Countertops terminology

[Doug in NC]

I just found out that apparently some in the real estate industry distinguish between "solid surface" and natural stone type surface terms. I had been using solid surface as a catch-all term to describe surfaces of granite, quartz, corian, etc. According to a national hardware store definition, solid surface refers to non-natural surface counter tops only. I suppose I will have to begin to use terms like "natural stone" and "fabricated" or "man-made stone-like material" to be more specific. Just wondering how others are handling this. New materials are coming onto the market all the time. Hard to stay on top of what the latest expected terminology is supposed to be. I now use "laminate" for flooring like Pergo (faux wood products) because it appears to be an accepted term, but outside our industry I'm not sure others would even understand what laminate means (they are most likely more familiar with the term Pergo, but that is only a brand name - like Whirlpool is to jetted tubs).

 

[Peter LeQuire]

I also use "solid surface" as a descriptor for all of those surfaces, including natural stone and man-made materials. But, I'm not an authority on that - I once had to ask someone what the attraction of countertops imported from Korea was.

 

[Michigander]

I always thought of solid surface to mean Corian or it's take-offs. Quartz is quartz (and man-made for what you have with counter tops), granite is granite, concrete is concrete, and tile is tile. Otherwise it is formica, or laminate, wood, etc. In my market, Corian isn't very popular, even though it is often more expensive than some of the granites out there. Granite is losing popularity, just like tile did by the 90's. Concrete and Quartz are now the fad in this area.

 

[Mountain Man]

I always thought of solid surface to mean Corian or it's take-offs. Quartz is quartz (and man-made for what you have with counter tops), granite is granite, concrete is concrete, and tile is tile. Otherwise it is formica, or laminate, wood, etc. In my market, Corian isn't very popular, even though it is often more expensive than some of the granites out there. Granite is losing popularity, just like tile did by the 90's. Concrete and Quartz are now the fad in this area.

Ditto, that's how I address it.
Corian is also harder to maintain and can be easily scratched or damaged. So it's lost most of it's appeal with other more resilient materials on the market. Granite is still popular here as Quartz is more expensive. No one uses tile, except for DIY's who don't know what they are doing and glue tile on top of formica.

 

[panappr]

Granite is losing popularity, just like tile did by the 90's.

Half the granite in the entire world is right here in So. Cal, someone said, it would last forever, and never go out of style. m2:

 

[David Beasley]

I've used "solid surface" to describe Corian and its knockoffs only. I use granite or marble to describe natural granite or marble...so on and so forth. In fact, I never heard the term solid surface until I heard about Corian and its knockoffs.

As for granite falling out of favor, I agree. With everyone becoming so eco-aware, granite is a controversial product since it produces/puts off (naturally occurring) radiation. I've seen news stories on it locally - guys go out and test it, and yup, it's radioactive. But they say that its not a dangerous level, you'd have to sleep on top of it for 1000 years to get any effects, etc...But the info is out there - and certain groups of people are scared by it (like couples with young children). Even saw a story on Megaworld on SciFi or HDNet not long ago about sea ports in the US - and how they scan for radiation in incoming containers before they're allowed to leave port for the highways - and they always flag granite-filled containers since they always pop positive for radiation when sent through their scanners. They verify the cargo as granite and send it on its way.

 

[G-man]

I've always used the term "solid surface" to describe both corian & granite/quartz countertops. I've never felt comfortable in using exact descriptives, such as granite or quartz when noting countertops, for fear of using the wrong one. Maybe I could modify it with "Man Made Solid Surface" for Corian, Concrete & Tile and "Natural Solid Surface" for granite/quartz. That, to me, sounds better.

 

[hglenbetts]

In reality, isn't a laminate counter top a SOLID SURFACE. The surface is solid, the rest of the structure may not be.:Eyecrazy:

Since a tile counter top is constructed in pieces, it isn't a solid surface.

If the Corian counter gets cracked, is it no longer solid??

 

[Michigander]

Hey Tony, anyone here say that tile is solid surface? Formica/laminate (so is granite unfortunately) actually are porous which you discover when leaving something wet on it for any time. Yuck!

 

[Tom Woolford]

ANY countertop can be described as solid surface, but what do you communicate to the client? Only that it has counters. There is plenty of room to NAME the surface: Granite, tile, laminate, concrete, quartz etc. Why not just spell it out? If you are not comfortable making the difference between granite and quartz, at least call it "stone". At least then the reader can visualize something.