In part one of this two-part blog series, we went over some of the common myths out there regarding quartz countertop surfaces. When items or services become highly popular, they sadly tend to develop some areas of misinformation within popular culture – and quartz is a good example, with rising popularity in recent years that’s unfortunately led to some misconceptions out there.
At AWA Kitchen Cabinets, we ensure all our clients have the proper product information for any of our materials, from base cabinets and our wide selection of additional kitchen cabinets to our granite and quartz countertops also offered. In today’s part two of our series, we’ll go over a few other quartz countertop myths out there, plus the correct information in each of these areas.
There’s No Variety
In some ways, we can understand how this particular myth got started. While other stone materials like granite and marble are unique with every single slab, meaning you’ll never see the same one twice, quartz is a manufactured stone – so some naturally assume it’s uniform and cannot be purchased with any variety.
This isn’t the case, however. Quartz manufacturing allows for a huge range of colors and shapes, with various designs popular today: Speckled quartz, solids or even those that mimic granite, marble or other stone types. In fact, quartz is one of the single most versatile stones out there due to how easily it can mimic others.
It’s All Synthetic
While synthetic materials are used to help fabricate quartz slabs, anything you hear about synthetic materials making up most of the slab is incorrect. For most slabs, the breakdown will be about 90% natural materials and 10% synthetic, though this can vary somewhat based on your desires. It is not possible to create quartz with only synthetic materials, and too low a level of natural quartz will not allow for slabs that mimic other natural stones.
Quartz and Corian Are Interchangeable
We talked about quartz and quartzite mixups in part one of the series here, and another potential point of confusion is for terminology between quartz and Corian. The latter, which is a construction metal created in the late 1960s, came onto the market around the same time as quartz – the two were competitors in some ways during their early years, and some of the companies involved in this competition have even merged since.
It’s even possible to combine original Corian surfaces with Corian quartz countertops for fancier aesthetics. But these are not the same thing, nor are they interchangeable.
It Requires Sealing
Finally, unlike other natural stones like granite, you do not need to seal quartz surfaces. You will still need to perform regular maintenance, however.
For more on moving past the myths associated with quartz countertops, or for information on any of our kitchen cabinets or other products, speak to the staff at AWA Kitchen Cabinets today.