Vermont and Virginia soapstone. Also a granite called Virginia Mist which looks similar to soapstone but is harder cause it’s granite. There are also huge granite quarries in North Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin and other states.

Pick stone quarried from as close by as you can. You won't have the range of choices, but you'll have fewer carbon miles. Same goes for flooring.

Alabama and Vermont have glorious marble. Nebraska has some marble as well, not sure what it looks like.

Check out Sheldon Slate. They’re way upstate NY. We drove (at least) 6 hours from our home on Long Island, to visit the their showroom/fabrication site. Lovely people. Family owned business. Came home with a heavy book of samples. Abused each one, and tested all kinds of foods, oils, condiments. All were impervious, except for the gray (Or was it the black? This was about 6 years ago).

Slate is very dense. The owners son, a VERY large man, jumped on top of a slate overhang, which was not supported underneath. Amazingly, the stone did not budge or crack.

Loved the colors, and the texture. Almost pulled the trigger, but then we discovered soapstone, which is what we put in the renovated kitchen of our new home.

Sheldon Slate is in an area of NY, that has tons of slate. We saw lots of it lying along the side of the roads. Just about everyone up there has slate counters.

FYI, Sheldon Slate ships all over the country. The slate you see in your local shops, where you’d get slate for flooring, indoors and out, likely is Sheldon Slate.

Thanks for this info! I’m in Boston so this is super helpful! Did it scratch very easy?

None of the slates scratched. I didn’t try to gouge them with a fork...as that wouldn’t happen in real life. I did push plates and pots across the samples, and dropped a set of keys, which did no harm.

If you want wood you might want to check out Lyptus. It’s very strong and made from a species of the eucalyptus tree. They grow very very fast, quick harvesting.

There are a few states in the U.S that grow it but most comes from other countries so it would take some research.

I‘m a bit out of date with my knowledge. It used to be close to the cheapest hard wood to buy but now it has all sorts of eco & enviro in front of its name...so, might be a fortune now, don’t know.

Paperstone. What’s the style of your kitchen.

I went through this same dilemma a last year and finally decided on butcher block. I liked the idea of paperstone but couldn’t find a local installer. Marmoleum is interesting too. I prefer a “warmer” and softer countertop.

Oh, stainless steel is supposedly “green” too.

http://marmoleumclique.com/category/marmoleum-countertops/

I haven't seen it in person but a source for stone in MA is schist from ashfieldstone.com

If you are doing a small kitchen or are comfortable with mixing countertop materials, architectural salvage places (EcoBuilding Bargains in Springfield, etc.) often have donated countertops for reuse. In my experience EBB mostly has granite, sometimes slate, sometimes small amounts of marble.

I'll echo many of the other commenters - seek a local stone. Ashfield Stone is one, and Barre Granite is another.

Two big North American stone companies are Polycor and Cold Spring. The latter is gaining attention with their sustainability efforts. You can browse their offerings and see what's from your neck of the woods.

https://www.polycor.com/quarries-plants/

https://www.coldspringusa.com/quarry/

Another option is to use remnant slabs, depending on how big an area you're covering.

Thank you for making this a priority in your decision-making. I share that same concern, so I appreciate your efforts!

Keep us posted about what you find and how you decide. It will help others who want to make a similar decision.

Cambria Quartz is made in the USA.

Large format ceramic tile or porcelain slabs. Few grout lines, clean look, pretty bombproof.

neolith

Danby marble is from Connecticut. It is my dream countertop. A beautiful marble!

The best environmental choice is to pick a countertop that will last for decades instead of a synthetic one that will last for a decade.

I agree to find a stone that is more or less local is the best choice . Quartz is IMO the worst and we are all trying to lessen our use of plastic aren’t we? I sold Richlite and found it faded with use I have it in cutting boards and find it fades quickly with washing. Paperstone is apparently better but IMO the use of resins is iffy as to what exactly is used no matter where it is sourced from.

Here is a good article with a comparison chart.

https://www.greenbuildingsupply.com/Learning-Center/Cabinets-Countertops-LC/Eco-friendly-Countertop-Buyers-Guide

Wood is a renewable resource. None of the other choices are. That is probably not your question, though.

Vermont Soapstone and Vermont Marble. Beautiful and local.

Cindy, what a great article. Thank you for sharing!

A paperstone-type product was used throughout my (former) employer's green office remodel. Within a week of moving back into the building the kitchen counters showed signs of wear -- water marks, heat damage from the coffeemaker, etc. Really bad. It was great on all of the other cabinetry countertops, but an expensive mistake in the kitchen. Be careful.

BTW I love butcher block counters these are 17 yrs old and still look new with a light sanding and reoiling when they start looking a bit ratty.

There are many options for U.S. quarried material, many of which have been mentioned above. Soapstone for sure from Virginia, marble from Vermont, quartzite from Nevada and granite from several Maine quarries. Ask your fabricator what they have in stock that is US sourced and if they don't have any on hand, ask them what they have access to. In our slab warehouse we place American flags and state of origin on all material we source in the states. Good luck and have fun with it.

There is an article about “Sustainable Kitchen Countertops” in Houzz.com that popped up for me on my feed. Might be an interesting read for you. Maybe you can search for it?

https://www.houzz.com/magazine/5-sustainable-kitchen-countertop-materials-to-consider-stsetivw-vs~126215048

Following!

A co-worker of mine got stone from Ashfield Stone and was very happy with it. She's building a new home now and wants to go with all stainless steel. I'm still trying to decide what to do with mine but I have time to think about it so this thread is very helpful.

Thank you @Isaac for the tip about EcoBuilding Bargains!

Here are the brands my local eco building supply place recommends (I have no personal experience with any of them.. I'm a stainless steel countertop devotee): https://originatenbm.com/products/countertops-tiles/

Thank you all for the great information!! I am going to contact Ashfield stone because that seems really promising. I had nevwe heard of them and I’ve been looking a lot.. thank you!! Butcher block is out of our price range - it’s surprisingly expensive! Soapstone is actually mostly coming out of Brazil these days - at least that’s what they told me over at VT Soapstone.

We are in MA north of Boston. I have used Vermont structural slate vermontstructuralslate.com twice for flooring. They have a ton of info on their site and provide a lot of technical info on their materials. We have quite a lot of slate floor that does not require sealing. Super nice people to deal with,

Formica, most likely, will be the least impact to the environment.

Bamboo. It's a grass, grows like a weed, and is harder than maple.

@Joseph Corlett, LLC, but what is the bamboo held together with, and how green is that?

I don' know and don't really care. It's amusing watching people chasing their tails trying to discover what does the least damage. Geesh, live in a cave. Be responsible;it'll all be fine.

Wood countertops are cheap and definitely more environmentally responsible than quarried and shipped stone options. You must be looking at end grain tops or a pricier type of wood. Those are expensive. Look for edge or plank tops. (Meaning, not John Boos) There are many economical options in maple or ash from a variety of sources.

@wiscokid, how do the non end grain wood counters hold up to water? Wood is something I have considered but many people report problems near sinks. My family tends to be on the messy end of the spectrum so we are unlikely to mop up all water immediately.

The most responsible thing we can do is choose materials that will last a long time - both in terms of durability and livability. If we don't have to dispose of it and replace it for decades, we are doing our best for the environment (which is why wood floors are such a good choice).

The problem is, people do not necessarily stay in their house long term. Look at the posts of people ripping out perfectly good granite, quartz, etc. because it is not "their style". That, to me, is way more environmentally unfriendly than choosing a material like Formica or bamboo that is held together with god only knows what.

Wood does fine around water.

American white granite or Bethel white granite as kitchen countertop, please share pictures. Looking at this for our update. Planning on it for outer cabinets.

If you're interested in slate check out soapstone from Alberene Quarry in VA. The current variety they're quarrying is Church hill. I don't know if it's a perfect environmental choice but I felt it was better than lots out there. It's non-porous so you don't need to use any chemicals to clean it. No plastic, will last forever, no radon to worry about, and soapstone doesn't require any special chemicals etc to extract it so the mining isn't as bad as some other natural stones. Plus if you purchase from the Alberene Quarry it's fairly locally sourced and I'm told you can go down and pick out your stone yourself if you chose. This weighed heavily on my mind too during our kitchen remodel so I ultimately tried to get things that I thought would look good for a long time and last forever. Plus, soapstone can be easily refinished so you can sand it down in 20 yrs and have a fresh surface if you need. We unfortunately could not find anyone in our area that I trusted to fabricate that actually carried Church Hill however if you're on the east coast you should have more choices.

Also, if you're looking at wood (we're doing both) check out Forever Joint Tops out of WI. Good prices, local wood, BEAUTIFUL butcher block and small business. Good luck on your choice.

The problem is, people do not necessarily stay in their house long term.
Look at the posts of people ripping out perfectly good granite,
quartz, etc. because it is not "their style".

I was going to say something similar. Whatever you choose, commit to it. Don't change perfectly good stone for the sake of color or style. That's what the earth cannot afford.

And if you're concerned about your environmental footprint, build a reasonable-sized kitchen with a modest number of kitchen cabinets /reasonable amount of counterspace -- then build a big pantry with shelves made from renewable wood sources.

I appreciate this post since I'm trying to make good, sustainable choices for a kitchen remodel in the house we chose so we can age in place (location choice based on walk/bike/transit access and got a one-level). The kitchen needs a real rework to be functional. Current cheap builder-grade cabinets aren't reusable in the kitchen (may move some into laundry or garage for reuse). The countertop arrangement will be so different that I can't just resurface or cover those.

I've been looking at our local architectural salvage sources and may still find something there. I live close enough to Seattle that I'll have access to the kinds of things made available by the people who do the every-5-years-I'm-tired-of-my-counters decisions. A friend of mine made incredible countertops by refinishing bowling-alley wood but she put hundreds of hours into the effort and that isn't in the picture for me.

I'm researching purchase options in case I don't find something through salvage. I started out thinking I wanted Paperstone because it looks so warm and it's made in my state, but I've seen too many comments about fading and marring. I'm now researching recycled glass. There are some beautiful examples here https://www.thespruce.com/recycled-glass-kitchen-countertops-4584804. I'd love to read what others have to say about it.