Cabinet countertops to buy
1. Artificial stone
Artificial stone is made of natural marble or other stone materials, and then extruded by adding artificial fiber, polyester resin binder, flame retardant, color, etc., mainly used for kitchen countertops.
Advantages: The artificial stone material has a smooth surface, no pores, natural stone texture and ceramic luster, and a variety of colors to choose from. Its texture is acid-resistant, corrosion-resistant, waterproof, and easy to clean. It can be described as a combination of the advantages of stone, ceramics and wood. The plasticity of artificial stone is very strong, it can shape any shape, and can be truly seamless spliced, the overall effect is very good, and this material is easy to process.
Disadvantages: Although artificial stone has a beautiful appearance, it is not durable, and its hardness is not as good as granite. After scratching with a hard object, marks will be left on the countertop. In addition, this material is easy to permeate, and it is not possible to directly place heated kitchenware, otherwise the material will change color.
2. Stainless steel
The stainless steel material is made of a thin steel plate with a thickness of 1.2 mm-2 mm wrapped in sheet metal. There are many types of this material, the common ones are type 201 and type 304.
Advantages: sturdy and durable, easy to clean, can be truly seamless splicing, especially can be welded into a whole with stainless steel sink. Therefore, it is the most practical one among all countertop materials.
Disadvantages: The stainless steel countertop has a single color, which is difficult to integrate with the cabinet style. It is easy to leave marks after being scratched by hard objects.
3. Natural stone
Natural stone is a slab material that is mined from natural rock mass and processed. The material that can be used as a kitchen countertop is mainly granite, whose main component is aluminosilicate, which is a hard stone.
Advantages: granite has uniform texture, rich colors, hard texture, and has the characteristics of acid and alkali resistance, corrosion resistance, and high temperature resistance. After polishing, the surface of the granite stone is as bright as a mirror, so no additional maintenance is required to use it for cabinet countertops, and the appearance and color can be kept smooth.
Disadvantages: Although granite is hard in texture, because the stone is short, each piece of stone is generally about 2.5 meters, so it needs to be spliced to make a countertop, so there will be obvious splicing seams. In addition, the installation of granite countertops is more complicated.
2020-10-26