Let’s find a countertop

OK, so this was a tough one… I think it is a close runner-up to picking out appliances. I knew I wanted quartz because I did love the look of marble but knew deep down it wasn’t practical for me after asking myself these questions… Am I going to drop a pot or something heavy on the counter? Yes. Is there a chance that a cut lemon or sauce could be left on the counter for over 5 minutes? Yes. My kitchen doesn’t need to look pristine at all times, I do want to it look like we are actually using it but at the same time I read too many stories on the forums about the etching and staining. We also plan on having at least two kids so I didn’t want to take the risk. Check out this great article comparing the different countertop options.

So… we started looking at Caesarstone and I loved the look of Frosty Carrina.

Frosty Carrina

BUT when I went to get some prices, I found out that we wouldn’t be able to get a slab big enough for our island! You can get the slabs in 56 x 120 and our island width is just over 60….

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Haha ok, it wasn’t that bad. I just felt like I was starting over. I asked what our options were, she let us know Cambria was out because they do not have jumbo slabs and Hanstone had some options but not in the colours I was looking for. She said Silestone had jumbo slabs, so we narrowed it down between Silestone Lyra and Lagoon.  Getting samples and finding pictures online was the most frustrating part. Of course you need to take it home and see how it looks in your house but the fabricator we were going with didn’t have any and Home Depot had a decent sized display but gave me a tiny 2 x 4 sample to take home.

Silestone options Silestone

We chose Lagoon! it works well with our hardwood and the look I was going for. I can’t wait to see it installed!

Finding pictures on the company’s website was hard but I was able to find different pictures looking through blogs, so if you are in this position keeping searching! I’m not sure what we would do without blogs? Lindsay from ‘Aubrey & Lindsay’ posted some great reviews on different quartz choices. I also found this great picture on GardenWeb to sum up the quartz options that look like marble.

samples