There are many praises for the natural beauty of natural stones, but when a lady from the Middle East stands in the center of a remodeled kitchen and looks at the brand new black marble countertops and appreciates the natural beauty of the stones, these praises are not. So convincing. “Natural stone is like jewelry at home,” the lady said.
Indeed, choosing granite, marble, travertine and other natural stone products is like going to a jewelry store to choose fine jewelry. The natural beauty and quality of jewelry can only be recognized under a powerful microscope. However, for natural stone, we can see it with the naked eye. If you want to make the interior more distinctive, natural stone is a better choice when choosing countertops, bathtubs, shower stalls, floors, and other indoor stone decorations. When the homeowner chooses to use natural stone, he or she is convinced that the stone used in his or her house is unique in the world and cannot be fully replicated.
In addition to its natural beauty and uniqueness, natural stone also has many characteristics, such as durability, versatility, and easy cleaning. At the same time, natural stone is a good choice for homeowners who wish to decorate the kitchens and bathrooms of finished or second-hand houses into a modern style, and those who are currently constructing and renovating buildings. When selling a house, the choice of the natural stone increases the value of the house itself. In fact, the survey shows that when the homeowners who transfer second-hand houses spend on the renovation of their houses, the cost of using natural stone accounts for between 80% and 86% of the total renovation cost.
Obviously, natural stone will never be out of date. At present, natural stone is the preferred material for people in the world to decorate kitchens and bathrooms, and it is growing at a double-digit rate every year.
The more you know about the quality of the natural stone, the more helpful it is to make a wise choice of materials for the renovation of the new kitchen and bathroom or the renovation of the kitchen and bathroom.
In addition to natural stone, consumers can choose from a wide range of materials: plastic laminate, stainless steel, concrete, and quartz. Quartz materials can be used in more than 30 different brands, and these brands are usually made of small quartz particles mixed with pine resin, color pigments, and other materials such as mother shell products, mirror fragments, sub-precious stones, etc. For some kitchen and bathroom applications, other non-natural stone materials may be more popular with homeowners, depending on the homeowner’s budget, vision, use considerations, and desired appearance and visual effects.
But these materials are not really natural or enough to cause complaints. “You can’t find countertops exactly like this one in other places in the world.” As those who sell a variety of building and finishing materials say. This is the reason why these natural stones and competitive non-natural stone products are displayed in front of customers at the same time, and most customers choose objects from nature.
Natural stone is no longer a sky-high price
The fact is this: the natural characteristics of those natural stones can be revealed through family construction and large-scale reconstructions. In most cases, the price of natural stone is much cheaper compared with high-quality non-stone materials that are suitable for countertops, bathtubs, shower stalls, floor tiles, etc.
The reason is the continuous increase in supply and demand and the continuous advancement of technology. The stone industry is constantly booming and has become a part of the globalization of the natural stone industry in recent years. The continuous progress of new technologies and the continuous development of new mines have not only led to a surge in stone production in India, Brazil, Spain, and China but also in the United States. With the increase of suppliers from the United States, Italy, and other traditional granite, marble, and other natural stones, the total amount of stone products available for consumption in the world is large enough for the world to enjoy slowly. It can be said that natural stone products are inexhaustible and inexhaustible.
In the past, the stone industry realized the potential resources of stone, but the cost of extracting stone from the mine was prohibitively high. As in other industries, natural stone manufacturers and suppliers make technological improvements to extract stone from the mine, cut stone blocks into slabs, and process and polish them for home assembly and installation.
This is the reason why kitchen and bathroom professionals recommend the use of natural stone.
What is unique about natural stone?
In a word, time is long and time is long. If the time passed by Mother Earth to create natural stone is not several hundred million years, at least several million years. There are many factors that affect the formation and color of natural stone. These factors include the different rock formation conditions, the blocks extracted from the mine are also different.
In a series of links from stone mining to the application, manpower has little effect. In the process of showing the characteristics and natural beauty of the stone, there is very little human involvement. Even when those stones are moved elsewhere from the mine, all that is required is the cutting and polishing processes. External forces cannot change the inherent natural characteristics of the stone itself. This is also the reason for the variety of styles and colors of natural stone. Indeed, the styles and types of some common stones look the same, but in fact, no two are exactly the same.
Different natural stones are suitable for different kitchens and bathrooms
With the wide application of natural stone, people are aware of the diversity of stone colors and materials. Those kitchen and bathroom professionals and designers can provide customers with various materials and colors according to their desired appearance and performance.
Kitchen countertops: Granite, as one of the hardest materials in the world, is the most popular choice for kitchen countertops and other durable finishes. These granites are durable, easy to maintain, and are suitable for various colors and styles. At the same time, marble and slate are also a good choice for countertops.
Kitchen and porch floor: The durable characteristics of granite tiles will make the kitchen floor more vigorous. The beauty and elegance of marble are also popular. The striped pattern and colorfulness of marble add a bit of sophistication to the design. Marble has a strong moisture-proof function, especially when choosing floor tile materials, marble is an ideal choice. The selection of beautiful lacquered wood grain travertine will add a bit of classical atmosphere to the floor.
Bathroom: In terms of material selection for bathroom walls, shower rooms, floors, etc., among those natural stones, marble is the most popular. This is not only due to the beautiful appearance and strong moisture resistance of marble but also to the easy maintenance of marble.
Other indoor applications
In addition to the several kinds of stones mentioned above, the application of other natural stones such as slate, sandstone, limestone, travertine, etc. can add a bit of uniqueness to kitchens, halls, stairs, and fireplace walls.
Another feature of natural stone-easy to clean
One of the main advantages of natural stone is that it is easy to clean. Only some warm water, neutral dishwashing liquid, and a soft cloth can maintain the appearance of most natural stones, and their appearance will be maintained for many years. If you accidentally get stains, just get some plaster mixture from the stone supplier, and those stains will be removed. A new study shows that marble, granite, and artificial granite are equally capable of decontamination.
In 2006, the Minneapolis Institute of Technology and Medicine in Minnesota conducted a study. This study compared the decontamination capabilities of four types of countertops, two types of granite, one type of marble, and one type of quartz that is widely used on the market. It is concluded that these four types of countertops are easy to clean and comply with the FDA U.S. Food and Drug Administration for short) surface cleanliness standards, surface bacteria decreased by 5 logarithms.
On the whole, the data of the four materials after cleaning and rinsing show that the four materials have no difference in the reduction of bacteria,” said Dr. O. Pitt Schnard, the director of the medical institution. “This means-testing. There is no difference in the decontamination ability of the several different countertops used in food safety. This study sponsored by the American Marble Association shows that typical stone countertop materials are easy to clean and meet FDA regulations to reduce food contact surfaces to safety standards. ”
As early as 1999, Dr. Schneider did similar research on granite and other materials such as stainless steel, concrete, brick, wood, and plastic slabs, and found that granite has the strongest decontamination ability. The 2006 study is a follow-up to the study done in 1999.
The difference between granite countertops and other countertops
Comparing granite countertops with countertops made of other materials, such as quartz particles, in terms of antibacterial, heat resistance, scratch resistance, antifouling, and overall performance, we will find that the superiority of granite is incomparable. Unlike other countertops, the heat resistance of granite is first-class, and there is an important consideration in kitchen applications, that is, heat resistance. Reports show that when the temperature of the quartz surface exceeds 360 degrees, the quartz will heat up and burn. When the surface temperature of other materials is too high, they may deform, crack, fade, etc., causing great inconvenience to everyone. As for granite, when the hot pot is suddenly placed on the surface of the granite, there will be no flaws. If it is placed on other materials, it is hard to compare.
Other reasons why granite is so popular
Granite is one of the hardest materials and is very resistant to scratches. The scratch resistance is a very important factor that needs to be considered in the selection of kitchen decoration materials.
Many people think that granite countertops need to be sealed to keep the user’s inner peace and provide another additional protection, but the opposite is true. Most granite will not fade under sunlight, while other synthetic material panels will fade easily under sunlight. When the granite countertop is accidentally stained or worn, it can usually be restored to its original appearance and purpose. Other materials may not be able to achieve this effect. Finally, whether indoors or outdoors, granite is a universal material, most suitable for the newly popular outdoor kitchen. Now that we have a fuller understanding of granite, choosing granite is no longer a difficult task. After all, these natural stones are the products of nature over millions of years.
