What stone is best for my bathroom countertops?

Depending on the size and makeup of your family, bathroom countertops can receive the most demandning use in your home. When selecting stone for your bathroom countertops, you’ll want to take into account the following… 

Granite

This naturally-formed igneous rock consists of small, fused particles of quartz and feldspar. Created by extreme pressures and temperatures in the Earth’s crust, granite’s speckled appearance helps hide required fabrication seams and provides superior durability.

Granite is an excellent choice for bathroom countertops given its resistance to heat and wear. The range of available colors makes it ideal to match most decors.

Care must be given to limit exposure to prolonged wetness since the stone is porous and can absorb moisture. Surfaces should be periodically tested and treated with a recommended sealant. Care should also be given to contact with hot curling irons, makeup, and other personal hygiene products.

Quartz

Quartz is often harder and more flexible than granite and extremely durable. It is engineered to resist scratching, cracking, and chipping better than natural stone. It consists of particles of quartz tightly bound together with resin.

Bathroom applications are ideal for quartz countertops given its strength and resistance to staining. Quartz is available in a variety of patterns and colors and may often resemble natural stone.

The resin in quartz countertops may melt at high temperatures, so care needs to be taken with hot items like curling irons and hair straighteners.

Quartzite

Like granite, quartzite is a naturally occurring stone that offers both beauty and substantial durability to countertop surfaces. Quartzite is a metamorphic rock formed naturally when quartz sandstone is subjected to the same extreme pressure and temperatures as granite. The individual grains of quartz and cementing materials recrystallize into an interlocking mosaic with a smooth, glassy surface. 

This natural stone has greater density than granite making it more resistant to chipping, staining, and scratches. Some colors may resemble marble yet provide many of the features suitable to bathroom use that marble can not afford.

Quartzite countertops require regular sealing but are very easy to care for.

Porcelain

Porcelain is the oldest of the engineered stone surfaces. It’s available in many colors and textures. 

Porcelain is extremely durable, and since it is manufactured with extreme heat, it is very heat resistant and well suited to bathroom use. It is scratch, and stain resistant and because it does not fade or yellow in sunlight, it can be used as exterior cladding. 

This engineered stone is often difficult to fabricate and may, therefore, be more expensive. Damaged porcelain countertops are nearly impossible to repair.

Marble

Given the softness of this natural stone, marble may not stand up to the rigors of typical bathroom use.