You may have a good range, a good oven, and every tool a cook could want, and still feel that your kitchen is missing something. Often the missing piece is a countertop that lives up to the rest of the room. Of all the countertops to choose from, a quartz countertop is one of the first worth looking at.
Countertops come in many materials. For a luxury look, people tend to choose marble, a natural stone that is beautiful but needs care. Those looking for something more economical look at man-made surfaces such as laminate, concrete, or recycled glass.
Quartz sits in between. It is a popular choice and is widely available. Before you buy one for your kitchen, it helps to know more about it. Here are seven things you may not know about quartz countertops.
The Origin of Quartz
There are many manufacturers of quartz countertops, and each has its own colors and patterns. Most of them, however, use the same basic manufacturing method, which was developed in Italy in the second half of the twentieth century.
That method compacts crushed stone and resin into dense slabs under vibration and vacuum. Manufacturers around the world adopted it and built their own product lines on top of it, but the core process has stayed much the same for decades.
The appeal was clear from the start: a slab that offers the hardness of stone with a consistent look, good scratch resistance, and a surface that does not need sealing.
They Aren’t Made From Pure Quartz
It may not be a surprise, but these countertops are not made from pure quartz. A countertop cut from solid quartz crystal would be impractical. Instead, they are engineered slabs: ground quartz, sometimes blended with other minerals or recycled glass, mixed with pigments and a binder.
Ground stone makes up most of the slab by weight. The rest is resin, which holds the piece together and makes the surface non-porous. It is an engineered stone, but a good-quality slab can look and feel very close to natural stone.
There are practical reasons for the blend. The resin gives the slab some flexibility, which makes it less brittle than many natural stones, and it lets manufacturers control the color and pattern.
Natural stones such as marble and soapstone are quarried in large blocks, which has an environmental cost. Engineered quartz has its own footprint, from mining and from the resin, so it is not automatically the greener choice.
Some manufacturers now use recycled content in their slabs or replace part of the petroleum-based resin with resin from plant-based sources. If environmental impact matters to you, ask about the content of the specific product you are considering.
How Quartz Countertops Are Priced
In short, quartz generally costs less than marble and more than budget surfaces such as laminate. It sits somewhere in between. Because there are many kinds of quartz, though, there is a wide range, and you can usually find one that fits your budget.
Premium quartz costs the most. What you are paying for is mainly appearance: realistic veining, depth, and patterns that look more like natural stone.
Mid-range quartz is just as durable as the premium kind. The main difference is the look. These slabs tend to have simpler, more uniform patterns and look less like natural stone.
At the lower end are builder-grade and commercial-grade slabs. They offer similar durability again, in plain colors and simple speckled patterns.
You also have to account for fabrication and installation, which are priced separately from the slab or bundled into a per-project quote, depending on the company. Quartz is not a countertop you can install on your own. The slabs are heavy and have to be cut with specialized equipment.
Before you buy, be clear about what you actually need. The less expensive options perform well, so do not rule them out.
Quartz Is Around You
Because of its popularity in kitchens, people think of quartz as a countertop material only. In fact, engineered quartz is used in many other places, and you have probably seen it without noticing.
Engineered stone is used for flooring, wall cladding, and counters in commercial buildings such as shopping centers, hotels, and offices. In those settings it is chosen for the same reasons it is chosen for kitchens: it looks good and stands up to heavy use.
It Changed the Market for Granite
Quartz has taken a large share of the countertop market. Many buyers are drawn to its durability, its consistent look, and the fact that it does not need sealing.
Granite remains a popular choice. It is a natural stone, and it usually costs less than marble. With quartz as a strong alternative, buyers now have more options at every price level, and many common granite colors are competitively priced.
It No Longer Just Competes With Natural Stone
When it was first introduced, many people saw quartz as a substitute for soapstone, granite, and marble. Over time it has come to be seen as a category of its own. It combines some advantages of man-made surfaces with some of natural stone, and many people now choose it for its own qualities.
The technology also continues to develop. Printing and veining techniques keep improving, so newer designs look more natural than earlier ones.
It Comes in Various Colors and Finishes
There are upsides to quartz being an engineered product. One is that it is often less expensive than high-end natural stone. Another is the range of choice. Because the slab is a blend of stone, resin, and pigment, it can be made in almost any color and pattern, and in polished, honed, or textured finishes.
Marble is known for the fact that no two slabs are alike. Quartz offers the opposite advantage: the slab you choose will look like the sample, which makes it easier to plan a kitchen and to match pieces.
A quartz countertop may be just what your kitchen needs. With so many options, there is likely to be one that fits your budget and one that suits the style of your house and kitchen.