How to Pick the Perfect Countertop

I feel like I’ve learned a few things along the way about selecting countertops between Love It Or List It homes and the recent renovation of our home! Countertops are always a tricky thing to pick out as they are such a bold feature of a room!!

What I Love

When it comes to countertops, I’ve always been a white countertop girl (no surprise there hey?!) … welp … what might ACTUALLY surprise you is the fact that this has been changing recently and I find myself becoming more drawn to the look of concrete and black countertops these days!! Crazy, right?! There is just something about them that I find so sleek and timeless!! I also absolutely LOVE the way real marble looks but I find that is stains, chips, scratches, and discolours easily and I honestly don’t trust my carelessness in the kitchen to put them in my own home! LOL!

What We Have in Our Home

I’ve always been a fan of Caesarstone! In fact, we had Caesarstone in our old home and currently have it in our home now … plus, I used to use them all the time for clients when I was doing side projects (definitely don’t have time for those anymore!! Eep!). I love my Caesarstone quartz surfaces because they’re a perfect blend of timeless luxury and modern sophistication PLUS they are strong and durable!! Not to mention, they’re non-porous which means minimal maintenance (hell yeah!!), and they’re stain. scratch, and heat resistant!

All of the countertops that we have in our current home are light coloured and I usually tend to lean toward countertops that emulate actual stone! Here’s what we went for and why!

Laundry Room/Pantry

This is a space where I already had a lot of texture and patterns happening between the color of the cabinets and the tile so I knew I wanted to keep the countertops SIMPLE! Which is why we decided to go for 4600 Organic White in our laundry room and pantry!

Tip: This is a great example of why sometimes a patterned countertop wouldn’t be appropriate and it’s always best practice to consider what textures, patterns, and colours may already be existing in a space prior to selecting the countertop!

Kitchen

My kitchen is clean with no bold patterns which allowed me to go with a bold countertop which we wouldn’t have gotten away with in our laundry room! In the kitchen, we went with 5131 Calacatta Nuvo!

Tip from Caesarstone: It’s recommended to see the choice of colour/design in person and if possible, in full slab! It’s also important to feel the material and understand all of the benefits of the product!

Bathroom

We went with 5141 Frosty Carrina in our bathroom as I wanted to keep the look of this space traditional and timeless!

Height

The standard height for a countertop is 36 inches but depending on your preference you may want to adjust this either a couple of inches lower or higher. Also, in regards to the size of slab, Caesarstone, of course, comes in the standard size, but they also have a selection of jumbo sizes (131” x  64”), for those larger islands everyone loves!!

Thickness

I LOVE thick countertops but when you go thick it also affects the height of your counters (See above! Everything gets shorter as the countertop gets thicker!). If you’re short like me, and you want to go with a 3 or 4-inch countertop, that is going to affect the space below and the height.

Multiple Surface Options

There are sooooo many options when it comes to surfaces! And in each of these categories, there are different brands as well which can get totally confusing but there isn’t really any right or wrong answer … it pretty much comes down to preference again!! I’ve gone ahead and listed some surface options below along with my thoughts on each one!

Granite: Personally I find that granite generally comes in pretty dark colours (which you all know isn’t my thing) … and I honestly find it to be dated!

Marble: This is very porous stone so you have to be careful when something spills as it stains very easily … this would not fare well in our household!

Concrete: Concrete is great and beautiful but it’s also very porous (just like marble!), and it etches and tends to turn different colours! If you’re okay with all of the above, then fly at it!!

Quartz: Low maintenance, durable, and looks like natural stone … can you see why I chose to go this route? LOL!!

Solid Surface: Solid Surface is durable and you can get it in a bunch of different material types that can look like concrete, marble, granite, etc. It’s not really “my thing” but it’s a great mid-range option if you’re looking for something affordable but don’t want to settle for laminate!

Plastic Laminate: This is a great option if you’re on a tight budget! It’s basically the faux version of what a granite countertop is! I love the clean, white, stone look for this surface option!

Butcher’s Block (aka Wood): This LOOKS beautiful but you have to be careful with this if you are placing anything like meat on the counter as it can hold bacteria!

Edging

Again, just like the surfaces, there are LOTS of edging options out there, my personal favourite is Ogee which we have in our master bathroom and to be honest, I wish we would have done this edging in our kitchen as well! I find it so feminine and soft!

Our countertop in our master bathroom is 5141 Frosty Carrina and below is an image with all of the edging options for this particular surface, just to give you an idea! This is another thing to think about when it comes to the countertops in your home but it really boils down to what YOU like!!

Grab a Sample

As I mentioned above, Caesarstone always recommends seeing your options in person and in a FULL slab if possible!! It’s also a great idea to get a sample and bring it home to put it up against your paint, backsplash, and millwork to see what it looks like! You might realize once you bring it into your home that you have actually picked something that is too warm or too cool for your space! You want a surface that will tie the whole room together! Oh, and hold it up to different lighting to see what it looks like!!

Give Yourself Time

Countertops take a lot longer than one would expect and it’s something you REALLY don’t want to rush, so make sure to give yourself time to go through this process. Allow yourself time to not only pick out the countertop that will suit your home (and lifestyle!) the best, but also allow time for the installation process. First, you have to give the company your take-offs for measurement then someone has to come in and measure the area for the countertops, then it takes about a week or two for the countertops to come in … they’re generally the last thing to go in!

Do you have any tips or advice when it comes to selecting countertops for your home?? If so, make sure to share them in the comments section below!

xo

Jilly

Thank you Caesarstone for sponsoring this post. All comments and opinions are my own.