This is one of the recurring debates here. You might want to do some searches (use the search box down at the bottom of the main page) to see what's been said in the past.

I do believe that ultimately it comes down to personal preference. Back when we were looking / deciding we both thought we didn't like "granite" and were pretty much decided on a silestone-like product or corian. But we just could not find a single one that we liked. So we started looking at granites, found some we liked, did some more research, visited a ton of slab yards and eventually picked a granite that we both like.

This was in our pre gardenweb days. If I had known then what I know now we might have wound up with one of the marbles that we both really loved. Or maybe soapstone or slate. But that's another story entirely.

As it is our "granite" was labeled at the yard as a marble and our research has shown that it is more of a quartzite than a granite.

Here is a link that might be useful: you can see pics of our granite here - it's Arcobaleno

We have been planning for Silestone for some time, but last Saturday we saw some really gorgeous granite. We are now officially torn.

I read that some granites have dangerously high levels of radon being emitted form them. My girlfriend put in Silestone and it is stunning! She claims it's no worry about staining and sealing. Wish I could speak from experience. We have beige laminate, YUK!

We had silestone and granite in our old house and i know that silestone is no maintance but more $$ up front---
what color silestone did your girlfriend have choochnbob?

Anyone else have silestone color they love- and want to share pics of?

Silsstone and LG Viatera are similar quartz products. I am going with LG Viatera because I like the carefree comparison to granite, but also because I found a pattern I love. Our Lowes has a sale on it until May 31st.

If you're interested in quartz, check around the various brands... they have different colors, and even colors that seem the same look different in person. I wanted a quartz that looked "real" - that had the kind of translucency and depth you'd see in granite rather than the more "painted-on" appearance of some of them. It wasn't easy finding.

I ended up with Zodiaq Smokey Topaz, which I'm thrilled with. It's my gemstone of a countertop. :-)

(It took me months to choose cabinets - I can't imagine what would have happened if you'd have let me loose in a granite yard - or two or twelve. I *still* wouldn't have a finished kitchen!)

I read that some granites have dangerously high levels of radon being emitted form them. My girlfriend put in Silestone and it is stunning! She claims it's no worry about staining and sealing. Wish I could speak from experience. We have beige laminate, YUK!

OK, who is "we?" If you have a girlfriend, you can't be married (I hope). Inquiring minds and all that... ;-)

I have been going back and forth b/w granite and Cambria Quartz I know when I priced out Silestone it priced out the highest over granite and Cambria. Of course I was looking at a newer pattern Sunset Ridge. Another thing to note on Cambria all the edge profles are the same price. I love an ogee edge so I think I'm leading towards Cambria's Quartz, just haven't found a granite I like.

You know, I've always been puzzled by this, what do you guys mean by "maintenance" with granite? All I do is keep mine clean - same as I would any other counter top.

PBrisjar-
The granite guys say you have to buy a spray (its a sealer) ... spray it-- leave it for 20 minutes and then wipe it off...

I am going with LG Viatera because I like the carefree comparison to granite, but also because I found a pattern I love. Our Lowes has a sale on it until May 31st. --cindy49

We were in Lowes Saturday. The kitchen designer said they just got LG Viatera samples in, but they didn't have any pricing yet. All they had was a cased sample set, no display board or literature. We were able to go through the cased samples.

And your Lowes has it on sale already. Must be a regional thing. Hopefully, they will put it on sale in this area, too. Can I ask which pattern you like?

If granite has dangeroulsy high levels of radon, then Silestone probably does too since it is made from natural stone. Forget about the radon worries...most of that is just crap started by the solid surfacing industry. Maintenance is pretty much not an issue with granite either. Some types don't even require sealing, and if they do....sealing is nothing more than spraying it on and wiping it back off. Easy as can be! For me, between granite and fake granite, there was no contest. I love the look and feel of natural stone. I love the character and movement and depth to real granite. If you are happy with a calm, consistant pattern to the countertops, then silestone may be a good choice. But if you want character, then hands down....granite wins.

The LG Viatera that I am getting is Sapporo. If I hadn't seen it in a display at another store I would still be searching. Then my next stop was Lowes and it was on sale for 64.00/sq. ft. Still is at ours. It could be a regional sale, but goes until May 31, I don't know. I live in central Wisconsin. Cost wise there is no sales tax and on GW I found out about coupons through e-bay for 10% off of up to 5000.00 so I saved 500.00 there. The only extras are the sink cutout (200.00) and special edges (I prefer the eased so that is not extra). Also my Home Depot told me that they would match Lowes for a comparable product--which I think would be Silstone--not a factor for me, but may be for you. Good luck in your search.

"PBrisjar-
The granite guys say you have to buy a spray (its a sealer) ... spray it-- leave it for 20 minutes and then wipe it off..."

Not all granite needs to be, or should be, sealed. Normally the darker colors are much less porous than the lighter colors and need never be sealed. In fact, some of them turn steaky or whitish because the sealer sits on top and does not penitrate the stone.

All I ever do is clean mine and once in a while, use a little Pledge to shine it up.

"The granite guys say you have to buy a spray (its a sealer) ... spray it-- leave it for 20 minutes and then wipe it off..."

At most this has to be done once every six months. Generally, though, it's once every year or two or three or sometimes not at all - depends on the granite and how you live your life.

I had settled on Silestone ages ago, picked out the color even, mainly because my mom has granite and seems to *fuss* over it so much. <: wiping it worrying about getting oil or acidic foods on checking for cracks and chips but she looks anyway lol nope not me. besides i saw the samples of granite at lowes home depot wasn impressed. so many granites look like they belong floor in a conference room. too busy heavy looking. ugh.>Then, after reading up on the care and maintenance of granite as compared to Silestone and quartz in general, I realized that it was about the same. Decided that Mom just likes to *fuss* over her kitchen! I should have known that. ;P

Mom suggested that I look at granite, since she loves hers so much and thinks it looks so much nicer. Hmmm. A few friends chimed in about how granite is a better selling point in any house (no intention to sell for many years, but still) and looks so much more expensive for basically the same price. Resale value is always a good thing to consider, after all. Hmmm, again.

Soooo, I went to a granite warehouse and looked at slabs just for the heck of it. Wowsers! The Verde Butterfly and the Verde Peacock REALLY caught my eye. It also turns out that the granite specialists are considerably CHEAPER than Lowes or HD, whether for granite or silestone, but the price between the two (granite or silestone) is still comparable.

I ended up choosing the Verde Peacock and am very pleased with it. It looks really stunning next to the backsplash and cabinets, IMHO.

So, for my two cents, I'd suggest really looking at the color and overall impression you get from either the Silestone or the granites that you look at, and then deciding. Look at *slabs*, not just the small samples you see in a shop, brochure, or online, it really does make a difference to see the stone in person, so to speak. And look at a *bunch* of granites (there aren't all that many colors of Silestone, but granite availability varies from one warehouse to another). There's SUCH a range, and many are just not interesting until you hit on one that attracts you, and that may make up your mind for you. ;D

Here is a link that might be useful: Verde Peacock

If granite has dangeroulsy high levels of radon, then Silestone probably does too since it is made from natural stone.

It's not the stone itself that has radon it's the levels of Uranium present in the granite. Quartz does not contain Uranium because its a mineral not a stone.

The levels can vary from stone to stone, and region to region.

Here is a link that might be useful: Here is a NY Times article on Radon.

I was set to buy Silesstone and got a large tile from the fab.'s near my houes (they were very nice about it) after the cabinets were in - nice about being DIY - take all the time in the world and I absolutely hated the look much to my surprise and the big tile helped... so we went on the great granite search. I worried about granite with the maintance - its no different than my mom's corian and a breeze to clean (actually harder as it doesn't show dirt so its hard to tell if it's dirty except by touch sometimes) and sealing is no big deal and we only find we need it 1-2 times a year despite all the "claims." I prefer the look of real stone now that it is in, but there are some other very nice counter-tops. My husband really wanted granite, so he was happy.

I like granite because of the endless choices. But, if you find a Silestone color that you really like, go for it.

(sterlingsilver, I have chose a verde butterfly remnant for one of our bathroom vanities and it's my favorite hunk of rock in the house.)