Buying Granite

We have 2 different types of Granite in our kitchen - a black and a lighter 'flecked' brown/cream/caramel granite. I would NOT do black again - it shows everything especially if you have hard water. The multi flecked one is great b/c it shows nothing and never looks dirty (which can actuall be pretty gross at times when you put your hand down and it lands on all sorts of crumbs you didn't know were there!).

Re: the post on having to seal Granite - it's super easy... you just do it like you do the grout in your bathrooms...it's a liquid you pick up at HD and you just spread it all over with one of those big yellow sponges from HD and wait for it to dry. Very easy - not sure what the other poster is speaking of...

I would stick w/ a basic and not do anything too trendy b/c if you ever have to sell there is nothing worse than going into a house that is dated by it's hard surfaces (i.e. the dark green granite that was so hot in the 90's, Mauve bathrooms, etc., etc.)

On a different note I just saw a Dr. OZ show where they had a Geiger (sp?) counter - the devise that measures radiation and they put it up to a bunch of different granite samples and one of them registered so high that an Oncology Dr. said he would have all of the granite removed from his house if his kitchen measured so high. Apparently a lot of granite has radiation. We're planning on moving in a few years and that alone was enough to make me not interested in putting granite in our next home. I use to hate the man made products but they have come a long way and some of them actually look like real stone now (Cambria has a great limestone looking product - great for bathrooms). Good luck!

We just built a house and, of all of our sub contractors, our granite guy was THE BEST. Since then, I have recommended him to 5 or 6 of our friends and family and all of them have had nothing but the best to say of their interactions with him. No only does he have the lowest prices around, but he also provides the BEST customer service (I am in the food industry so I understand customer service) and goes the extra mile to educate you so you can make the best decisions for you.

His name is Jonathan Hoadley and his business is Stone-Tree LLC. He can be reached at stonetree.com. He can be reached at ____@____.com or ###-###-####. Just let him know that M. in Crystal recommended you to him.

Good Luck,
M.

The granite in our house was already there so I don't have any advice on where to get it, price, etc., but regarding color, we LOVE our granite color of dark brown with black and light brown flecks. It's really beautiful and is a great compliment with the rest of our neutral colors. It also looks cleaner most of the time than the lighter colors I've seen. I keep mine really clean with Sensaria general household cleaner. It's more expensive than a Mr. Clean and you have to find someone that deals in it but a little goes a long way. I also use it for my wood floors. Good luck!

I wouldn't buy granite. We bought a house with granite countertops, and it needs to be specially treated. The process is a total pain, so I haven't done it yet, which means my granite countertops are harder to clean and don't look as good as they could.