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Old 02-21-2013, 06:35 PM
justsomeguy justsomeguy is offline
 
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Default What's cheaper, granite, quartz or Corian

So, getting shipped out of town by my employer and my realtor has suggested we upgrade our counter tops before listing the house. Just wondering what folks experience is in terms of price? I want something that looks good but not overly concerned about super long term durability.

I've checked on-line but prices are all over the place, one article says granite is cheaper, next one says quartz, etc. I'm just looking for your basic stone, nothing fancy.
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Old 02-21-2013, 06:40 PM
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Granite is probably your best bet, maybe not cheapest( don't know prices in the fort) but probably easier to get.
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Old 02-21-2013, 06:44 PM
cosmocreeper06 cosmocreeper06 is offline
 
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Default Appointment set.

We just did the run around. Looked at the real thing and then found something better. Phone Granite Transformations. Have them come in and give you the show and tell. Goes right over your present tops and looks the same. Have two friends that have done it and they look great. We are doing it for the same reasons..selling.
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Old 02-21-2013, 07:00 PM
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I put in some LG brand quartz and like its strengths, but also have some reservations on if I'd spend that much again due to some of its less agreeable qualities (this would apply to granite as well as quartz).

For one its cold to lean on the eating bar, you also become very aware that putting down glassware, plates or ceramics too hard and they'll break. I also worry about which will break (counter or pot) when heaving around Mrs Cabers beloved enamelled cast iron cookware. It sure looks nice though, can't stain it and its super hygienic. Theres trade offs for sure though.
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Old 02-21-2013, 07:09 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by justsomeguy View Post
So, getting shipped out of town by my employer and my realtor has suggested we upgrade our counter tops before listing the house. Just wondering what folks experience is in terms of price? I want something that looks good but not overly concerned about super long term durability.

I've checked on-line but prices are all over the place, one article says granite is cheaper, next one says quartz, etc. I'm just looking for your basic stone, nothing fancy.
No issues- Tell the realtor to arrange it and tell them whatever they spend will come off of their commission-
Then it will be done to the Realtor's high standard

I might check with local builders to see what they may have excess to their needs.
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Old 02-21-2013, 07:27 PM
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Default Quartz or corian

Hi my wife is a senior interior designer at a place here in edmonton. She swears by quartz or corian over granite as granite can crack, needs attention and maintainence and can become a breeding ground for bacteria. It needs to be sealed every 6 or so months , it's a hassle to enure it is doing "we'll"
It is also a natural product and can not be duplicated and it will look different on each countertop. Quartz is man made can be duplicated easily and does not need to be oiled, sealed etc.
Generally we push for quartz countertops for our clients
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Old 02-21-2013, 07:58 PM
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Is there a Home Depot in the Fort? If there is they will quote you on all three installed. Prices vary greatly with colour and the edge profile makes a difference too. Just had all my tops replaced with Corian. Took 5 weeks from the time I ordered it to installation.
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Old 02-21-2013, 08:08 PM
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I work for an architectural firm, and we do a TON of multifamily work. (1000+ units a year) I don't do many single family homes unless thier huge.

Granite is nice - but seems to be losing some popularity.

We still see a lot of clients using laminate tops - for cost reasons.
I did laminate in my own home this spring - with a pretty high-end product, but it is laminate nonetheless. Link below

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=134231

I don't have much exposure to quartz, but I hear good things. I'm doing a high-end golf course clubhouse and we're about to install quartz bar countertops - will be interested to see how it turns out.

For corian - some people really like it, but for me, I'm kinda meh about it.
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Old 02-21-2013, 08:58 PM
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concrete
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Old 02-21-2013, 09:28 PM
Winch101 Winch101 is offline
 
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Default Laminate

There are some awesome laminates look like stone

In fort Mac laminate has to be the cheapest. M

Look up Wilson art ,they have a product that looks like stone

I did a rent with it came out great .
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Old 02-21-2013, 10:12 PM
diamond k diamond k is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by calebwest1987 View Post
Hi my wife is a senior interior designer at a place here in edmonton. She swears by quartz or corian over granite as granite can crack, needs attention and maintainence and can become a breeding ground for bacteria. It needs to be sealed every 6 or so months , it's a hassle to enure it is doing "we'll"
It is also a natural product and can not be duplicated and it will look different on each countertop. Quartz is man made can be duplicated easily and does not need to be oiled, sealed etc.
Generally we push for quartz countertops for our clients
Sorry this information is not entirely accurate. I build executive homes and have ever had a granite counter top crack, is not a breeding ground for bacteria and as far as I am concerned granite is definitly the best value of the three. I personally hate corian and quartz is nice but not a good investment for what your needs are. For resale I would do a nice laminate if the homeowners are that picky they will probably change it out anyway and would feel better about tearing out laminate. I would just tell the agent to provide a credit for counter tops and you can install before possesion if they prefer.
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Old 02-21-2013, 10:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by diamond k View Post
Sorry this information is not entirely accurate. I build executive homes and have ever had a granite counter top crack, is not a breeding ground for bacteria and as far as I am concerned granite is definitly the best value of the three. I personally hate corian and quartz is nice but not a good investment for what your needs are. For resale I would do a nice laminate if the homeowners are that picky they will probably change it out anyway and would feel better about tearing out laminate. I would just tell the agent to provide a credit for counter tops and you can install before possesion if they prefer.
Looks like Diamond K and I are on the same page.

Here's the granite looking laminate I put in my own home as part of a total gut and tear in the link I posted above.

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Old 02-21-2013, 10:40 PM
Ceilidh69 Ceilidh69 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by diamond k View Post
Sorry this information is not entirely accurate. I build executive homes and have ever had a granite counter top crack, is not a breeding ground for bacteria and as far as I am concerned granite is definitly the best value of the three. I personally hate corian and quartz is nice but not a good investment for what your needs are. For resale I would do a nice laminate if the homeowners are that picky they will probably change it out anyway and would feel better about tearing out laminate. I would just tell the agent to provide a credit for counter tops and you can install before possesion if they prefer.
X2 - Thanks for that - I have had granite in three houses, it does not crack and is not a bacterial hazard. Granite is a very personal choice - so if you do go with granite pick something mainstream that is not too showy.
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Old 02-21-2013, 10:53 PM
Clgy_Dave2.0 Clgy_Dave2.0 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ceilidh69 View Post


X2 - Thanks for that - I have had granite in three houses, it does not crack and is not a bacterial hazard. Granite is a very personal choice - so if you do go with granite pick something mainstream that is not too showy.
X3 on that. Over 30 years in the tile and granite trade. Granite is your best bet. But to drop $4-6,000 on a granite upgrade alone just to sell the house..I don't think you'll get your money's worth. I would take Diamond's suggestion as well.
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Old 02-21-2013, 10:55 PM
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Just to add to the above, I don't believe granite needs to be sealed either normally. I think the poster may have been thinking slate. I think slate requires a sealer to be applied in most circumstances.
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Old 02-21-2013, 11:14 PM
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Thanks for the info guys........there is no Home Depot in town so I can't just run out and get a quote. I've got messages out to a couple of local businesses but have not heard back from them.....life in a boom town!!!

My problem is 18 months ago we bought a 20 year old larger house in the nice area of town, spent $100k on reno's with the intention of living here long term. The day I took off at noon for the final inspection on my basement reno my Director says to me "you know we might be getting transferred to Calgary in a few months!!!" Needless to say my reno's pretty much came to a stop. So now I've got a house half upgraded, still needs new flooring and countertops, but due to size, area, etc is close to a $900k-$1M house (don't get excited, that's not a lot up here).

General consensus is houses in that price range need the granite, hardwood, etc. I know if the right person walks through my house, see's the space, layout, back yard, etc they will jump at it just like we did 2 years ago.....but the previous owners tried to sell for 2 years due to the majority of the buyers wanting the house completed with high end stuff. We've gone 80% of the way with the upgrades, and our agent (who we used to buy the place) was blown away with the changes we had made...but she looked at the vintage 90's lino in the kitchen and said "you've got new stainless appliances, painted walls, re-finished cabinetry with all new hardware, but all I see is the lino and grey-pink laminate counter-tops". Her suggestion is to do the counter-tops with a back splash to sell the wives and the floors won't matter.

Like I said, not really concerned about long term durability, looking for good cost and best sell-ability. I might look into the high end laminate as an alternative.
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Old 02-22-2013, 06:56 AM
JB_AOL JB_AOL is offline
 
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Honestly, Granite is such a personal thing. There are way too many options, and it can either make or break the "look".

We are building so we just went through this whole thing.

I'd consider looking at the engineered granite (quartz). Colors are more consistant, and usually a little more subdued (remember not everyone likes the leapard stripe granite). Yet it still has most of the advantages of granite.

The prices are the same, but I think if you are conservative with your color choice, you'll probably sell easier than with granite.
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Old 02-22-2013, 08:25 AM
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if it is for the look for re-sale, go with a 3/4" granite instead of 1-1/4", will save you a bundle and the majority of people won't notice.
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Old 02-22-2013, 08:56 AM
bang_on_sk bang_on_sk is offline
 
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We went with a product that looks a lot like granite or corian, but it's actually MDF thats been hand-painted to look like stone, then clear coated. It fools people all the time, and cost the same as a high-end laminate.

This was in Regina, and I don't know if it'd be available in Ft Mac. It was a whole lot more customisable than the other options, basically the guy showed us samples, we tweaked it to our liking, he did up a test piece and we approved it.

It's great stuff, apparently once it's cured (takes a while) you can put a pot on it right off the stove with no ill effects (have not tried it).
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Old 02-22-2013, 09:16 AM
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I have worked in the granite business installing and fabricating counter tops, tub surrounds, etc. In my opinion granite is the way to go for price, as corian and quarts can be more expencive. I personaly to not like the way Granite Transformations does there fabrication, I have personaly seen and experienced the amount of callbacks for service. If you want good service try Urban Granite in Edmonton. Darrel and Mike are great to deal with and stand behind there work 100%. I personaly would stay away from Granitworx in Edmonton, as there are way to many shortcuts being made . there is a reason homes by avi dropped them.
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Old 02-22-2013, 09:22 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by justsomeguy View Post
I want something that looks good but not overly concerned about super long term durability.

.
If it's an upgrade to sell it get granite. I think quartz is actually superior. Much stronger, more durable, less upkeep, and looks as good. We just put it in our kitchen. HOWEVER, granite is more known to home buyers and has more prestige to the uninformed, so that's what I'd get to move the house. We put granite in the condo we own in Edmonton and will probably sell some time, for that reason.

And get a traditional, conservative pattern, not something unique that you happen to love. You need it to appeal to the widest swath of people possible.

Note about discount granite. You can get granite from China that is much cheaper than from the usual places. It's cheaper because it's thinner than standard granite. It's OK if you are only looking to move the house. The drawback is that when you order it, that's when they put the order in to China, so it takes a really long time to arrive. Ours took like 6 months! That timeline may not fit your move plans. We got ours from Granite Direct. We actually got our high quality quartz through Costco (though they really just send you to a company they have a deal with. You don't actually deal with Costco after the initial contact)

Last edited by Okotokian; 02-22-2013 at 09:27 AM.
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Old 02-22-2013, 10:08 PM
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Guys,

Thanks for all the advice....I think I'm going to look into some basic granite, as solid a color as I can find in medium grey. I agree with the comments about quartz, a couple places we're looking at (builds or re-sales) have quartz and the boss prefers it, cost or not.

Okotoks eh........I'll be moving to your neck of the woods in July. Made the mistake of driving down the Deerfoot and up Crowchild between 3-5pm when we were in Cgy last summer scoping the city out....the wife was in near tears with the cars blasting by at 120, swerving all over the place with all the on/off ramps.

Next day we got up and took a leisurely drive down to Okotoks around 10:30 in the morning, did some shopping, the wife went to the quilt store, wandered around an empty Costco, had a nice lunch, drove around looking at houses and were back at our hotel by 3pm before rush hour. The wife was hooked and there was no turning back, Okotoks it is. Have been watching houses for 6 months now and about to pull the pin in the next month or so once the inventory builds up.
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Old 02-22-2013, 10:53 PM
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Granite is by far the best option. If you look at a Labrador Black or Galaxy Black in a leather finish it will look great and appeal to many. The leather finish is great and looks like a huge upgrade and it isn't...
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Old 02-23-2013, 08:15 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by calebwest1987 View Post
Hi my wife is a senior interior designer at a place here in edmonton. She swears by quartz or corian over granite as granite can crack, needs attention and maintainence and can become a breeding ground for bacteria. It needs to be sealed every 6 or so months , it's a hassle to enure it is doing "we'll"
It is also a natural product and can not be duplicated and it will look different on each countertop. Quartz is man made can be duplicated easily and does not need to be oiled, sealed etc.
Generally we push for quartz countertops for our clients
Stone type countertops are the latest fashion. Won't be long before something else replaces them. Not very practical for a woman who takes her kitchen seriously, but then who does any more.


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Old 02-23-2013, 08:46 AM
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By the way CONGRATULATIONS on getting transfered out of FT Mac.
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Old 02-23-2013, 11:04 AM
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Actually we enjoy living here, have been here for a decade. Infrastructure is starting to catch up and we've got/are building some amazing rec facilities. If you're raising a family and stay away from the pubs/casino/strip clubs it's no different than living in any other medium size city. Tons of outdoor stuff, one of the best ranges I've ever seen and good job opportunities.

I've lived in small towns for 20 years and am use to the life of having limited shopping. We go to Edm every month or so, do some shopping, have a nice dinner, take in a show/hockey game/concert then go back home. Hence why we're moving to Okotoks not Calgary proper.

Now, if things had continued booming like they were in 07 it would be different story. The city was becoming a commuter town......and it appears to be starting to happen again. We've decided to go as both my wife and I's roles are being transferred to Calgary, and my employer is starting to transfer all the "senior technical" work as well, leaving behind mainly day to day operations support roles. Nothing wrong with that work but I've done it for almost 20 years, want something different more focused on longer term, complex work.
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Old 02-23-2013, 01:50 PM
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If you go with granite, get a decent quality granite and have it installed by someone with a good reputation. Don't cheap out.... if it's a nice house with recent renovations chances are the buyers will know what to look for and will spot a compromise. You don't need the most expensive granite, look at some comparable houses to get a feel for what your market will support and use as good as, or better than, counter tops as the comps you've viewed. Also depending on your kitchen reno pick a granite that is not too busy or consider quartz that fits with the look with what you've created. As far as cost descent granite is pretty much the same cost as quartz.

Research the little mom and pop shops, or local Alberta businesses as they are priced as good as or better than the big box shops. Ikea is an option as well. Good luck.
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Old 01-29-2017, 10:53 PM
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It is Granite.
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Old 01-30-2017, 10:15 AM
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Read post 21
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Old 01-31-2017, 08:56 AM
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We hummed and hawed a long time but went with granite. Never regretted it since.
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