Quartz or Granite - Which is the BETTER Countertop?

today i'm going to answer the age-old question of which is the better countertop quartz or granite i'm going to rank these countertops according to 10 different verticals that i think are important when you're choosing a countertop and at the end of the video we'll have a final score for each countertop to see which one outperforms the other if you'd like to work with me on your next kitchen project check the link in the description below to see all the details of how we can work together to design your dream kitchen impact resistance when you're considering a new countertop especially a stone countertop this is definitely something that you need to consider quartz has a great impact resistance overall however when a heavier object is dropped on quartz there is that possibility that the surface can crack or chip especially if it happens on an edge and that's normally where the problem will occur because in that area the surface is unsupported by the substrate underneath by the cabinetry or by whatever it is that that surface is sitting on in a previous video i dropped a sledgehammer on quartz to see what would happen to it and while it is pointed out that it's not really a fair test because one it's on a stump and two it's a sledgehammer it is interesting to see that this is the result compared to what we're going to see was the result with granite so for impact resistance i'm scoring quartz an 8 out of 10. granite on the other hand is very very strong while my test previously was a little bit unfair because the piece of granite that i was using was thicker i still want to point out that dropping a sledgehammer on granite basically did nothing there's not even a hairline crack on that but on an edge the same thing can happen that happened with quartz so that if you do drop something on the edge you can get a crack or you could get something to chip off finally some results with a sledgehammer i'm going to give granite a nine out of ten stain resistance quartz is very popular because it is a non-porous material meaning that there's no place for water to penetrate and if there's no place for water to penetrate then there's no place for stains or bacteria or other things to get into that surface turmeric was the only substance that i used that actually stained the quartz now i did use a mr clean magic eraser and it got almost all of it out but i don't know if i would recommend using a mr clean magic eraser as the manufacturer might say no that would void the warranty otherwise everything i tested wiped up with water very easily so if you're thinking about a lighter quartz surface and you use a lot of turmeric in your cooking you may want to be careful in your selection i'm scoring quartz an 8 out of 10. we know that granite is a porous surface so it has to be sealed but once it's sealed it is very very resistant to stains when i tested granite for stain resistance the results were as i expected everything basically wiped off and over a little bit of time for the granite to dry all the stains disappeared even turmeric so for stain resistance i'm giving granite a 9 out of 10. price so i just went to homedepot.com to get a basic idea of what quartz and granite are selling for to give us just a general starting point quartz averages around 69 on the lower end to about 120 on the high end this does not take into consideration how many cutouts you have how many edges are treated what the polish is like on the surface the thickness of the material how many seams are there and where the installation is taking place granite on the other hand is a little bit less expensive starting at dollars and ranging to about eighty eight dollars so quartz is getting a score of seven out of ten and granite is getting a score of eight out of ten let's talk heat resistance quartz is not known to be as heat resistant as granite everybody sort of knows this anyway and it is definitely something to be considered when you're purchasing this surface now in my own personal testing when i blow torched the quartz it lit on fire and again that's probably the glue and the resins just lighting on fire because of the extreme heat of the blowtorch discoloration definitely happened and of course you're not going to be doing this in your home i realize that but it just gives us a clear picture that yes this material will definitely burn however most people use a trivet and it's never going to cause them a problem so it's not it's going to definitely happen but there's a very high likelihood that you will burn your quartz if you put something very hot on it and so for this reason i'm scoring quartz a 6 out of 10. granted on the other hand there's no resin to burn basically you can light that thing on fire as much as you want with a blowtorch and not a whole lot is going to happen no discoloration and it can withstand a ton of heat and so it stands the reason that it will stand the test of time in your home as well granite definitely takes the win on this one 9 out of 10. scratch resistance i over did it on the scratching i went with a screwdriver and i just went to town and really there was very minimal damage to that surface and when you think about how you're going to be using your countertop generally this is one of the areas that are really important you're going to be cutting on that surface there's going to be stuff on that surface there's a variety of activities that can scratch your countertop and something that you should be considering i don't think there's any circumstance under regular wear and tear in the kitchen even if you're using a knife on that surface that it's going to cause any real damage i think we're safe to say that quartz is very scratch resistant i'm giving it a 9 out of 10. granite held up much the same as quartz in this regard very scratch resistant you can scratch that thing all day long and you're going to get very minimal visible damage the chances that you're going to scratch your surface are pretty minimal and again this could depend on the type of granite you're using the mineral makeup of that stone on whether or not certain minerals will scratch easier than others i'm also scoring granite a 9 out of 10. warranty i looked at a few brands of quartz i found that most of them have a limited lifetime warranty on the stone on the slab itself so unless you do something crazy to it like i was doing out in the shed with beating it and banging it and lighting it on fire of course those things are not going to be covered under warranty but for regular wear and tear in the kitchen you got a great warranty a lifetime warranty on quartz what else can you ask for gonna score quartz surprisingly a 10 out of 10 in terms of warranty i think it's really really good granite on the other hand not so great in terms of warranty usually on granite the only warranty you're going to receive is a stain guard warranty so if that granite is pre-sealed from the manufacturer from the fabricator it usually will come with a warranty to say this sealant is going to stand the test of time and you're not going to be able to stain the surface but in all other regards the warranty isn't that great you're dealing with a natural product so how can you warranty something that comes from nature the only thing they can warranty is the human process of putting on the sealer so i'm gonna score granite a six out of ten in terms of warranty maintenance i don't think you can find a better surface to maintain than quartz i mean you don't have to do anything to it it's non-porous it's just easy you don't have to seal it there's nothing you just clean it with generally soap and water and that's it so in terms of maintenance i'm going to give quartz a 10 out of 10. now granite a little different as long as it comes pre-sealed is also pretty much no maintenance you just clean it like you would quartz and away you go you don't have to actually do anything to it however if it doesn't come pre-sealed and you have to seal it yourself that's maintenance and so for that reason i'm going to score granite a 9 out of 10. finish options quartz usually comes with a polished finish however you can get what's called natural which has a little bit less sheen you can get honed which gives you more of a matte finish you can also get what's called concrete and rough so there's a little bit of variety out there if you're going to choose quartz granite's very similar you have polished you have honed you have leathered you can get what's called flamed you have some options when it comes to finishing techniques the one finish that's pretty much exclusive is polished most people when they buy a stone surface they want it polished now there are some people that are going towards a honed finish or a matte finish but in terms of just the overall quantity of people who want a polished surface that's mostly what people are buying and so there is a little bit of difference in a polished surface between quartz and granite you can't polish quartz as much as you can granite where granite is just stone you can polish that to be very very glossy quartz on the other hand because of the resin that's involved in the manufacturing process you can only polish it to a certain degree if you're buying granite or if you're buying quartz generally you're probably not too concerned about how polished it is but it is something to consider in terms of finish options i'm rating both of these a 9 out of 10. value value is not something you normally consider when you're purchasing your countertop but you should because the market is so geared towards selling quartz countertop because quartz countertop has been such a force in the stone industry in the solid surface industry it can't be ignored that buying quartz for your home is going to increase the value of that home more than any other surface where granite once held that seed of authority it just doesn't anymore most people when they think of granite think older and while there's many slabs of stone out there that look absolutely gorgeous and i would love to have in my own home in terms of value it's just not the same i'm going to give quartz a very solid 10 out of 10 when it comes to value and although i love granite and i would love to have granite even in my own home the general consensus is that it's the old guard it's not really what's new and current and for that reason i'm sorry granted but i have to give you a 7 out of 10. durability quartz is about as durable as you're ever going to need for regular wear and tear in your kitchen from my personal experience in the industry of over 20 years of selling solid surfaces i've never had a customer come back and complain that their quartz countertop was not durable enough considering all aspects of quartz together in terms of how scratch resistant and how heat resistant and how impact resistant and all that other stuff that we looked at i think that it's best to say that quartz is a good solid 8 out of 10 when it comes to overall durability granite is as durable as quartz in just about all aspects the only issue i have with granite in the durability factor is that it is susceptible to thermal shock but otherwise when you're dealing with granite you are dealing with a solid piece of rock and rock is as about as durable as you're going to get for any surface that's out there i'm going to give it a total grade of a 9 out of 10 in terms of overall durability so the final score is very very close i don't know if you've been keeping track and hopefully i didn't get my math wrong but quartz comes in at an 8.5 out of 10. and granite comes in at an 8.4 out of 10. if you are thinking about buying quartz you should check out this video because it tells you lots of details about how it's manufactured and the things you should be considering when you're purchasing that type of service

Channel: Mark Tobin Kitchen Design

Views: 68,056

Keywords: Quartz Countertop, Granite Countertop, mark tobin, Countertop, How to desogn a kitchen, kitchen designers, kitchen design professional

Id: -V9e6HiVOh8

Length: 10min 22sec (622 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 23 2022