Materials Compared Articles
Granite, quartz, quartzite, marble and porcelain each behave differently at a stove, a sink and a bar top, and picking between them comes down to how you actually use the room. These articles put two materials or two finishes side by side and explain where each one wins. Read a few before you pick a slab, not after.
Choosing a countertop for a rental you will not live in
What belongs on a kitchen counter you will never cook on? When the house is a rental and the kitchen belongs to whoever signs the next lease, the answer is dif…
Read the article →Prefab countertops vs a custom slab
A prefab granite counter from a big-box store is sold by standard length, and the piece that shows up is one you never saw in person. The pattern will be close…
Read the article →Honed, polished and leathered: choosing a finish
The same grey granite can look like three different stones depending on whether its surface is polished, honed or leathered. The gloss that catches the eye fir…
Read the article →Fantasy Brown and Super White: why some quartzite acts like marble
A glass of orange juice left overnight on a Fantasy Brown island can leave a dull ring by morning, the kind of mark most people expect only from marble. Quartz…
Read the article →Quartz vs porcelain: two engineered surfaces, two different jobs
A Houston counter that takes afternoon sun or a grill's heat needs a different surface than one that stays under the kitchen lights. That one question, sun and…
Read the article →Quartzite vs marble: the veining without the etching
Set a piece of Taj Mahal quartzite beside a Carrara marble sample and the two are hard to tell apart from across the room. Run a hand across both and the quest…
Read the article →Granite vs quartz for a Houston kitchen
Granite and quartz can arrive in nearly the same warm grey, which leaves the choice to everything the color does not show. The two solve different problems, an…
Read the article →Level 1 granite explained: what the level means and what it does not
On a Houston yard's price sheet, the level printed beside a granite name moves the number more than the color does. Level is a word yards use to sort slabs by…
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