Granite worktop for white kitchen

R0C

I'm in the process of designing a white kitchen, and I adore carrara marble but from what I read about it, it's entirely impractical as a countertop due to easily staining/permanent damage.

So now I'm looking for an equivalent granite which appears to be hardier. Something a little more silvery than white may also look better on a white kitchen.

I'm aiming for something like in the attached pic, which is granite but looks very similar to marble with the same type of veining.

I've priced a number of places in Western Ireland but I haven't yet seen granite which looks anything like this. Most of it looks more speckled than veined.

Has anyone here got a silver granite worktop? Where did you get the granite?

I need to source it asap so any help appreciated.

Thanks!

Miu88

Hi,

The granite worktop is the best solution for a kitchen, resistant, clean and looks amazing as worktop.

There are a lot of webs where you can find different and nice granite but nothing similar that you looking for.

It is very hard to find it... But a solution would be silestone. Silestone is a good option too for the worktop. Take a look this web: stonesurfaces.ie
They have a silestone like marble or similar.

ncur

Good article giving you alternatives to Carrara marble.

http://www.countertopspecialty.com/which-granite-looks-like-white-carrara-marble.html

As Miu88 mentions, a silestone product (consists generally of over 90% quartz) could allow you to get exactly what you want for your worktop.

Not Just Granite Ballinasloe have a silestone called Lyra that might be a match? You should check if there's stockists in Galway city though.

http://www.notjustgranite.ie/quartz.html

R0C

Excellent, thank you both for your replies.

I will look into these options.

Are there any big downsides to using silestone instead of granite?

ncur

Silestone is marginally less porous and more durable than granite, the main difference will be aesthetic I suppose, it probably won't look as natural as granite, but the upside in your case is that you should hopefully find exactly what you want, which seems to be the main driver for your worktop requirements. I don't know the price difference (if any) there is between the 2 materials. You'd like to think that the man made material would be less expensive, but don't actually know I'm afraid.

bawling

From what I've seen silestone is more expensive than granite. Though it probably depends on which colour silestone you choose. The colours are in about six groups and the higher the group the more expensive it is.

R0C

I'm looking into silestone now.

The Bianco River and Lyra colours are beautiful and look very similar to Carrara. Has anyone here used either for a worktop? Would love to hear some firsthand experience with the light coloured silestone.

ncur

2 posters (jos28 and wandererz) have recently posted in other threads about having silestone worktops fitted in their kitchens and being happy with the result, but it would be no harm to post in the threads below asking for their feedback or even pming them for more details.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=95465934&postcount=6

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=95138544&postcount=2

robbe

Just had a silestone quartz top fitted to a grey/green kitchen island unit. Reason for choosing the quartz over granite was the amount of choice to be had in terms of colour/finish etc. I didn't price granite but I expect that the prices are quite similar. There are plenty of suppliers out there and huge variations in price for the exact same product (some supply generic quartz while others can also supply Silestone a branded quartz but essentially the same thing).

When pricing for my kitchen I found some suppliers who were more than 100% more than others. I went with a colour called Blanco maple in the end (white with quite a bit of aggregate visible) but you can get any number of variations. I don't recall if you're getting a kitchen fitted by someone but they should be able to recommend a colour - otherwise I expect the stonemerchants you select would call out and bring samples or have a showroom to visit. I didn't visit the showroom of the supplier I used but as it was a widely available product I knew what I wanted from them. Best of luck with it and I can PM you with details of who I used. For reference price was €1,400 for 1.9m x 1.2m.

Cheers

R0C

Thanks again for the replies.

I'd appreciate a PM please robbe with your supplier, and if you have a pic of the island too, that'd be great to see.

red robbin

Hi, just seeing this thread. Would you mind PM me also the supplier you used? Many thank.

R0C

Hi red robbin, I ended up going with Not Just Granite and I opted for quartz. I highly recommend them. Very fast, efficient install and great service. And I absolutely love my quartz countertop.