10 Benefits of Quartz Countertops
With several quality countertop materials to choose from, deciding which one is right for your countertops can take some time. Quartz is one of the best options available if you're looking for beautiful countertops that will last you a long time. It's an engineered stone that combines natural quartz, a hard mineral, with other materials, such as resins and polymers. This man-made product gives you the look of natural stone while offering excellent durability and a great range of colour options too.
Quartz countertops offer some incredible benefits that make them a fantastic choice for your kitchen or perhaps your bathroom. Let's take a look at some of the best reasons to choose quartz countertops.
1. Beautiful Appearance
When you're choosing countertops for your home or business, you want them to look beautiful. Quartz has a sleek appearance that offers you a huge range of options. Because quartz countertops are engineered, there are various ways to manufacture them to affect their appearance. For example, quartz countertops containing quartz mineral with a coarser grain can make the finished product look flecked. It can be made to look like certain types of stone, such as granite or marble, and it can even have larger crystals in it.
2. Great Choice of Colours
Another way that the appearance of quartz countertops can differ is in colour. Different pigments can change the colour of quartz and create different patterns and textures too. If you take a look at our Stoneworx® range, you can see there are options ranging from the white Blanco Maple or marble-like Bianco Calacatta, through to darker colours such as Ocean Storm and Stellar Night. You can explore the colours that are available to find something that matches your tastes and the rest of your decor.
3. Excellent Durability
It's not all about looks when you're choosing the perfect countertops. Durability is important too because you want your countertops to last a long time. Fortunately, quartz is a very durable material. It's resistant to cracks and it's non-porous so it won't stain easily, either. It doesn't need to be sealed, unlike the natural stone of a granite countertop, which saves you time and money. Quartz is scratch-resistant and very hard - it can only be scratched by three other natural materials: diamond, sapphire, and topaz. Quartz is rated 7 out of 10 on the Mohs scale of hardness, whereas marble is between 3 and 5.
4. Lower Environmental Impact
The environmental impact of your home is something that you, like many other people, may be concerned about. With natural resources, the sustainability of the material that you use is something to think about. Quartz is a relatively environmentally friendly option for your home, with a lower environmental impact than some other options. Although quartz is mined, it's the most common material in the Earth's crust and it has less impact than mining some other natural materials.
5. Easy to Clean
No one wants to spend too long scrubbing their countertops, and you don't want them to stain too easily, either. Quartz countertops are easy to clean with just some mild soap and water, and a cloth. Quartz is resistant to stains too, with no need for sealing. The non-porous surface means that it's less likely to harbour bacteria too.
6. Consistency and Uniformity
Some people like the non-uniform look of stone like granite, which will look different with every piece that you use. However, if you want a more uniform, consistent look from your countertops, quartz is a good choice. It can be manufactured so that it has a more even appearance. While some might find the small imperfections in other materials charming, others would prefer the neater look of quartz. As well as changing its appearance, this can actually make repairs easier too. You can repair it in a way that the repair isn't as visible, which can be tough in other materials where you need to match the colour and pattern.
7. Affordable
Compared to other material options for your countertops, quartz is not considerably more expensive. In fact, its price can often compare to that of granite countertops. Both quartz and granite have their benefits, so either way, you get countertops that offer certain advantages while costing around the same amount.
8. Long-lasting
Thanks to their durability, you can expect quartz countertops to last a long time. That makes them a great investment. You most likely won't need to replace or even repair your quartz countertops for many years. Once your countertops are in place, they require very little maintenance, so you won't be spending a lot of time and money on their upkeep. Plus, they'll make your kitchen look good if you ever decide that you want to sell your home, potentially increasing the value of your property.
9. Get What You See
Another advantage of the consistent nature of the appearance of quartz is that you can order what you see in samples. When you look at samples, you can see what you're going to get. This isn't the case with natural stone options like marble and granite, where every piece is slightly different. While those materials do allow you to pick a certain colour or design, you can't choose exactly what they're going to look like in advance. Being able to do this with quartz means you can visualize your design more accurately.
10. A Popular and Impressive Option
If you're concerned about being on-trend at all, you can guarantee that your countertops will be in style if you choose quartz. Quartz has been a very popular choice for countertops for a long time, first becoming popular in Europe before it started to gain ground in North America. Your kitchen will look impressive to any guests you have over, and you'll love looking at your quartz countertops every day too.
Quartz is a wonderful option for your countertops. At Stoneworx®, we have a fantastic range of colour options to choose from to suit your home.
Contact us today to book an appointment to visit our incredible showroom.