need brually honest opinions about granite worktops please

[wannaBeWhateverIWannaBe]

so as we've been unable to sell the house we're having a new kitchen instead .

And I really, really, fancy having black stargalaxy (I think it's called?) granite.

But I'm concerned about the durability of it. mil reckons that granite chips relly easily. have no idea how she knows this as she doesn't have it, but I suspect her knowledge is based on the jealousy of her sister who had them in their kitchen, and, in her words, "no-one should pay that much for a kitchen". I've also heard though that it stains really easily and is hard to keep clean as you can't use detergent or anything.

so, mn'ers, I need brutally honest opinions before I go and spend vast sums of money on this kitchen...

I had it. It was awful, it scratched and when you wiped it you hd to buff it up with a dry cloth or it would smear. It did look great though

Oh granite's terribly 2006 darling.

Corian's the in thing now. Or special fancy posh concrete (no it looks really nice in the up market kitchen show rooms).

My mother is re-doing her kitchen and I have spent far too much time looking at pictures/feeling little poxy trial squares of work top/discussing the merits of the various options.

IMO Corian, bloody expensive but everso loverly!

agree with Sidey - hard to buff up but looks fab when it is!

Think we've got granite. It's great, doesn't show any dirt. Have broken loads of glasses and mugs since we moved here though.

solid granite is great... had it in my old house where i worked.

we never had any chips.... but there were always water marks around the sink (hard water area)

it was a VERY expensive kitchen though so bound to be the best solid granite avaliable

i've a granite table and it is a pain in the *e for smears - you need to wipe it with a special cloth to keep water marks off. woudl HATE to have all tops like it

Corian was around when we chose our new kitchen about 3 years ago but we were advised to go with granite - cant remember why though.
As long as you have two E cloths (one to use damp to clean and the other to dry) you'll always be able to keep it clean and smear -free and lovely looking.

I dont have black - I could imagine if its too uniform it may be noticible if it gets scratched.

Ours has 3 or 4 colours in it, has been in about 7 years and is SUPERB no chips or scratches - it was a great investment. I wipe it over with a damp cloth and polish it with Mr Sheen. When they installed it I asked what would damage it and they reeled off a list of about 20 things - personally I think the fitter was just having a laugh as ive had no problems despite having dropped some of those things on it!

Are you meant to do something to it? Didn't realise.

\lini{http://www.ukaffordablegranite.com/granites/large/mega_dakota/index.htm\Our one looks like this - inherited with house} Never noticed it looking smeared

Bum

Message withdrawn

the polish hting woud piss me off

We inherited granite worktops from previous owners. Not pitch plack, have got a few other shades in. Find it excellent - easy to clean, doesn't chip. White vinegar is good for cleaning water marks around taps.

We have stargalaxy black granite and really like it. The sparkly bits make it more interesting and 'bright' (if that's not a contradiction) than the ordinary granite would have been.

It doesn't chip, is hygenic, and is great for cooking/baking as it doesn't mark.

The downside is it's hard to keep clean. I'm not particularly houseproud, so it doesn't bother me too much, it does annoy my mum though! In fact she bought me Lakeland spray stuff the other day to try and keep it shinier. In our case it's made worse by our water, which leaves a mark on most things.

Overall though, we're really pleased with it, and would probably get it again. The only thing to add is that our kitchen is pretty big, I imagine in a smaller kitchen it would 'suck light' as someone else said.

no it's not jet black, it has kind of sparkly bits in - hard to explain esp as I can't personally see it, but it's called galaxy star or star galaxy or something similar.

We have granite worktops, they don't chip but they do smear (I use a quick dry with a tea towel after wiping and this helps) However they look and feel fab, you can put hot pans on them with no trouble, they don't mark and they really add wow factor.

We didnt go for the black sparkly granite as I thought it would make the room too dark - we nearly changed our minds though as we did like it.

I like our granite worktop,not hard to keep it nice ,you just need to wipe it dry,takes about 30seconds .I do need to use wire wool every month or so to get rid of the limescale around the tap.

OUrs is black sparkly aswell,it reflects the light from the windows so actually makes the room lighter.

I think ours are granite, the black with sparkles in kind ...

I'm feeling doubtful because I've never had (over last 6 years) any brush with the kind of problems mentioned - it's gorgeously shiny, it has survived some hard hard treatment with not so much as a surface scratch, there are no water marks ... where have we gone wrong? It is just amazing for making pastry on, too - like an entire sweep of those special pastrycooks' marble slabs.

We've found the best thing to wipe it with is that Dettox spray surface cleaner that people use to keep highchairs practically sterile. For some reason that keeps it extra-shiny.

if you live in an area with soft water you won't get the water marks ,where do you live bink?

We have granite but went for a grey one - only because everyone else in the universe seemed to have black or speckled black. I still love ours and it is a much softer and lighter look.

My family are all from Aberdeen which is known as the granite city and the colour we have is the same as most of the buildings there and the church where my grandparents and parents were married in. So it kind of takes me back to my roots

We're in London, ggirl, so the water is hard as hard I think ...

I wonder whether our granite was sealed, or polished/finished, in some way that has made it specially robust? It was supplied by someone who specialised in London fittings - perhaps Wannabe it's worth talking to various different suppliers about different sorts available.

You do have to get into the habit of putting glasses/plates down on it gently - it doesn't chip, but they can!