In 2021, engineered stone surpassed laminate to become the most used countertop material in the US, marking the first time in decades that laminate was not the most popular countertop material
Freedonia Group
Laminate countertops have been the preferred choice for affordable countertops since the 1940s. If you couldn’t afford a natural stone like marble or granite, laminate was the way to go. It came in various colors and was fairly simple to install making it the dominant countertop material choice for decades.
The process to engineer quartz countertops by pressing polymer resins into natural, raw quartz crystals was developed by the Italian company, Breton S.p.A, in the early 1960s. This new stone-like material didn’t really catch on in the united states until the 1990s. Most homeowners were happy with their laminate and didn’t understand why they would need a stone look-alike when they could just get an actual stone like granite. If you were wealthy enough to afford real natural stone, you wanted to show it off. Many people felt that getting quartz was a bit like a cubic zirconium diamond and trying to pass it off as the real thing.
Eventually, consumers started to realize that quartz wasn’t some cheap knockoff. It had its own merits as a stand-alone material. In fact, by 2004 the quartz industry began to boom. The benefits of quartz were to good to pass up:
- Consistent, uniform appearance.
- Heavy, solid slabs make for great, long-lasting surfaces that can typically be installed in one piece.
- Wide variety of colors – and unrivaled availability.
- Exceptionally hard and durable.
- Highly resistant to chips, dents, stains, and other surface damage.
- Very low porosity which limits bacterial growth.
- Heat resistant.
- No need for re-sealing.
- Low maintenance.
Today quartz has finally surpassed laminate as the most popular choice for residential countertops and the industry is continuing to grow. Are you interested in replacing your countertops with engineered stone? If so contact us today!
