30

Mar

How Do I Get The Best Deal On Granite Countertops?

Although granite counters are beautiful and significantly improve the house’s look, they don’t come cheap. Fortunately, you can do several things to get the countertops at a good price. Are you wondering how do I get the best deal on granite countertops? There are plenty of ways, with the most common ones being:

Shop around and compare prices

What do most homeowners do when they are looking to buy granite counters? They visit the first granite shop and make the purchase. In most cases, they do this because they are in a hurry to get things done and move on to the next thing. This is wrong as they often end up spending too much money than they should have.

To save money and get the best deal, take your time and visit different granite stores and see what they offer. Of course, you should only consider buying from a store stocking high-quality stones at a low cost.

You can’t have ample time if you start your research late, so to ensure you have as much time as you need, start scouting for countertops at least 3 months before you embark on your project.

Buy wholesale

When you buy anything wholesale, you save a lot of money, and you should do the same when you are buying granite counters. The cool thing is most granite stores will sell you the countertops at wholesale prices when you are buying many slabs. There are even some stores that will sell you one slab at a wholesale price—you only need to look.

Be flexible with granite color.

One of the prime factors affecting the price of countertops is the color of the slab, where the rare colors cost more than the easier-to-find colors. As you can guess, this means that if you are looking for a specific rare color, you end up paying a premium for your countertops.

To save money and get a perfect deal, you should be flexible in your color choice. The beauty is since granite is natural, it comes in plenty of colors to choose from. If you are in the granite store and find that your desired granite color is expensive than your budget, choose a cheaper color that is close to your color of choice.

Order from a local supplier

While you can buy the granite slabs from anywhere in the world, it’s good you buy them from your local supplier. The reason for this is because the slabs will be cheaper to transport from the local supplier to your home.

Granite slabs are heavy, and if you ship them from a long-distance, they can cost you an arm and a leg, and you don’t want this, do you?

Granite sellers ship their products in bulk, so they don’t spend as much money as you would if you shipped just a few slabs for your kitchen.

To save even more money on transport, ask the seller if they can transport the slabs for you, for free.

Go for granite remnants.

If you are looking for small granite slabs for certain kitchen elements, such as the backsplash behind the stove, don’t spend a lot of money on whole granite slabs. Instead, get granite remnants.

These are small granite chunks that are leftover from previous projects.

Since they are leftover and often too small to fit an entire kitchen, they are cheaper than entire slabs.

When you are in the granite store, ask for the remnants, and you will get them at a low price, which sees you saving a lot of money.

Go with a standard eased edge.

The type of edge you install on your countertops has a significant impact on the overall cost of granite surfaces, so be cautious of the edge you settle on. As a rule of thumb, choose the standard eased edge as it’s much cheaper than the tiered or bevel edge.

Install the countertops by yourself

If you are a dab hand at DIY projects, save money by bypassing granite installers Rockville and installing the countertops by yourself. Of course, ensure that you follow the right procedure when it comes to their installation.

25

Mar

Is Granite Good for Kitchen Countertops?

Granite countertops are one of the most popular countertop materials, and every homeowner wants to install them. The countertops are loved for their beauty and the fact that they give a kitchen a premium look. While this is the case, the big question is, is granite good for kitchen countertops?

Yes, granite is an excellent material for your kitchen countertops. Here are some of the reasons why:

It’s heat resistant

Granite counters won’t melt or blister when exposed to heat. This means you can take a hot pan and place it directly on the countertops without worrying about the surfaces getting damaged. While this is the case, you should note that regular countertop exposure to extreme temperatures can damage them.

This is because, while the countertop is heat resistant, it’s not heatproof.  To protect your surfaces, always have a trivet in place so that when you remove a hot pot or pan from the fire, you don’t place it directly on the countertops. Rather, you place it on the trivet.

It’s scratch-resistant

Granite scores a seven on Moh’s scale of hardness. This means the material is tough and able to resist scratches from different materials. Due to its tough nature, many homeowners cut fruits and vegetables on it. While you can do this without any issue, you should limit it. This is because the vegetables and fruits might be having harmful acids that might etch the surfaces.

Other foods such as meat might be harboring bacteria that you transfer to the surfaces when you place them directly on the countertops. When you place other foods on the counters, you transfer these bacteria to the foods. You don’t want this, do you?

Even if the countertops can take the beating, don’t cut the food directly on the countertops. Instead, always have a cutting board in place at all times.

You can easily hide seams.

If you have a large kitchen, you have to use two or more granite slabs. The biggest worry with most homeowners is that the countertops will show seams that give the surfaces an ugly appeal. When you hire the right contractors to install the countertops, you don’t have to worry about this. Most experienced installers mix custom color epoxy to adhere to the seams, which comes in handy at disguising them.

And as a result, you have a smooth, beautiful surface.

You can repair the countertops.

Most countertop materials need to be replaced when they get damaged. This isn’t the case with granite. When you have a crack or chip on your granite, you need to contact the contractor that installed them and explain the issue. In most cases, the contractor will use a color-matched epoxy to fill the void, and when properly done, it’s invisible. In fact, you can’t tell you have a defect there.

If you have a small chip, you can use superglue to seal the chip.

While the countertops are repairable, you should note that it’s your responsibility to protect them from damage. Of major importance, don’t place heavy cast-iron pans directly into your under-mounted sink. This is because the cutout edges are prone to chips that give your surfaces an ugly appeal.

There are plenty of countertop options to choose from

If you ask many homeowners, they will tell you that granite is white, but this isn’t the case at all. Granite comes in a variety of colors and patterns to choose from. And the beauty is that since the stone is natural, every slab is unique so that you can be sure that when you install the countertop, you can’t find anyone else with an exactly similar one.

If you want your kitchen to have an exotic look, you should install exotic granite colors such as red. While the slabs will be slightly more expensive than the other slabs in the market, you will give your guests something to talk about when they visit you.

They are easy to maintain

Granite countertops are one of the easiest materials to maintain. Once you have had them professionally installed by granite installers Rockville, the only thing you need to do is to clean them once a day. You also should make it a habit to clean any spills as soon as they happen. Also, once a year, seal the countertops to keep off stains.