Tag Archives: kitchen countertop professional

What Makes a Good Kitchen Countertop?

When building or remodeling your kitchen, one of the most significant decisions you’ll make is the countertop material to install. 

This is because they influence the place’s visual and general mood and may also be the catalyst for developing a good cooking plan. 

If you choose the wrong kitchen countertops, you’ll most certainly wind up with culinary nightmares, and you don’t want this, do you?

To ensure that you choose the right material, you need to consider several tips: 

Ease of maintenance

Maintenance is one of the most crucial factors when selecting a worktop material for your kitchen.

If you prefer a pristine environment, you want a surface you can easily wipe.

One of the best materials to go for is Quartz. This is because it’s easy to care for and highly durable.

Quartz is made out of quartz stone particles mixed with resin. Since quartz surfaces are resilient and non-porous, they are less prone to discoloration, so cleaning oil, coffee, or juice is as simple as one swipe.

Quartz is also available in many nature-inspired patterns and gorgeous colors.

If you don’t like Quartz, you can always go for porcelain countertops highly resistant to heat and chemicals. They are also resistant to acidic or alkaline materials and will not fade or discolor over time. 

The surfaces are also easy to clean, saving you a lot of time and effort.

If you cook a lot at home, go for solid surface countertops.

These countertops are non-porous and resistant to stains and bacteria since they are made of hard polyester, acrylic, and resin. 

Solid surfaces are also highly durable and do not need to be regularly sealed.

And, if they develop dents, you can easily buff out most of the scratches. 

Cleaning up spills is a breeze, as most solid surfaces can be cleaned with a bit of soap or simple home cleaning.

Because a solid surface is not heat resistant, you should be ultra-cautious of hot pots and dishes and use a trivet to protect them.

Heat resistance

The kitchen has high temperatures, so the ideal kitchen countertop should be heat-resistant unless you are looking for a countertop that you must keep replacing. 

One of the countertop materials you can go for is porcelain. Porcelain can tolerate extremely high temperatures since it is comprised of clay and burned at high temperatures. 

Other heat-resistant countertops you can consider include Quartz, granite, and marble. 

While they are less likely to be harmed by hot pans and trays than other surfaces, it is wise to be ultra cautious and use trivets or cooling racks.

Some surfaces, even virtually shatterproof, can crack unexpectedly when subjected to severe heat, so always protect them. 

Hygiene

Many people rarely think about their countertops’ hygiene status, which is wrong. You should always consider how your chosen countertops will impact your food upon installation. 

Few materials outperform copper in hygiene, so always consider it during installation. Copper and its alloys, such as bronze, brass, and copper-nickel, are naturally antibacterial, so bacteria and viruses that settle on their surface are quickly killed. 

When you undertake regular surface cleaning, brass and copper kitchen counters make an excellent choice and provide you with the extra infection protection you are after. 

Because brass and copper have living finishes, their appearance will vary and develop with time, yielding amazing effects. 

Although these kitchen counters can be sealed with lacquer to preserve a uniform appearance and avoid discoloration, it’s important to note that doing so will counteract the material’s natural antibacterial characteristics, so it’s good to leave them in their original look. 

If you don’t like brass and copper, a reasonable rule of thumb to follow when choosing countertops is that the less porous the material is, the more hygienic it is. 

A non-porous texture prohibits the growth of bacteria, mold, or mildew, ensuring optimum cleanliness.

Ease of kneading on them

If you enjoy baking or preparing pizza and pasta, you’ll want a smooth, non-porous countertop that keeps a low temperature even when things get hot. 

Quartz is one of the best materials to consider. We already know it is non-porous, stain-resistant, low-maintenance, and easy to clean – all unquestionably important when dealing with a lot of flour.

But what makes Quartz particularly appealing is its ability to sustain a low temperature, and as all pastry cooks know, temperature counts. 

Quartz countertops keep their cool, so you can, too, since there will be no melting butter, sticky dough, or collapsed flaky crusts.

Ease of cleaning

Cleaning the countertops is part of maintaining them, and ensuring you can easily clean your surfaces is important. 

How easily you clean these surfaces depends on the material you have installed. 

If you have Quartz countertops, the non-porous, sealed surface requires less upkeep than other stone surfaces. To clean it, dampen a towel with mild dish soap and warm water or use a quartz cleaner, then dry it with a clean microfiber cloth. 

For granite countertops Raleigh, avoid leaving spills on them for extended periods, as they may develop stains or discoloration due to their porous nature. 

To clean the granite surfaces, use a moist cloth dampened with mild dish soap and warm water or a granite cleaner, then dry with a clean microfiber towel. Resealing your countertops once or twice a year is also wise to prevent watermarks and stains.

When it comes to marble countertops, you should know that it is susceptible to stains and scratches. You should reseal these countertops at least once or twice a year.

 If you like the look of marble but do a lot of cooking or baking, or drink coffee or red wine, avoid going for natural marble, as it will make it hard to keep it clean. Instead, it would be best to go for marble-looking Quartz that will give you the same look, but you have less chance of harming or staining your counters.

                                                                                                                                 

Tricks To Make Your Countertops Look Better

Are you wondering how you can make your kitchen countertops look better than they do? Well, there are a number of things you can do. These things include:

Clean the countertops regularly

You should make it a habit to clean your countertops as regularly as possible. A good rule of thumb is to ensure that you don’t get out of the kitchen and leave your countertops dirty.

Some people think that you have to be fancy about how you do the cleaning, but this isn’t the case. All you need is a wet piece of cloth, soap, and you are good to go. You shouldn’t use tough cleaning products such as ammonia as they won’t make any difference. In fact, they often end up ruining your countertops.

Seal your countertops correctly.

If you have installed porous countertops such as granite and marble, you will need to seal them regularly to prevent them from staining and getting damaged. You should always seal the surfaces at the installation time and once a year after that.

When doing the sealing, always use the right sealant. Some people try to cut corners by using low-quality products, but you shouldn’t go this route as the cheap sealant wears out fast, leaving you exposed countertops. You don’t want this, do you?

After you have confirmed that your countertops need sealing, you should get high-quality ones that will withstand the test of time. If you have the skills, you can apply the sealant yourself, but if you have never done it before, let an expert do it.

Always protect your countertops with coasters and trivets

Even the toughest countertops, such as granite and quartz, will get damaged when you expose them to a lot of heat, so you should protect them from damage using coasters and trivets.

When placing hot items such as drinks and food, don’t place them on the naked countertops. Instead, always place them on a hot pad or any other material that will prevent the heat from reaching the countertops.

If you don’t have the protective materials, don’t place a hot pot on the countertops. Instead, let the pot cool completely before placing it on the surface.

In the same way, many homeowners have the impression that kitchen countertops are tough and can take heat abuse is the same way they think they can cut directly on them. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.

The countertops appear tough, but they will get damaged when you cut directly on them. Always use a cutting board when cutting or chopping food to protect your surfaces and keep them from scratching.

Add a backsplash

Many homeowners add backsplashes to their countertops to protect their walls from moisture and food splashes, but this isn’t the only benefit of adding a backsplash to your countertops. Adding a backsplash can also be an excellent way to update your countertops and make not only the countertops but the entire kitchen look better.

To get the most from the backsplash, use high-quality tiles that complement the design of the kitchen. You also should ensure that the countertops are installed by a professional that knows what they are doing. You don’t want someone that doesn’t know what they are doing to botch your project, do you?

Resurface your countertops

If you want to improve the look of your countertops but are strapped for money, resurfacing them is an excellent and cost-effective way to improve the look of your surfaces.

If you have done a similar thing before, you can resurface the surfaces but if you have never done it before, let an expert help you.

You should prepare the surfaces by cleaning them thoroughly, then sand them with coarse sandpaper.

If there are any damages to the countertops, such as chips and cracks, fill them with epoxy filler. Once the filler has dried, apply a primer coat and resurface the surfaces.

After the resurfacing material has dried, apply a sealer on your marble or granite kitchen countertops NC. As mentioned above, always use high-quality sealing materials that protect your surfaces.