Instructions for choosing bathroom worktops

When choosing bathroom countertops, clear guidelines are crucial. Even the most popular vanity top materials have some serious shortcomings. If you are not careful, you will buy yourself a headache.

Follow the guidelines below and you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble later.

Factors to consider when choosing bathroom countertops

Different types of bathroom countertops have different levels of durability

Durability is one of the key factors that make some types of bathroom countertops leap ahead of others.

Vanity tops made of natural stone such as granite or marble often have to be sealed again. Because bathrooms vary dramatically between high humidity (during and immediately after showering) and lower humidity (all other times), the best bathroom countertop materials are neither porous nor often need to be resealed.

This excludes most types of wood, while natural porous stones such as granite and marble are limited in usefulness.

While moisture is the primary concern for the durability of bathroom countertops, it’s not the only problem. You also need to choose a material that does not tear, flake, or scratch easily. This excludes Things like acrylic and recycled glass, at least from the point of view of durability.

Vanity tops must be chosen with value in mind

The master bathroom is one of the two most valuable rooms in a home when it comes to resale value, the other is the kitchen.

Bathroom countertops play an important role in deciding whether your bathroom will increase or decrease the resale value of your home.

Trends prefer most practical solutions while ruthlessly destroying the market share of bathroom worktops that lose their lead in this department.

As a key example, even the undeniable beauty of granite and marble countertops was insufficient to prevent popular quartz countertops from overtaking them.

Even the most passionate interior designers don’t want to have to worry about resealing their granite or marble slabs several times a year. This is a major practical mistake that quartz countertops eliminate. Quartz is not porous and does not have to be resealed. ever.

Click to find out how quartz countertops significantly improve bathroom design Learn more.

The look is still important

You don’t have to be as adventurous as the designer of the above bathroom countertop – but use this image as a reminder to boldly search for the look you want.

The best types of bathroom countertops offer practicality and Beauty. It should be a pleasure to use and look at without affecting your joie de vivre. The choice of low maintenance bathroom countertops is a key factor here.

Think more deeply about the price

Don’t fall into the trap of looking for bathroom countertops that match your preconceived notions of what you can and can’t afford.

You will be surprised to learn that even premium types of bathroom worktops have become significantly cheaper in recent years. This includes quartz, which has become cheap enough to cut out granite and marble (which looks very eerily like).

You should also be careful to think beyond the upfront cost. For example, laminate countertops offer the absolute lowest cost in advance, but are financially awful, both because they are undesirable for future buyers and because they need to be repaired and replaced frequently.

Only when you approach things from an upfront point of view can you safely cost yourself expensive to maintain, repair, and damage the resale value of your home.

Where the various bathroom vanity tops fit into these guidelines

Now that you know the factors to consider when considering the different ideas for bathroom countertops, it would be helpful if we analyzed some of the most popular countertop materials based on these criteria.

Granite countertops

Durability: Granite countertops are very durable as long as you keep the seal on them. Otherwise, the porous rock underneath absorbs water and develops stains and discolouration.

Value: Granite no longer represents the value proposition it once made thanks to advances in other materials. As such, granite is quickly falling out of favor with potential homebuyers and no longer retains its value as it used to.

Appearance: This is an area where granite shines because it is a very beautiful natural stone.

Price: The countertops for granite bathrooms are around $ 40-60 per square foot at the top. The rework that needs to be done regularly to maintain them can cost up to $ 1,000 for the entire project.

Quartz countertops

Durability: Quartz is extremely durable and never needs to be resealed. It is one of the few countertop materials that you can install and never worry about again.

Value: Quartz bathroom countertops are of great value. They are currently the most popular countertops out there. This attractiveness only increases if quartz is available in more colors and patterns and at lower prices.

Appearance: Quartz countertops are stunning to look at and resemble various types of natural stone, including granite and marble. They can also take on extremely unique appearances; This is possible because they are made of artificial stone.

Price: Quartz bathroom countertops have a price similar to granite. $ 40 per square foot at the bottom and up to $ 400 for the premium and rare custom-made items. There are many options at every price between these ranges.

Laminate bathroom countertops

Durability: Laminate countertops are the least durable of the various types of bathroom countertops out there. Since they consist of several layers of chipboard, moisture can cause the layers to separate very easily. Laminate bathroom worktops also tend to bubble due to water damage.

Value: Laminate countertops are undesirable because of their cheapness and perceived lack of quality, which is generally an accurate assessment. In cases where laminate countertops aren’t built cheaply, they are unreasonably expensive given the better options.

Appearance: This is another area where laminate bathroom worktops are neglected. They achieve their appearance through patterns that are printed on the surface. As such, the patterns are two-dimensional and not very inspiring.

Price: Laminate bathroom countertops cost between $ 25 and $ 35 per square foot for average materials. Premium products cost $ 40 to well over $ 100 per square foot. At this price point, it is better to choose a material like quartz.

Bathroom Countertop Selection Guide: Conclusion

Bathroom countertops are an important investment decision, both for your daily use and for the future value of your home.

In this manual you have learned all about the various factors that can be used to assess the different types of bathroom worktops. We also compared three of the most common bathroom worktop materials to find out why in the long run you will save more by paying more for one (quartz) in advance, both in terms of repairs and eventual resale value.