Granite Kitchen Worktops to Offer Your Kitchen a Grand Look

The word 'home' is always associated with the word 'hearth' and where there is ‘hearth’ at home is called the ‘kitchen'. It is actually the place where various innovations regarding food and beverages are born. It is the place where the basic needs of the body, delicious foods are cooked. Therefore, it must be the duty of all to give kitchens a perfect outlook and for this reason modern kitchen worktops are primarily necessary.

There goes a proverb if a kitchen is neat and clean the total health of a family remains sound. With this view in mind the kitchen is the place on which perfect notice is a must. Not only that worktops are necessary in hotels and restaurants but they are needed in the kitchens also to offer them a gorgeous look.

The basic uses of worktops are to cut vegetables on it or to prepare foods. So these must have to be scratch proof. Granite, marble and even stainless steel can be used as the base material. Water resistance is a big plus for all these materials. There comes also the crucial factor 'look'. It is really ridiculous if your kitchen looks completely out of shape. But this is also achievable since kitchen worktops come in different colours and combinations to beautify your kitchen.

It is essential that your kitchen worktops are sturdy and robust so as to withstand cutting on, heat being applied where hot pots are taken straight from the oven and placed directly on it, they will also need to be stain and scratch resistant as well as waterproof. It may well prove useful for you to get a professional company to fit worktops for you as it can be a job requiring some skill, for buying kitchen worktops it is probably best if you have a good shop around online.

Tips to Repair Chips in a Granite Worktop

Most of you might agree that it is impossible to repair granite chips especially by yourself at home. Well, I do agree that granite can be a hard material to care for when it becomes damaged and unlike other worktops and countertops chips and scratches can not be sanded away or the worktop surface cannot be just replaced easily with new product. There may not be many options to mend major chips in the granite surfaces but minor scratches can be buffed out by using special processes. There are filler products like Epoxy that are used to repair minor chips on the kitchen worktop surfaces.

Epoxy is a kind of thermosetting resin that is used chiefly in strong adhesives and coatings and laminates that dries to an extremely hard finish. It is found to be one ideal material for repairing granite chips.

Steps to repair chips in a granite worktop

Step 1: Match the colour of the epoxy to get the closest shade matching the colour of your granite worktops while purchasing it.

Step 2: Clean your granite kitchen worktop thoroughly and make sure the dust particles and kitchen scraps are not lying anywhere near the damage to be treated. Any impurity will weaken the epoxy patch.

Step 3: Once checked open the epoxy tube and squeeze a line of epoxy suing medium but steady pressure from the bottom of the tube along the chipped area of granite worktop. Make sure to cover the chip on the surface with a bit more epoxy than needed, not less.

Step 4: Use a putty knife to shape the epoxy over the chip. Smoothly level the epoxy surface while trying to match the shape of the worktop so that the epoxy blends in perfectly.

Step 5: Once the application is correct, leave this epoxy patch over the granite surface to dry for two full days. Check if it is dry before trying to wipe away extra epoxy. Use a cleaned blunt putty knife to chip away any excess epoxy.

Granite Kitchen Sinks – Is It the Best choice for you?

Well in all previous posts I mostly talked about granite worktops or granite counter tops. However, there is one more important part that cannot be ignored when you think of remodelling your kitchen. Yes, you are guessing it right! Kitchen sinks are that important thing. To get a complete remodelled look in your kitchen you cannot ignore thinking about what material of sink would be best to match your worktops. If granite is your choice of kitchen worktops, then granite would be a durable material for sinks and a classic choice too since granite offers many functional advantages over other materials, as well as an attractive appearance.

Traditionally granite sinks had some problems like chipping and staining; however with the stone engineering advancements in modern treatments and installations these have been overcome.

Why should I prefer to install Granite Sink in my kitchen?

You can find granite sinks in any size or can custom order the size and dimensions as per your needs. 6 feet long and 9 inches deep trough sinks are a common choice in UK. However, no matter what shape or size your kitchen has, a granite sink can be made to fit it elegantly. Sinks with multiple levels can also be made for different tasks.

One best thing about installing granite worktops and granite sinks is obviously the unique natural material that has its own beauty of the stone and its ability to go with existing granite worktops thus completing the whole kitchen elegance.

Granite kitchen sinks are quite versatile as they allow offsets to be easily made in them to hold any accessory like a cutting board, colander, draining rack etc. You may even add a cutting block for faucet accessories, spray hoses or even knives.

Granite Sinks Vs Stainless Steel Sinks

Granite sinks and stainless steel sinks have become customary choices for kitchens and bathrooms for homeowners. Both types of sink materials have visual appeal and durability that many other sink materials cannot match. Moreover the availability of stainless steel and granite sinks is easy and can be found at almost any hardware store. Here are some points to compare both type of sinks in the form of usability and versatility in the kitchens.

Appearance

Granite is more appealing in appearance than a stainless steel sink and since most of the people prefer to have granite kitchen worktops, granite sinks match well with them. Though granite sinks have much distinguishing looks than stainless steel, but we can say that stainless steel sinks have more versatility to go with almost any type of decor.

Cost

No doubt, stainless steel sinks are cheaper than granite sinks, as granite sinks are made from natural granite. But granite composite sinks, which include synthetic materials, are a more affordable alternative to pure granite sinks.

Durability

Stainless steel and granite sinks offer extreme durability; they can withstand hard impacts and resist scratches. However, granite sinks do occasionally chip, particularly around the corners.

Cleaning

Due to their angled corners, granite sinks are more difficult to clean than stainless steel sinks, which have a smooth, simple surface and design.

Worktop Colour - The defining element of your kitchen

So, you have decided to use granite for your kitchen worktops. And are now confused which colour to choose among so many combinations and textures available. Well, I would say that the choice of granite colour is rather one of the most important design factors in any kitchen. Here are some important things to keep in mind when choosing a kitchen worktop colour for your home.

1) First of all, look out for granite warehouses around your city with a large selection. Warehouses will have full slabs of granite for you to see and thus you will be able to see all of the available colours and not just a few little samples on a board as found mostly on the retail shops.

2) Do not forget to carry a sample of your kitchen cabinet while visiting the warehouse. This would help you to choose the granite colour that compliments your kitchen cabinets, as you can hold the sample up to the granite slab as you search for ones that you like. This way you can make a choice right away if the chosen ones are is a good match for your kitchen or not.

3) Once you have decided the granite colour that works well, make sure that you are really finding it appealing and are not settling down on something that looks good but you may not like. The colour of the granite to be used in your kitchen will make a defining element of your kitchen and hence you must love it in order to live with it.

4) The colour of the floor should equally match or compliment the worktop colour. If you are building a new home or working with an existing floor, make sure to bring a colour sample of the floor tiles so as the granite goes well with that. Although the floor tiles will not be directly next to granite slabs, you still want to make sure the colours work well together.

5) Granite worktops are a great investment for your new kitchen, hence the choice of the granite colour should be an informed decision made after viewing all of the available selections. For more colour ideas and suggestions, visit http://www.granite4less.co.uk

Looking for a granite supplier? Read on...

Finding out a granite company in your town is not a difficult task. But choosing a granite company that satisfies your requirements completely depends a lot on the granite required - what type of granite is to be used, where is it to be installed, the location and the timescales involved and what other work is being carried out. Two possible conditions when you might require a granite company to assist you in purchasing and installing granite can be:

Granite required for a complete new kitchen

If you are buying kitchen worktops to go with your new kitchen units you are getting through a large company, the possibilities are that kitchen supplier will suggest you their own granite worktop provider to get a more profitable deal in every sense. And probably they will not be very happy if you say you will get the granite from elsewhere. They might possibly make it complicated for you to buy the granite yourself by refusing to return after fitting the units to reconnect services and connect the plumbing for the sink. However in my opinion if you are getting a granite deal that will make you save enough on the granite, it may well be more sensible to get a corgi registered installer to come and do the final connections rather than using the kitchen fitters service again.

Granite required when replacing worktops in existing kitchen

If you want granite to replace only the granite worktops and plan to keep your existing kitchen units as it is, it is worth contacting a granite supplier with a very quick turn round time to reduce the time you will be without the full use of the kitchen.

Most of the granite installers usually take around 10-12 days to cut and polish the granite, however there are some companies that send the granite to cheaper countries to get the worktops made and then brought back into the UK, as using foreign labour is cheaper but this means a turn around time of up to 3 weeks. You need to choose the right company that can make it possible to get the granite cut, polished and installed in around maximum of 3-5 working days.

Granite Worktops – Some basic questions answered!

What colour of granite is most popular for kitchen worktops?

As far as my own experience as a granite supplier goes, I have seen people liking granite worktops from all shades of white, pink to dark shades of green and black. The tastes of people have revolutionised with time and now people look for more trendy colours in granite that perfectly compliment their interiors. Granite comes in a variety of brilliant to subtle colours like ivory, green, blue, red etc. Thus if you are looking for granite worktops that can compliment or offset the cabinetry of your kitchen you just have to look out for a granite supplier in your town.

Why are there inconsistency of speckles and swirls in all of the granite stones?

Well needless to say that the inconsistency of patterns in the form of swirls and speckles is what makes the granite a remarkable and unique stone. This attribute of granite stones is formed as a result of the natural action of solidification and representation of various materials that are trapped during the process of cooling down of the molten mass. It is natural for a granite worktop to have these specks of quartz and other molten matter that add glimmer and depth to the granite worktop surface.

Can I replace my granite worktops once installed anytime after that?

Well, I would suggest replacing all your worktops at one time if you want to change out your existing granite worktops. The variability feature of granite gives a unique colour and hue to every block of granite that follows in pattern one after other. Thus if you replace only one worktop today and plan to change the others after a year, you will never match the two with the exact pattern and colour. If you are looking to have uniform granite blocks for your kitchen worktops, you should purchase the granite from only one supplier and remind them that you want the tops to come from the same cut. This would ensure a great match in granite colour and pattern.