Tag Archives: kitchen countertop surfaces

How Can You Tell the Difference Between Real Granite and Fake Granite?

Since the late 1980s, granite has been one of the world’s most popular countertop materials. Natural stones grew in popularity as costs fell and began to be quarried worldwide. Previously, granite was a stone that only wealthy homeowners could buy. Thankfully, granite countertops can now be found in countless kitchens and bathrooms worldwide.

What makes granite so popular?

Granite has various properties, making it the preferred stone in the construction industry. Granite excels all other materials in aesthetics, strength, and durability, providing unrivaled value to residential and commercial users worldwide.

Appearance

Granite comes in a variety of visual features, including spectacular grains, gorgeous veins, and color patches. This property is unique to granite, and no other construction stone offers such a wide range of aesthetic possibilities.

Durability

Granite’s durability is another factor contributing to its popularity. Granite is one of the most potent natural stones. Granite is a good countertop material due to its durability and ability to withstand kitchen demands.

Maintenance

Finally, granite countertops’ popularity stems from the ease with which they can be maintained. Although you must maintain the counters, they require significantly less maintenance than other countertop options.

You only need warm, soapy water and a mop for daily cleaning. Even though you must reseal the surface, you only need to do it once a year. Sealing requirements vary per granite type; however, the stone does not need to be resealed as regularly as many other natural stones.

While granite is a popular stone countertop material, faux granite is another option worth considering. While there is nothing wrong with faux granite, many companies try to sell faux granite countertops as real granite, and this is wrong as it can result in you getting scammed. To avoid getting duped, you should keep your eyes out for the faux granite and be able to tell the difference.

What does “fake granite” mean?

The term “fake granite” refers to countertops that try to replicate the elegance of actual stone. Various countertop materials may be made to seem like granite, including engineered stone, laminate, and painted counters.

The good thing is that if you are keen, you can tell whether the granite you want is real or faux. Some of the things you need to look out for include:

Cost

In general, granite will cost a couple of tens of dollars per square foot. You should be wary if you come across a stone that claims to be granite at a much lower price. If the stone is less expensive than what is available in the market, you are most certainly dealing with faux granite, and if this isn’t what you are looking for, you should stay away from it. If the “granite” is inexpensive and not a forgery, it is almost certainly of inferior quality.

Pay attention to the appearance of the granite.

This could be the most challenging part. Because faux granite countertops are designed to seem like granite, you may not notice the difference at first glance. However, several characteristics of the appearance indicate that the granite is artificial.

If you see that the slab has the same pattern throughout, you are not looking at genuine granite. Granite is a natural stone; thus, there will always be some faults. Furthermore, each slab of granite is distinct due to its natural origin. Even slabs from the same quarry will have variances.

Test for porosity

Testing the porosity of the granite is a simple approach to determine whether it is genuine. Natural granite is porous and will absorb spilled water (unless freshly sealed). However, faux granite would not be permeable. Apply a modest amount of water to a small area of stone. If the water absorbs within a few minutes, you have actual granite that has not been sealed.

However, if the water does not absorb, the granite is likely a fake. This granite will only be genuine if it has already been sealed, which is unlikely given that you must often seal it yourself. In any case, you ought to be suspicious.

Tap the surface

If you lightly tap the rear of the surface with a small hammer, authentic granite should make a ringing noise. Fake granite, on the other hand, produces a slight click sound. If the stone makes the latter of the two sounds, you know it’s not natural stone.

Check the seams

Natural granite countertops will have seams anywhere on their surface. Once you’ve located the seam, examine it closely. If the pattern on the other side of the seam is somewhat different, it is most likely genuine granite. However, if the pattern is identical, you have faux granite. Finally, the surface is most likely faux granite if there is no seam.

Tricks to reduce the chances of buying the wrong stone

To get the ideal results, you must buy the right stone. To increase the chances of buying the right stone, you need to ensure that you are buying the stone from the right store. Before committing to making the purchase, you should do plenty of research beforehand and confirm that the store you are looking to buy the stone from is reputable and has a proven record.

Another thing you should do is to avoid looking for the cheapest deal in the market. As much as you shouldn’t spend all your money on a countertop, you shouldn’t try to buy the countertop stone at an extremely low price. This is because, you are most likely to attract scammers who might try to sell you substandard or fake stones for an ultra-low price.

The right thing to do is to research and find an average amount you should expect to pay for your stone.

Parting shot

Investing in genuine granite countertops for your home is never a waste of effort or money. However, it is critical to shop carefully to avoid purchasing faux granite countertops Ralegh if you don’t want them.

You can reliably identify natural granite countertops by following the abovementioned guidelines and making a wise investment in your house.

Tricks to Keep Your Kitchen Countertops Clear of Obstructions

Keeping the top of your countertop clutter might feel like a never-ending battle. This is because kitchens are the center of most homes, hence they rapidly become a catch-all for all the random things that don’t have a home anywhere else.

When you combine that with their practical function, the surfaces quickly get overrun with junk.

What is the best way to keep your modern kitchen counters clear? You need to make tiny but significant adjustments rather than making large commitments.

When the clutter becomes unbearable, it’s tempting to believe that a major kitchen renovation is required, but as any expert organizer will tell you, it’s the simple improvements that make the most difference.

Adopting a few basic habits and incorporating them into your normal routine will most benefit keeping your kitchen countertops tidy rather than just the short term.

To help you out, here are methods and suggestions for clutter-free countertops that you can immediately implement in your home.

Give your homeless items a place to live.

What’s the first step toward a clutter-free kitchen counter? Providing a home for all of your possessions. It’s all too easy for a stray utensil or a stack of letters to become permanent fixtures on your surfaces, but the key is not to let them stay too long in the first place.

You should allocate them a home. Begin by making room in your cupboards. You should collect anything lying about on worktops, shelves, and tables, and assign it a place. Label the shelves or containers so everyone in your house knows where to return the items.

Get countertop organizers

It may seem obvious, but investing in some creative organizer purchases is one of the finest ways to organize a kitchen. There are some kitchen organizers that no one should live without, from sliding countertop gadgets that make it easier to access your heavy equipment to a good old-fashioned spice rack to keep all your ingredients contained.

Countertop organizers help to ensure that everything in your kitchen has a place. When you lack systems of organization and don’t know where to place things, they’re likely to wind up in general locations, like countertops, where they make the surfaces dirty and ugly. You don’t want this, do you?

Put the dirty dishes in the sink.

We’ve all been guilty of stacking dirty dishes by the side of the kitchen sink or allowing them to accumulate on a spare countertop – especially if you don’t have a dishwasher. Unfortunately, this is a proven way to have cluttered surfaces.

To avoid this, place the dirty dishes, mugs, and glasses straight into the sink to keep your counters clean and neat.

This will keep them out of sight and urge you to wash them once the sink is full, preventing a washing-up marathon later on.

Keep the appliances you don’t use out of the countertops

Countertop gadgets like toasters, coffee makers, and air fryers can make meal preparation much easier, but only when they’re not taking up too much space. If your counters are cluttered with gimmicky equipment you rarely use, put them away when not in use.

Thankfully, it’s a quick and basic task.

Most people rarely use the crock pot, standing mixer, or automated drip coffee maker (they prefer pour-over coffee). Appliances take up important real estate, so consider storing them in a cabinet and enjoying the extra space they generate.

Have a kitchen command center.

Everyone has that one area of the kitchen island or the spot in front of the windowsill where they keep their daily essentials. These can be things like keys, glasses, and letters, which easily pile into small clutter. When it’s been a fixture on your kitchen counters for so long, getting rid of it is easier said than done.

To keep your countertops clean, create a designated drop zone for these often-used things. This could be anything from a fancy catch-all dish to a box or shelf. 

A command center will help you keep your paper, keys, spare change, bills, and school assignments off your kitchen’s surfaces.

You can create a command center in a corner of your kitchen or near your entryway by adding hooks, magazine folders, calendars, and whiteboards. It’s all on you and you don’t have to complicate it. 

Have a one-touch rule.

If you want to break bad habits with your belongings, decluttering ideas can be life-changing, and the ‘one-touch’ tidying guideline is ideal for kitchen counters. This rule does exactly what it says on the tin. If you pick something up, you have to return it.

Returning an item after using it reduces clutter and saves time.

You should make it a routine to return items to their proper places as soon as you have finished using them. For instance, if you run the dishwasher overnight, unload it as you wait for your toast or oatmeal to be ready in the morning.

That way, anytime you use a glass or another dish, you may rinse it and immediately place it in the dishwasher.

Have a kitchen closure routine.

Kitchens get more traffic than any other room in the house, and while they’re a social hub for the entire family, there has to be a point where you draw the line.

Set a bedtime boundary when everyone should vacate the kitchen so that you can work on it.

You should load and run the dishwasher every night, wipe down the worktops, table, and appliances, put your belongings away, and quickly sweep or vacuum the floor.

You could even go the extra mile and arrange the breakfast table for the morning.

Follow these steps, and before you know it, your entire family will be on board with your structured habits, and clutter-free granite countertops Raleigh will soon become the standard in your kitchen.