Black granite/quartz worktops - MN jury - are they now dated?

[Loueytb3]

I am trying to win over my DH. I want a mix of pale and wood cupboards and cream or light coloured quartz worktops (with a bit of wood for the breakfast bar). He wants maple cupboards and black quartz/granite which is basically what we had in our last house.

I think black worktops are a bit dated now, but I'm not sure.

We are in a very hard water area so we will have an ongoing battle with limescale which clearly is more visible on black worksurfaces. DH says pale surfaces always look dirty. I am also not sure how pale cupboards and a pale worktop will look together.

Just wondering if anyone else has had this dilemma.

Yes, go pale.

Have you got catalogues and samples yet?

Not yet. We are going kitchen shopping on Friday so I am hoping that will help change DH's mind, but he can be quite fixed in his ideas. The only place we have been to look at so far was Porcelanosa (which we mainly went to to look at bathrooms) and they had mainly grey kitchens which we don't want. I want a warm room which isn't going to date.

We have grey quartz with a fleck. Cannot see any marks unless I get down to eye level.

We have dark granite for years and there are no water marks on it, however it’s not plain black, and I’ve seen the plain black granite look scaley around other sinks alright so I know what you are talking about.

The pale countertops are very nice and brighten up a kitchen, but don’t rule out grey cabinets you can get lovely warm grey colours now, they are nearly beige and they look really terrific with the light coloured worktops. Good luck. Just visit all the showrooms and hopefully you will find something you both like!

3luckystars - our previous kitchen was black quartz and it was an ongoing battle to clear the limescale marks around the sink. We have moved to an area with even harder water and the kettle scales up really really quickly, so I know it's going to be worse.

Ive black granite worktops and they are gorgeous and much admired. Make thr kitchen look very expensive. I've not got a problem with water marks and they have been in a year, I just give them a quick wipe with method daily granite cleaner.

For me, I think thr light ones will date more quickly as less practical.

We're renting now and the current kitchen has very pale silestone worktops which don't stain, I've been quite impressed with them. I'm not sure why light worktops would be less practical as long as they don't stain or chip?

I don't like near-black worktops and white
units. Looks like too much of a contrast to me, a bit like a piano. I do think there are some lovely grey quartzes out there... Seriously contemplating one of these for my own kitchen.

not sure about dated but they are a bugger to keep limescale free. Id go light.

I had a maple kitchen with black granite & Corian worktops in 1995. It was lovely, but you know, 22 years ago...

Go light - much nicer, and easier to keep looking good.

I think maple cabinets and black surfaces is quite an early 2000’s look in kitchen fashion terms. We pulled a similar look out of our kitchen. Black galaxy granite and all. Despite the room being very large (30ft x 18ft) with double aspect windows and plenty of light coming in, it was quite dark. The black worktops seemed to suck the light out of the room, despite being mega reflective and showing every drip, drop, ring and smear .

I don’t agree that pale surfaces look dirty. Like any surfaces, they’ll look great if you give them a wipe down every time you spill on them and give them a wipe before you go to bed. I have a warm, very pale creamy biscuity coloured Caesarstone now. It is much more practical and nowhere near as shiny. I know cooler, greyer colours are more fashionable but the room is East facing so benefitted from a smidge of warmth from a creamier coloured top. My kitchen is a much brighter and a nicer space to be in.

DuckOff - yes, this exactly. Our last kitchen was put in in 2007, clearly we were late to the maple/black granite party. I don't want a dark room. There is only one window in the kitchen (plus a side door) so it has the potential to be dark. This is the kind of thing I was thinking of

www.simon-taylor.co.uk/project/beaconsfield-2/

If you don't have limescale (we don't) do dark grey surfaces still mark a lot?

I’ve got silestone in Iron Bark. I was looking for a chocolatey brown colour and this looks lovely (I think )

I also have the silestone sink in Iron Bark too

I think everything dates. Black granite was trendy then oiled wood, Zinc, concrete, then Corian now white silestone.
I'd pick what I liked an accept it'll go out of fashion.

I've got marble look Silestone which I really like but have had Iroko and granite in other houses and liked them too.

This is my Iron Bark silestone

We've had black granite with a bit of sparkle in it with pale maple units and I hate it. I am aggrieved at the cost and wish I'd gone with my instinct for lighter. DH wanted black- a man thing.
The limescale round the taps is awful and even wiping the surface with a dishcloth leaves marks - we're very hard water area.

Oh and it's a small north facing kitchen with a small window. BIG mistake and cost thousands about 15 years back.

I've got white gloss units and Matt white corian, I did mine a couple of years ago and I love it! I had a wobble over black quartz but I'm really pleased I didn't go with it as I think it is about dated now.
However go with what you like best ultimately.
Whatever you do choose if light get samples and leave a couple of days with red wine, tea, curry stains to see how easy it is to clean!

I wrote on another post yesterday saying don't whatever you do have black granite. Worst thing I ever spent money on. It shows every finger mark, grease mark, water mark. I spend my life wiping and polishing. I'm at the point where it has to go.

I’ve seen the iron bark in real life and it has lovely tones to it.

I love the light quartz I think it’s very nice and would love it myself!

On a practical level black tops really suck the light out of a room.

Yes, black granite very passe now. Its all about the lighter colours now.

Here's my pale silestone/oak combo. We love it. Had black laminate previously and this is so much easier to keep clean.