Corian, marble or granite work top?

[Roshbegosh]

Corian appeals because of the moulded sink possibility but would granite or marble be better? Any advice MNers?

[Roshbegosh]

Anyone?

[MaccaPaccaismyNemesis]

No idea, but I started a thread about the same thing! My mum and dad are after recommendations for a make of worktop, and asked for Mumsnet opinion to be gathered. Sorry for the hijack

[MaccaPaccaismyNemesis]

Have you ever heard of Minerva? I tried to explain that MN was more about naice ham and dragon butter but I'm being a good daughter and doing what I'm told

[ZenNudist]

I have quartz like this

It's great. I wouldn't get granite or marble as it can mark. I think you can get resin sealed granite (don't know about marble) which is harder wearing.

Depends on what colour and finish you like.

[rockybalboa]

Friends have corian and I proper luvs their moulded sink. But it is b expensive!

[Elliptic5]

I have Corian and after 8 years it is covered in tiny scratches - not very visible in our north facing kitchen but it would be a nightmare in a sunny one.

[adagio]

I have Maia which is a resin a bit like corian only thinner (corian is full depth resin, Maia is 4mm resin mounted on a core like laminate normally is). Mine is black with speckles.

It scratches like a bugger and requires enthusiastic/careful cleaning with washing up liquid, rinse, then polish off with e cloth. I do sort of still like it but it is a total PITA.

I avoided granite, as polished granite etches really easily with acid (red wine, vinegar, tomato based sauces including tinned stuff like beans, citrus etc). I feel I just moved the problem!

From what i can gather, paler colour resin's (corian, maia etc) are much, much more forgiving than dark colours; laminate is actually the most genuinely indestructible (and worst case, is cheap enough to replace if you really knacker it). The rest of the market is varying degrees of expense and compromise! I do still like the look of my counters, but if I had known the amount of faff I would probably have gone for granite (and faff) as opposed to resins (and faff) as I think the real granite potentially tips the balance on looks - I chose mine for my perceived ease of use and cleaning, which was bollocks.

[Roshbegosh]

Is Corian more expensive than the other options then? I don't like the sound of the scratches either.

[BendyBusBuggy]

I think granite can crack if you drop a saucepan on it, but maybe I'm imagining things.

[MinnesotaNice]

I have quartz as well and highly recommend it. Paired it with an under-mounted stainless steel sink. Virtually no upkeep required.

[BendyBusBuggy]

Just looked it up. Marble can stain. You can also get stainless steel and glass. Apparently glass is the easiest to care for out of the lot (provided you don't drop that cast iron saucepan on it...)

[Jackthebodiless]

I love my granite. Love it. I stroke it and sometimes lie on it.
It's been in 2 years and is as good as new, and we're a messy, clumsy family. The only thing it doesn't like is oil which temporarily discolours it, but eventually it seeps in and disappears. To clean I wipe over with floor wipes, then polish with Mr Muscle window cleaning spray and a glass tea-towel.
Did I mention I love it?

[Onefewernow]

I LOVED the granite- black with brown speckles- in our last kitchen. It was lovely. I mourn it.

Not a scratch on it.

[littleredsquirrel]

Marble is more fashionable than granite at the moment but it does etch. We are about to put honed marble tiles in our kitchen and I stain tested the samples by sitting tomato purée and various other substances on them for a few days. Masses of etching but no stains.

Apparently many people etch their marble as soon as it goes in using lemon juice so that right from the outset its etched fairly evenly.

[MrsAMerrick]

Bendy, I loved the look of coloured glass for a worktop, until I saw a demo one in our local John Lewis. From 10ft away it looked amazing - big expanse of shocking pink with a real "wow" factor. Close up it was absolutely covered in tiny scratches which really showed - in our south facing kitchen it would have looked dreadful.
A good friend has off-white Corian, which is really badly stained. Dont know if it could clean up easily as she is even more slovenly than me, but it's tea coloured in lots of places!
We went for granite, which is a doddle to look after although I am careful with lemons, tomatoes etc. We give it a quick wipe over each night ( and I mean literaly one wipe, takes total of 90 secs), and it looks amazing. Can take hot pans etc which Corian can't.
I really liked the look of Silestone, but dh vetoed it on the grounds that, if we were going to spend a fortune on a worktop, then it shoukd be "real" iykwim.

[HermioneWeasley]

I have granite and 4 years in it looks like new. Not a fan of the look of corian

[fairisleknitter]

Granite (flecked black, not my choice) in ours and I'm impressed with its durability.

[soundevenfruity]

If you like curry avoid corian. It stains so easily.

[Longdistance]

Nooooooooo, so many decisions.

We're gonna knock through our kitchen, diner, downstairs toilet to make a bigger kitchen. My dh worksin the building trade, and has said corian is a bit, well, meh.

I'm hoping for granite. Anything that doesn't scratch or need much cleaning is on my list.

Need to choose a kitchen too.

[MrsAMerrick]

There was a thread on here recently suggesting that granite will be the avocado bathroom of the future. I don't care, I love my granite. It looks amazing, nothing seems to damage it, will take hot pans straight from the hob/oven and cleans easily. The only occasional problem is that we are south facing and in the summer the sun came in at an angle and reflected off the surface of the granite. A strategically placed newspaper sorted that out!

[Littlefish]

Have you looked at caesarstone? I absolutely love my worksurface. It's less patterned than granite, and is available in more colours. However, it's cheaper than corian.

[JugglingChaotically]

My sister in law swears by soap stone.
Really durable. Looks great.

[GuinevereOfTheRoyalCourt]

"Is Corian more expensive than the other options then?"

Yes and no. It depends. Darker coloured corian is usually more expensive than light colours (white is the cheapest), and it's often the opposite for stone/quartz. Also, quartz prices can vary depending on the exchange rate with the country that it comes from.

We went for Maia because I wanted white (I couldn't really tell the difference between it and Corian but it worked out a lot cheaper for our kitchen layout). Any of the stones in white would have been astronomically expensive at the time. Like corian, Maia does "stain", but they aren't real stains as they can always be cleaned out with Cif and a bit of elbow grease. It still looks perfect a couple of years on and isn't scratched at all because I take upmost care of it. But… I do now wish I'd paid that bit more and gone for something like silestone or caesarstone! I guess I just prefer the feel of cold worktops...

[Creamycoolerwithcream]

I've got Baltic brown coloured granite and love it.

[kmini]

Any views on silastone?