Your kitchen countertop is one of the most hard-working areas of your kitchen, a multi-function surface for everything from food preparation to kids’ science projects!
Kitchen countertops are a major expanse of surface that seamlessly links your whole kitchen together from one end to the other. Countertops have a significant impact on the light in your kitchen, whether bouncing back light from a light-coloured surface, or adding drama with a dark, statement colour.
Natural stone countertops can even affect the temperature in your kitchen, with natural stone having a cooling effect that many cooks appreciate in our warm Canadian summers.
Choosing your new kitchen countertop
It’s important you choose the right countertop for your lifestyle, day-to-day usage and overall look. Here are five choices for your new kitchen:
Quartz countertops offer all the benefits of granite, combining natural stone and hard-wearing resins to create a countertop that’s robust and durable. It’s also the most popular and on-trend countertop we install for our customers – more details below!
Granite countertops are a timeless addition to any kitchen. Durable, cool and naturally stylish, a granite countertop will serve you and your family for years. Sourced from natural granite quarried around the world, granite countertops will require annual resealing, buffing, polishing or reconditioning to keep them in prime condition.
Marble countertops combine a timeless, classical look with the added benefit of being cool to the touch year-round. However, as the director of Martha Stewart Living advises, “Make sure you’re the type who can live with patina”, as marble is prone to etching and staining, and will be affected by acids in foods such as citrus fruits and vinegar.
Wood countertops have a warm, homely look and feel great under the fingers. Favoured by cooks in the traditional striped butchers block design, wooden countertops give warmth and depth to a kitchen, and are often used as an accent feature on a kitchen island. Wooden countertops do require more maintenance and care than stone, composite or laminate worktops.
Laminate countertops have the look of natural stone or wood but without the price tag. The laminates used are sealed with hard-wearing coatings, so they are durable and long-lasting, as well as simple to clean. They are also more forgiving than natural stone or quartz if your family is a little heavy handed with your dishes and might drop stuff!
On-trend countertops for 2018 kitchens
At Verbeek Kitchens, we’ve already fitted dozens of countertops this year, so we know what people here in London like!
The top countertop material for 2018 is…
Quartz, which is a huge trend in kitchen design this year. Quartz countertops contain up to 93% natural quartz combined with resins and colour under extreme pressure to produce a countertop that’s:
- Cool and silky smooth to the touch
- Dense and non-porous
- Resistant to heat, cold, scratching and staining
- Available in a wide variety of colours and designs
Top name manufacturers we use here at Verbeek include Cambria, Caesarstone, Hanstone, LG Viatera, and Dupont Zodiaq.
Confused about quartz countertops? Come in and see us at our showroom in London, ON.,
and we’ll guide you through all the types, colours, styles, and brands.
The top countertop colours for 2018 are…
White and grey and preferably, with a natural veining effect running through it.
White countertops give a crisp, contemporary feel to a new kitchen, whilst helping to distribute light around the whole room through natural reflection. The inclusion of a vein pattern gives more visual appeal and depth than a flat white surface, and mimics the look of natural marble for far less dollars.
Look at:
- Caesarstone – Statuatio Maximus and Statuario Nuvo
- Dupont – Calacatta Natura and Coarse Carrara
- Hanstone – Tranquility
- Cambria – Annicca (gloss or matte)
Grey countertops are very much on-trend, the perfect countertop for today’s urban-chic grey kitchens. Again, the trend is to give more visual variety and a sense of depth by choosing grey quartz countertops with veining or patterning. Look at:
- Caesarstone – Coastal Grey
- Dupont – Storm Grey
- Hanstone – Grigio and Leaden
Of course, you could always combine the two with an off-white countertop with grey veining, such as Caesarstone’s Noble Grey!
Two countertops, one kitchen
There is absolutely no rule that says you can’t have two different countertops in one kitchen! So, who not use one as an accent, such as a wooden countertop on a kitchen island, or a dark quartz countertop on the island and white quartz with dark veining everywhere else. Let one countertop pick up on colours in the other, or feature the same colour but with different patterning. The choice is yours!
Replacement countertops
Most of our countertops are installed as part of new kitchens, but if you just want a countertop replaced, just ask. Of course, we can also replace countertops in other rooms, including bathrooms, bedrooms, workshops, basements, home bars, and laundry rooms.
Call us with your requirements at 519-685-1811.
Verbeek Kitchens – countertop solutions to transform and inspire your living space