Do you dream of a gorgeous new kitchen with beautiful countertops?
There are so many to choose from and they're pricey. So what works best in a busy kitchen? Consumer reports put nearly a dozen to the test to find out.
In Katherine McEleney's busy life, a kitchen has to be efficient as well as beautiful. When she remodeled she found picking a countertop was the toughest job.
"There are tons of choices to choose from, tons of colors, and it's overwhelming. It's completely overwhelming, " Katherine said.
Consumer Reports just tested 11 countertop materials, including the ever-popular granite, as well as quartz and laminate.
Also included in the tests were new materials like a paper composite countertop.
First, testers evaluated stain resistance. They put twenty different substances on countertops including food coloring, tomato sauce, and mustard.
With certain countertops, sealers are important for stain resistance.
But they didn't always help according to Celia Kuperszmid-Lehrman of Consumer Reports.
"Unfortunately, we found that Dupont's Kashmir white sealer in one of the instances actually spread the stains instead of repelling them, " Celia said.
She then pointed to some food colouring and cooking oil stains that had spread despite the use of the sealer.
The next test was a heat test. A pot filled with 400-degree Fahrenheit oil was placed on each surface. While most did well, the varnished butcher block countertop ended up with a big scorch mark!
The third challenge was to see how easily countertops can chip.
Testers drop a heavy, blunt weight through a tube onto the edge of each countertop seeing if they can chip a piece off.
This was one test where quartz and granite didn't do very well.
Nevertheless, consumer reports found quartz products like Silestone are the best choice for a busy kitchen.
It's low maintenance and stain and heat-resistant, but it is pricey.
"Going with silestone you can get the look of granite even though it's not the product itself," according to Susan Charlton from Home Depot.
Still in Metro Vancouver granite is the countertop of choice. Susan says that's because the public sees it as a product that will last a lifetime.
If you are on a tight budget laminate is still the money saving choice. It's also excellent at resisting stains and heat damage.
Often those with a tight budget use laminate through much of the kitchen, then granite as a highlight, on an island for example
If you're wondering how the paper composite countertop did in Consumer Reports tests the answer is not very well.
It was susceptible to wear and tear, and in the knife test where something is cut right on the counter, the surface showed cuts.
Of course, you shouldn't cut anything without a cutting board, but you want a countertop that holds up in case someone makes a mistake.
With a report by CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen.
