Kitchen worktops; granite vs quartz.
Granite
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Granite is a naturally occurring igneous rock and formed millions of years ago under intense heat. Granite is available as slabs of up to 3100mm long and 1800 mm wide. It is literally quarried in large blocks out of the ground where it originally formed, then the blocks are shipped out and cut into slabs which are then polished on one face and again shipped to the granite dealer or sometimes direct to the fabricator. The fabricator will then template your kitchen and cut, shape and polish the granite to your requirements, then a team of fitters will install it. As a general rule, the kitchen base units must be in place prior to templating.
If you choose granite you will ideally need to choose the actual slabs that you would like for your own kitchen because granite, being a natural material, can vary quite dramatically between slabs, whereas quartz slabs tend to have more uniformity between slabs, although this can vary more with a heavily veined pattern.
Quartz
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Quartz engineered stone worktops are man-made and produced by combining crushed quartz, around 93% by weight and the remainder consists of pigments to provide colour (quartz is naturally white), fillers and polymer binding resins to bind the mixture together. This ultimately makes quartz tremendously strong. The crushed quartz which varies between small chunks and fine sand like particles in size is then processed by mixing to ensure an even consistency. This mixture is then evenly spread and compressed and moulded into an even layer in a Breton machine which forms it into slabs of up to 3100mm long and 1400mm wide and into thicknesses of typically 20mm to 30mm. The resultant surface when polished is very tough and non-porous which makes it into a hygienic worksurface ideal for kitchens. The original Breton machine process has been used since the 1970s and although other companies now manufacture similar slab forming machinery, Breton, an Italian company, still holds many patents on the actual process. Using a genuine Breton machine will give a better, more consistent finish to the quartz slabs.
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Using a genuine Breton machine will give a better, more consistent finish to the quartz slabs.
Pros and cons
Every worktop material has its pros and cons. Although quartz is harder and tougher than granite, you should be wary of putting a hot pan onto quartz as it can be damaged by excessive heat. Generally, with granite, it is more resistant to heat, but it is never sensible to put a really hot pan on these solid worktops as thermal shock, i.e. the top area expands with heat whereas the lower area stays cool can easily lead to a crack forming which is of course irreparable. So, when setting hot pans down on a worktop, always use a trivet to avoid potential damage.
There are many brands of quartz including...
...the choice between them is usually simply decided by the most suitable colour choice for your own kitchen.
Both quartz and granite, being solid materials, are suitable for undermounted sinks. Neither granite nor quartz should be used as a surface to cut food on, scratches can occur which cannot easily be removed so always use a chopping board. Quartz is very stain resistant and non-porous so you don’t need to seal it. Granite, being a natural stone, is naturally slightly porous. Different granite types are more or less porous than each other. It is generally recommended that granite should be sealed once a year. Quartz seams, where two pieces of quartz worktop meet, are probably less apparent to the eye than the equivalent granite joint.
Cost
Quartz is generally a little more expensive than granite. In the 1970s the price of quartz was way, way more than granite but as it became more widespread the price inevitably came down to something approaching the granite price.
Having said that, sometimes granite is more expensive than quartz; sometimes the other way round. Expensive granites such as Star Galaxy can be twice as expensive as a less expensive granite such as Baltic Brown, with most of the different brands of Quartz sitting somewhere in the middle. The price of some granite is higher for two reasons; 1/ because of the rarity value if it is a rare, hard to come by granite; 2/ because some granites have natural fissures running through them which means the cut slabs can suddenly fail when being manoeuvred during the manufacturing process which means obtaining a replacement slab which is costly.