Getting rid of black granite - am I mad?

[Ruralbliss]

Buying a new build and I'm not that into it as doesn't feel very 'me' - far too grown up and blingy in its features and decor.

One aspect is the black granite work surfaces in the kitchen. Two long runs at a right angle.

How daft would it be to replace them? Would they fetch a reasonable price second hand? Am I devaluing a house by taking out something I know to be high-end and desirable by others.

I don't intend living there for very long maybe 3-8 years.

I don't hate black granite but my taste in all my houses to-date as been skandi retro - lots of white, lots of wood, lots of vintage pieces, lots of colour but this place is very a la mode and grown-up.

@Bluntness100

Honestly, method black granite cleaner, spray on, wipe off, no buffing, job done, very simple and keeps it looking like new.

Plus it smells good.

I'm with you op, find black granite a bit... noveou riche in 2000s (especially coupled with those chrome shiny bar stools and white shiny tiles...!) If you don't like it and have spare cash, change it. What style and colour are the cabinets?

And if I could spell properly that'd have been better of course... 🙄

I wonder if granite varies then, because as long as the cloth used isn't greasy, I've never had a problem with keeping it clean. It looks smeared if DH just lifts a greasy dishcloth out of the bowl but if the cloth used to clean it had been rinsed it's fine.

Is it the sparkly stuff or quite plain? Think it depends on the rest of the kitchen and whether you can tone that down more easily. What are the tiles, doors, handles and splashbacks like?

I don't like black granite, especially anything sparkly or patterned, but it is very practical.

I removed mine, it was a pita to keep and reminded me of headstones. It also made my bright, spacious kitchen look gloomy. I sold it for a couple of hundred (there was about 11 linear metres), mostly because I couldn’t bear the thought of it going to landfill.

I've also got a kitchen full of the glitzy black stuff. I hate it. But this isn't a long term home and it is annoyingly practical, so I'm going to leave it for the first year and see how much I care after that.

Thinking of making other minor changes, like updating the handles to minimal black ones to give it a cleaner more cohesive look. As it's currently a mess of glitz and country kitchen.

What difference does it make? Whoever moves in is bound to want to rip out what's there and put their "stamp" on the kitchen.

I can see why you would want to get rid. In most kitchens it seems to completely dominate the room, it seems to suck you in so you don't notice anything else.
It's still seems popular though so you should be able to resell easily.

Sell it. Buyer collects after your kitchen fitters changed it.

Someone will buy it.

I've just been looking at the agents pics and might ask vendors where the kitchen is from as would like to extend the run if units round the corner onto a currently blank wall might also play around with the idea of creating a utility room.

I had very shiny black granite in a rental home and could never get it clean as every crumb and finger print showed up. Drove me spare. Also recall it being very unforgiving on crockery. Broke and chipped no end of dinner ware.

This one I think is a bit more matt and has more grey in it so might be ok.

It's certainly liveable with, non offensive on the eye and coordinates well with the shiny modern cupboards.

Maybe I'll find myself loving it once I've swished around in swanky environs for a while

I recently spent £3k replacing black granite with white Carrera marble quartz - best thing I ever did! That and spraying the units has completely transformed the kitchen. Why live with something you hate if you can afford to change it?

Thanks @Doublestar I bet that looks fantastic. I guess spending £3k to replace something not knackered is unfamiliar territory to me esp if not actually adding value. My concern was would I be binning something lots of other people see as sought after therefore paying £££ to devalue the house but the responses from this thread show it's a bit of a marmite option.

I'll not be hugely flush although this move is a downshift and sees me spending far less on travel costs but my kids' dad will stop child maintenance soon so quite hard to figure out what my finances will be or how much I'll have available to spend on a house which was only built a couple of years ago.

Every £ spent on the house is a £ less spent on holidays/cars/paying off mortgage early so need to think with my head (for once) rather than my heart.

@ApplesinmyPocket

I absolutely love my black granite so yes I think you're mad it's amazing for rolling pastry on for a start and it looks good to me!

(I didn't choose it, just happened to be in the new house we bought 20 years ago - and it still looks just as good now as it did then, NOT true for the also very nice solid pine worktops in the utility room which has not aged well.)

But if you don't like it, you don't like it. I really loathe the current trend for plain white tiles in kitchens and bathrooms which make everywhere look exactly like a public toilet. But most other people do it seems, so.....

I hope you can sell it. There might be a market for it. I know my neighbours (identical house to ours) threw out all their black granite a few years ago in favour of 'distressed' wood, and I would have LOVED to buy it from them in case ours ever gets chipped... but it was whisked away by skip before I got up the courage to ask !

Glad I'm not the only one to define some current trends as 'circa 1970s public convenience'. Those shiny white brick-like tiles, and work surfaces like the old concrete stone chip partitions in the cubicles....ewww. I'm sure you're young and gorgeous, but maybe in my case I'm just a bit too old and cranky to be 'on trend'.

@RockingMyFiftiesNot

I chose what is best for cooking rather than what looks a certain way.

Precisely why we chose granite!

Sorry, I was talking about induction hobs there, not black granite worktops.

I don’t cook on my worktop

I hate black granite so i would 100% remove it. However i love cream granite with tiny sparkles!.

Just a thought - for a temporary fix, but get some huge chopping boards? Ikea used to do one nearly as wide as a worktop.

...and they still do www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/laemplig-chopping-board-bamboo-00309829/

I don't think black granite is bling - think its pretty old fashioned - 1980s/90s. I wouldn't want it. There are web companies who recycle/resell kitchens so I'd sell it through them. I wouldn't want it either.

Like everything these days kitchen worktops have 'trends'
Black granite was seen as the height of sophistication but not these days. Everyone wants composite stone either in a white/grey marble effect - Carrara (mid range price) or if you want to blow your budget go for the Calcutta effect.
At the end of the day it is personal preference natural granite is more high maintenance than the composites.
Regarding the selling of your granite unfortunately when a kitchen is ripped out 98% of the materials do end up being skipped and that does include the worktop. It's very difficult to remove large slabs and keep them intact and also those worktops have been templated and are not bog standard one size fits all.
If you want to be clever, consider re-using the material for outdoor use, treads and risers for outside, to remove the polished surface, ask your local stone yard to acid etch it.
Whatever you do please don't attempt to cut the material yourself, the shards/splinters will literally fly and do more damage than you can imagine.

We have granite but not black. It is very light coloured with mostly grey inclusions.

It does not show up crumbs and streaks. DH makes a cleaner in a spray bottle and we use that. He found the recipe somewhere but I don't remember it. We used on dark granite also at our last home.

I love granite for kneading bread, rolling anything out etc. I also like its durability as you can put a hot pot down by accident and not hurt it, unlike other countertops.

Thanks all really appreciate all these wise through a and insights.

Really love those wooden countertop wide chopping boards @tinselvestsparklepants so many thanks for suggesting and looking them up for me and e added to my growing IKEA basket!

Tbh the whole house is v much not my taste. The folks who are selling it are older and have much more grown up ( and for grown up read 'slightly outdated and mumsy') taste - lots of beige carpets, big curtains, magnolia walls and 1800s antiques.

I'm planning to get all walls painted white, get some feature lamps hung in stairwells, bin heavy curtains and possibly have plantation blinds fitted if funds allow.

Really good idea to re-use the black granite outside if I ever replace with something lighter.

In the meantime though I'm looking forward to trivet & place mat free living as never had a work surface you could put a hot pan straight down on.

Off to Google second hand kitchen websites!

I think you’d be mad, yes.

I have black granite and it is practically bomb proof. I love to cook and our Indian sauces stain everything but not this. It is so easy to look after - wipe with a soapy washing up sponge, dry with an e-cloth. It was recommended to me by every kitchen designer I spoke to, and it doesn’t look dated because it’s so plain. I have Shaker doors painted in a taupe colour, and bronze cup handles.

You don’t need a drainer if you use a dishwasher!

Glad you liked the chopping board. If you use it upside down, the lip bit goes over the edge of the worktop, so covers even more.