - an anti microbial in the expoxy mix, very even in mix so that seams are less visible, never have to seal it or really take care of it too well for that matter!). Just keep in mind that your cabinets have to be beefy enough to hold these countertops. Corian is lighter than Silestone.
If price is an issuse, laminate is the only way to go... if you want something more scratch resistant in laminate, try WilsonArt DeepStar laminate... it's 3 times more wear resistant than other laminates, it's also more expensive.
Hope this helps.
Other answers:
granet is bad because their are small cracks and if you hade stake or something the bacteria would get down their and grow so i would not get it also you have to do a lot of maitenence.
granet is bad because their are small cracks and if you hade stake or something the bacteria would get down their and grow so i would not get it also you have to do a lot of maitenence.
Laminate. Coriane and granite look nicea dn are easy to clean, but are very heavy, drastically more expensive and are more easily cut into than laminate. the problem with laminate is that, well... its laminate. its basically particle board with a picture glued to the top. but at the reduced cost you could replace it ten times for the same cost as one coriand.
There is granite counter tops available out on the market that are over 50 and 60 bucks a sq ft. insane.
You get what you pay for... Corian is the way to go!
efmc1101 is confusing granite with marble. Granite is hard and very dense. It only needs to be washed with a little soap and water or Windex. We've had our granite counter top for 8 years and never done anything else to it. There are no cracks and no pores to harbor bacteria.
For this question you really need to trust your stone expert.
Not every stone is the same, so granite is to vague
Some granites are perfect, some need only a coat of impregnator (sealer) and then they are just as good. And yes they do absorb but everything has to be cleaned, whether they absorb or not right, so if you buy a salmonella cleaner made for granite tops. You will have now worries, and all it is a windex type cleaner. This is designed to last a lifetime
Corian is very durable, very similar to granite without the natural look. Same restoration, same maintenance.
Silstone, well its still new on the market and we are having trouble restoring it and nobody has come forward from these companies and explained a solution in the even of a problem.
Laminate, very cost effective, its cheap, a little too cheap looking sometimes, but for the price, you can afford to remove it and replace it in 10 years