Your kitchen counter plays an important role in setting the design style of your home. It makes a strong visual and tactile impression. The material you use should be durable enough to resist cooking greases and stains as well as attractive and up to date.
If you are thinking of re-doing your kitchen countertop installation experts In Austin, Tx, select a style that compliments your kitchen cabinetry and the overall style of your home. Here are some choices that are popular today:
Granite
Today's housing trend toward modern styling, cleaner lines, and simple patterns has led to less busy patterns in all countertop materials. However, granite is still a very popular surface for countertops. It is resistant to scratching by knives or etching by cooking acids. Granite is a dense stone formed by crystallized minerals at extremely high temperatures. Here are several choices in granite finishes:
Polished – Fine polishing brings out the depth, color, and pattern in granite. This is the least porous and most reflective and of the granite surfaces. Each piece has its own natural movement of pattern and color.
Honed Finish – To create a honed surface, the polishing process is not taken to its full potential. Rather than a 3,000 grit polished surface, it stops at a soft sheen 600-grit surface. The result is a less formal, satin finish. The honed surface is more absorptive, so it will show stains easier than a closed-pore polished surface.
Leather Finish – A leather finish begins with a honed surface. Then it is swept with diamond-tipped brushes. The brushing closes pores on the surface and brings back the color. The result is a surface between polished and honed. It has more sheen than a honed finish and is less porous.
Flame Finish – To create this surface, blowtorch-strength heat is applied to the granite surface. This causes some of the granite crystals to explode and shatter, leaving a highly textured surface. This surface is used more suited for exterior paving, rather than for countertops.
River Washed – To create the river-washed texture, granite is first flamed; then it is swept with a diamond-tipped brush to smooth out the sharpness of the surface. The result is a rustic texture with an aged, irregular finish.