So a facebook friend of mine is offering his home for sale. The primary feature in the pictures is the maple cabinetwork and the granite counter tops in the kitchen and bathroom. Matching granite of course.
So firstly, nothing makes me vomit more than matching kitchen and bathroom counter tops.
Secondly nothing says “you can pick up a home exactly like this in a foreclosure auction” like granite counter tops.
What other signs of excess are you now laughing at?
People with multiple roommates they hate and an expensive sports car.
While granite might have once been an excess, entry of cheap, pre-cut Chinese and Indian granite into the marketplace has actually made it competitive with almost any other countertop material you can think of.
As far as practicality goes, it is hard to find a different countertop material at the same price that performs as well as granite.
Now, custom granite is still a big-time excess.
Yeah, for me, granite isn’t really a luxury thing - it’s really a damned good material for a counter top.
As a disclaimer, we have matching granite in the kitchen and bathroom so start your vomiting as you see fit. :)
Yeah, the kind of granite you get nowadays isn’t all that much of an upgrade in terms of added cost.
We have a tiny granite countertop that was made from an offcut piece. Tiny works because the kitchen is tiny, so it was very cheap. We left it with a matt finish, rather than going all shiny, I think it’s quite good.
Matte finish would be better than classic early 21st century glossy. However green is in and recycled is the new granite:
I’m big fan of the non-shiney finishes such as leather or river wash. I think they look a lot classier than the full polish.
I can’t really think of any house features that fit bill, perhaps some houses themselves. Around here there are several gigantic custom-built houses, the sort that fill 90% of the land, provide 5 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, and a measly concrete patio for your kids to play on.
Really though, I see more cars that fit your description. There’s been a few houses near me that have gone up for sale recently as bank-owned or short sale, and they were the ones with the excessive cars parked outside. Presumably leases. One house just two blocks away from me regularly had four cars parked outside, including a Lambo and a Hummer.
Is granite the mark of luxury in the USA? In Turkey, the counter tops and flooring in the bathroom and kitchen of most middle class apartments is marble.
This is a weird thread. What the fuck is wrong with granite countertops?
I would say that marble is still the luxury one, granite is just trendy because it’s cheap (when compared to marble) and still looks classy.
When it comes to redoing my kitchen, I’m personally leaning towards something like Paperstone. It looks cool, and it’s made from almost 100% recycled paper.
For real. I don’t get the hate. I think it all depends on the character of the house. Sometimes granite makes sense, sometimes other surfaces work. My parents redid their kitchen and bathroom a few years ago, and it’s gorgeous. They used a green stone (not granite, but probably called granite) with big swirls in it for the kitchen, and a fossiliferous stone in the bathroom. The fossiliferous stone is certainly an acquired taste, but they don’t plan on selling the house within the next decade or two so I don’t think resale value was their primary concern.
Don’t take your countertops for granite.
They tend to be radioactive. And not in the good super powers way, in the bad “my kids are sick all the time and I don’t know why” way.
Well:
“We know the vast majority of granites are safe, but there are some new exotic varieties coming in now that we’ve never seen before, and we need to use sound science to evaluate them.”
I doubt anyone’s counter tops are irradiating their children.
Granite, the material is quite good for a counter, there are alternatives.
I find most jewelry to be slightly tacky, but $20,000 watches to be most absurd*
*UNLESS they call down an armed response.
In Athens, they had marble in their freaking subway system. While it’s very pretty, I don’t think it’s practical as it’s quite slippery when wet.
Any house built in the last 5 years or so is highly likely to include granite countertops simply because builders were offering them as an “upgrade” that they would often throw in as a free incentive to close a deal. They no more expensive in most cases than laminate countertops, and they look nicer and last longer. They’ve become the hardwood floors of the kitchen and bath (more desirable than their altenative, but commonplace enough not to really effect pricing all that much).
The two things I see all the time in listing that bug me are “All Stainless Steel Appliances” and “Travertine Tile”. Stainless steel appliances are fine, though in my opinion they make a kitchen look a little too industrial for my tastes, but honestly, they don;t work any better than standard finish appliances. Yet they’re considered so desireable that people will insist on a seller replacing perfectly good standard finish appliances with stainless to close the sale. They’re a status symbol item if ever there was one. Travertine tile is similar. It’s just freaking limestone, and honestly it breaks easier than some other types of tile and is highly susceptible to acidic damage (vinegar and orange juice spills can ruin Travertine in a hurry), yet people go gaga for it. Basically it’s another status symbol with little real practical value.
Tour a new home with hardwood flooring, granite countertops, travertine tile in the kitchen and/or bath, and all stainless steel applicances and you can be assured the original owner watched a lot of HGTV and splurged on all the status symbol upgrades.
Granite isn’t that cheap. You can get it for less than you used to, but it’s still about four times more expensive than the basic option, laminate. We’re looking at doing some work in our kitchen, and the cheapest quote for the lowest price category of granite is about $2000, whereas laminate would cost under $500.
It’s a much better countertop than laminate, of course. It’s not just a frivolous luxury–it is nicer looking, but also much more durable. The other option in a similar price range is quartz, which is an engineered stone that looks and feels like granite, but is stainproof and never needs to be sealed Some granites stain very easily, and all of them need regular sealing. Quartz also offers some color options that you can’t get with granite; I think it’s what we’re going with (a solid white).
Our overall budget for our kitchen, at least for the current planned round of renovations, is about $4500. Not exactly a crazy dance of excess, but countertops is one place where we are blowing a lot of the budget.