tessagin

I see a lot of granite.

Mornigstar

I feel the same as you since there are so many kinds out there now.

Onebyone

According to the decorating blogs that my DD reads granite and stainless are going out of fashion. The modern country look is taking it's place, whatever that is. I love French Country but it takes a very big kitchen for that look.

Stitchnripper

That modern country look is not appealing to me at all. I guess people will continue to put in what they like, and we will continue to have discussions about it

Sewnoma

I have new granite countertops in my kitchen and I don't like them. It is supposedly pre-treated and no-maintenance for the first few years, stain-proof and all that. It isn't. I have two large spots now that are darker than the rest of the counter, we think from oil/grease, that won't come clean, and it's only been installed for about 8 months. I kind of hate it now and wish we'd paid the extra to get quartz. *sigh* All I can do is hope the entire counter ends up equally stained by the time we want to sell, or we'll probably end up re-doing the counters AGAIN in order to sell it.

In our prior house, we had dark green quartz counters put in and I LOVED it. We used the heck out of that kitchen and it still looked brand new after 4 years when we sold the house. Never got a chip or scratch or a stain, and we weren't particularly careful with it after the first year or so.

Neither of my kitchens had a lot of direct sunlight, thinking about it...so streaks haven't really been an issue with either - if they're there, I can't see 'em. The current granite counter is fairly light, but with all the speckles I think it actually hides dirt more than the dark green counters did, which is a drawback in my mind. I want to know when my kitchen counters are dirty! If (when) my husband spills sugar on the counter while making his coffee, it's totally invisible now. On the old dark green counters it stood out like sore thumb. I hate setting something down and hearing that gritty sound...yuck. Makes me feel like my kitchen is full of invisible filth.

If I ever replace counters in a kitchen again, I'm definitely going back to dark colored quartz. I REALLY miss my old countertops.

KLO

I did granite recently because although my dh does not like it, I need it so I can put hot cookies trays and casserole dishes or hot pans down on it without having to look for a trivet or something else to sit them on. It's kind of noisy (the reason dh doesn't like it) but otherwise it's great. You can now seal granite with the newer sealers for around 5 or 15 years (I've forgotten which) instead of so often now. With a small kitchen, I would not be without it for reasons mentioned. Don't know anything about quartz.

I took am fed up with the "got to have stainless and granite" push. I don't even like stainless but will not be changing it in the current house for a long time so have to live with it. Good luck in your search.