One of the biggest choices you will need to make while remodeling your kitchen – or while building a new home – is whether you are going to go with laminate or stone counters. If this is the first time you are going through a kitchen project, you may not know much about each of these choices, making the process a bit more difficult. Fortunately, with just a little education, you can quickly understand the major differences between these two kinds of products.
The Price Issue
There is no way around this point – laminate counters are significantly less expensive to install when compared to their stone counterparts. If you are looking around for quotes on counter materials including laminate, granite, marble, and more, you are sure to find that laminate is the most affordable of the bunch. However, it would be a mistake to make your choice just on this point alone. Sure, you can reduce the cost of the project upfront by opting for laminate, but what will that mean for your kitchen in the long run? As the saying goes, you do ‘get what you pay for’.
Looking Deeper
If you allow yourself to look past the cost issue, you will soon see that laminate counters come up short of stone in nearly every other category. In other words, there is a reason that stone counters are more expensive – they are better across the board. For one thing, almost every homeowner would agree that a natural stone counter looks far more impressive in the kitchen (and bathroom) than a laminate product. Laminate counters are man-made, and will simply never offer the depth of color and design that is created by Mother Nature. Picking the right stone counter can give your kitchen a stunning appearance that stops visitors in their tracks – that isn’t going to happen when laminate is used.
Performance Characteristics
Stone counters aren’t only about great looks, although that is one of the major selling points. In addition to impressive looks, stone also provides high-end performance characteristics that aren’t seen with laminate. Most stone countertops are heat-resistance, which is not true of laminate. Also, the durability of stone is a huge advantage, as a new granite or marble counter top is likely to be one of the longest-lasting elements of your entire house. Laminate counters will show the wear and tear of use relatively quickly after they are installed, but you can count of year after year of performance from your stone counter with almost no wear to speak of.
To put it in sports terms, the battle between laminate and stone counters is a blowout. Sure, laminate counters offer a lower price point, but that is about it. In nearly every other category you can think of, it is going to be stone that comes out a winner. To find out more about what makes stone counters so attractive, please contact that team at Stone World today. Thanks for visiting!
