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Cookieforme
Citizen
Username: Cookieforme
Post Number: 7
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, March 5, 2006 - 6:50 pm: | 
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Does anyone know a good, relatively cheap place to buy Silestone countertops? Any thoughts on Silestone versus granite? We are thinking about Silestone for our kitchen because of the lack of maintenance that they advertise and the more uniform look versus granite. Does anyone have first-hand experience? |
Peter
Supporter
Username: Peter
Post Number: 218
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, March 5, 2006 - 9:00 pm: |
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I have granite. My contractor made the comment that Silestone (and other synthetics), always look manufactured -- that is, fake. Every six months we scrub down our counter and spray granite sealer on it. Takes about 15 minutes. |
Zach Williams
Citizen
Username: Babyzach
Post Number: 21
Registered: 2-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, March 5, 2006 - 9:33 pm: |
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I'm pro granite...looks great and good for resale to boot. |
Virtual It Girl
Citizen
Username: Shh
Post Number: 4114
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, March 5, 2006 - 10:05 pm: |
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I have silestone in my bathrooms and love it. Ordered from ecounters.com. I posted about this a month or so ago, if you want more details. |
kevin
Supporter
Username: Kevin
Post Number: 626
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Monday, March 6, 2006 - 9:43 am: |
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I have a black Silestone countertop in my basement bathroom and absolutely hate it. It spots and stains instantly. There are always hazy marks around the faucets. After cleaning it, I've tried waxing it which helped bead the water - tried stone cleaner/sealer which helped bring out the color, but worked about as well as the wax.
Unless there is something that I am missing or I just have a defective piece, I would never buy it again.
VIG, what color Silestone do you have?
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Pdg
Citizen
Username: Pdg
Post Number: 597
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Monday, March 6, 2006 - 9:46 am: |
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kevin, I have "hazy" marks around faucets on the granite in my bathroom. I think its the S.O. crappy water - do you live in S.Orange? |
Jennifer Pickett
Citizen
Username: Jpickett
Post Number: 176
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Monday, March 6, 2006 - 10:36 am: |
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For us, granite was 30% cheaper. I would recommend getting quotes for both for that reason, that helped us choose. I took a drawing of my counters with detailed measurements to Jaeger in Madison and was able to get quotes on different materials from that. |
melicious
Citizen
Username: Melicious
Post Number: 370
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Monday, March 6, 2006 - 12:43 pm: |
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Zodiaq (at Lowe's) is the same sort of thing,but I LOVED the Mercury Grey that they offer.
Granite can be cheaper depending on what color.
PS - Why is Corian so much $? It was more than Granite - go figure!
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Kitchenguru
Citizen
Username: Kitchenguru
Post Number: 21
Registered: 9-2005
| | Posted on Monday, March 6, 2006 - 3:11 pm: |
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Hi Cookie,
Unless you are doing a "modern" look, I would stick with a natural material. Silestone is usually more money than granite. The Silestone people are the ones who came up with the granite maintainance issues. I don't know anyone who actually seals their granite or scratched or burned it. Your house may fall down too but don't hold your breath. Most of the clients I've talked with prefer granite or marble(not usually recommended in the kitchen). This area is mostly very traditional so it's better for resale. The question is do you want,polished, honed, river-washed etc. on your granite finish.
I don't know if this creates spotting, staining, cracking etc. I need to start another thread on that topic(never ask the people selling it)but supposedly polished granite is out. |
blackcat
Citizen
Username: Blackcat
Post Number: 495
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Monday, March 6, 2006 - 4:43 pm: |
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We have the Stellar Snow Silestone in the kitchen and it looks fabulous. Nice and sparkly. I would recommend Counter Revolutions in Passaic. |
Virtual It Girl
Citizen
Username: Shh
Post Number: 4122
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, March 6, 2006 - 4:47 pm: |
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We have stellar snow in our girls' bathroom. With an undermounted white sink and creamy-buff painted wood cabinets, it still looks fairly traditional.
Our bath is stellar night, with black painted wood cabinets. I think any black, whether granite or silestone or other non-matte finish will show water spots. I try to wipe it down, but it only looks slick for so long. I still like it however. |
Daniel M. Jacobs, PP, AICP
Supporter
Username: Conrail
Post Number: 100
Registered: 1-2004
| | Posted on Monday, March 6, 2006 - 9:20 pm: |
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We have silestone (Diana Pearl) and love it. Completely maintenance free. We used Central Bath and Kitchen on Central Ave in West Orange. Janine is great (and a former plumber)! |
ASR
Citizen
Username: Asr
Post Number: 19
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - 6:30 pm: |
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granite is better than silestone. Lasts longer, looks nicer, and is easier to clean.
Babyzach, what kind of countertops do you have in your house? |
SOSully
Citizen
Username: Sullymw
Post Number: 1176
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006 - 4:29 pm: |
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what happens if you don't seal granite countertops? |
Pdg
Citizen
Username: Pdg
Post Number: 621
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006 - 8:58 pm: |
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I believe bacteria will grow - it is porous, which is what you are sealing.
Jeanine is great and is currently planning our tiny kitchen space for new cabinets.
Anyone have granite that is other than polished in their kitchen? How is it to clean? I would think polished would be the best/easiest to seal and clean. Any comments? |
Kitchenguru
Citizen
Username: Kitchenguru
Post Number: 27
Registered: 9-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 5:01 pm: |
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Sealing granite maintains the polished finish.
It will not inhibit bacteria. Corian is said to be antimicrobial.
Here's some interesting reading on bacteria in your kitchen.
http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/sn_arch/9_14_96/bob2.htm
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kevin
Citizen
Username: Eloso
Post Number: 87
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, March 16, 2006 - 1:28 pm: |
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From my understanding granite has two issues that engineered stone does not have. Since it is rock it is porus, so there is some possiblity that you could stain it with a liquid (oil for example). If you maintain your sealer and clean up your spills right away it shouldn't matter. Engineered stone - being rock fragments sealed with plastic - doesn't have this problem.
The second concern is that since granite is natural then your color is unique to the rock that was cut. So you will get slight color variations and replacement of chipped or broken slabs is unlikely.
I doubt that granite or silestone has any difference in the life of the product, but since silestone is only a couple of decades old we will have to wait and see. |
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