I agree with you completely on this. I had a slate tile floor in my old house and it was very forgiving. I swept it frequently, but only mopped it when it REALLY needed it. Yes, there were some germs I am sure. But since we were not eating off of it I felt that was okay.

A countertop to me, needs to be pristine and germ free at all times. I had granite tile in the past and I felt like I could never get the grout lines free of any bacteria. I have white now, and I would rather wipe them constantly and know that they are clean than mask any dirt.

God I love the Young House Love Kitchen (and pretty much everything else they do...)

Hm, interesting... I go for aesthetics and prefer marble. I like my apt very neat but I don't worry too much about germs. I figure they're part of life. The kitchen gets thoroughly cleaned once a week and I wipe down counters in between as needed. Should be enough...

Unfortunately the pattern is so busy that I have a hard time telling when they're dirty.

This is why I find myself disliking most granite slabs. Every house hunter show where the "cook" of the house goes crazy when they see that cheap, bird poo patterned granite I just cringe and wonder why people like it so much.

Subtle tone on tone patterns like what you find in Corian or large scale irregular patterns like on better quality marble or granite are great, but the second it immitates splatters it seems like a waste.

Uranium, potassium, and thorium can produce really interesting crystals in your granite. They also emit small amounts of radiation.

Granite is like the new contractor's beige. I love a fresh white countertop. I love the look of concrete too, but not the maintenance.

This post is making me feel better about my all-white Corian. Although if I had it to do over, I would go with marble because it's so beautiful. I do agree with Jess13 about the "bird poo" granite, haha.

We have dark speckled granite (black, espresso brown, and copper tones) counter tops and while I lust after white marble counter tops, our condo's previous owner had them put in only three years ago... we're saving a lot of money during our kitchen re-do by keeping them and the cabinets.

Our counter tops are clean, even though they are dark, because I like that shiny/glossy look that comes when they are wiped down properly.

Just FYI, your counters are never germ free. Even if you actually sanitized them when cleaning them (and you probably aren't), the germs will be back the second you touch them.
No white in my house, I don't feel like following everybody around with a paper towel.

I've always thought granite was horrible looking. I think I've mentioned on here before I think grantie looks like a moutain threw up all over the counter top :) not my thing and I don't get the trend on decorating shows either. It does seem that first time home buyers wont even consider a place if it doesn't have granite (barf).

I have a medium grey silestone quartz (has tiny little flecks of darker grey - but not overly noticible) counter in my kitchen and I couldn't be happier. It's not as pourous as marble or granite so it's less likely to stain or hold germs as much as the other types of "stone" and you don't need to seal it every year. Best of both worlds.

@Stream13 - It depends on what kind of granite. I like solid colors and while granite is never truly one solid color, there are a lot of granite slabs that are more consistent and you can get a white slab with only a bit of gray. Your quartz has flecks of darker gray - I've seen black granite slabs with specks of gray, and not too noticeable. It really depends on the supply. Not all granite is so patterned that you really notice right away.

my last two apartments have had patterned granite, and i'm starting to detest it. i'm a neat freak and i keep finding spots i've missed while cleaning because they blend in so damn well with the granite. argh

Ha! JESS13 I totally agree! I love it when the house hunter is like "this house is great but it doesn't have granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, Next!". For some reason that drives me crazy (most likely because I'm crazy). Marble is the "new granite" but marble is quite expensive and I hear it can stain easily. I have ugly white laminate countertops now but I'd love to switch to a white corian or concrete one day.

wow, people be straight snobby about granite.

I don't get the granite hate. Sure, it's ubiquitous...but that doesn't mean it's the worst thing ever, and anyone who uses it has terrible taste. It's the material I'm going to use if I can't find one I like better for the cost. Quartz and paperstone are just too expensive.

Durability and ease of maintenance affect how nice a kitchen surface material looks as much or more than color and pattern do. My brushed stainless steel sinks look better than my white porcelain sinks did because the porcelain ones were quickly chipped, stained, scratched, and roughened. I've slowly leaned away from all-white kitchens (and baths and linens). Some neutral multicolor engineered quartz counters are pretty. That material that used to be only for chemistry lab tables is interesting, too.

I love the look of pale marble, but I specifically chose a granite that had speckles to disguise coffee grounds, red wine rings and bread crumbs. Previously, I had pale maple butcher block which was constantly a mess and I was sick of it. I have no worries about germs, since I wash the counter frequently.

Not everyone uses their kitchens the same way. We have a coffee grinder & expresso maker which are used constantly and are really messy. Plus, bread crumbs seem to be the one negative by product of home-made bread. As a serious cook, the kitchen is a work space and all my choices there are practical ones, not aesthetic ones.

But I love seeing pictures of other peoples spotless white kitchens. I never want anyone to stop posting them.

Sorry but another granite or faux granite (which is what we currently have) hater here and for the same reason, I can't see what I am cleaning, I literally have to run my hand across every inch of the counter to find spots.

I have quartz tops - they're tan, white, and dusty rose, with cobalt blue flecks. They hide every crumb, in every color. I wipe and wipe and wipe, and still later find week-old food patches... But at least they always look the same! (BTW, I love how durable they are - hot pans straight from the oven go right onto the counter with no ill effects.) When the time comes, I will pick a slight pattern for my counter tops - a little something to disguise streaks, but not so much I can find splats.

I'm only chiming in to say I renovated when I bought my little co-op a few years back and put black granite counters in my tiny (pullman) kitchen which I built out more too. There are subtle flecks of light/white color in the stone, but I clearly see every crumb or spill, which I immediately wipe up. With my white cabinets and 1" square green glass mosaic tile backsplash everyone thinks it looks lovely.

I love the fact that dirt and messes are hidden with our quartz countertops. I never prep food directly on the counters, so I'm not worried about it being spotless. Anything that camouflages the mess is good in my book!

I have had both, and I have to say I LOVE the patterns on counter tops more than solid from a purely practical stand point. I loved the look of my solid white counter, but I got completely OCD about it. Almost to the point where I had to stop doing much of anything on it, and move my coffee maker to the dining room table and I had to quit making sweet tea completely. It seemed like any little thing I would do would stain or be insanely noticeable on my pristine solid counter! It drove me nuts- I wiped it down about five times a day!

Then we moved to a new apartment that had granite look counters and white tile floors. I still kept up cleaning my counters obsessively, but I didn't sweat it as much. The key with them was that they were always shiny, and very easy to tell were a missed bit of sauce might be.

Bottom line, I would take darker or patterned counters over solids any day! Especially if you have a life outside of cleaning the kitchen, lol.

There is an incredibly simple fix for making sure granite countertops are clean:

Wipe down your counter, like usual. Then, bend at the knees until your eyes are level with your countertop. Any missed specks of food will stand out, since they won't be level with the counter. Yes, it even works if you have a matching granite backsplash. (I used to have very painful knee problems, so for some time I did this seated on an adjustable, wheeled office chair!)

I've done this for years and always have clean counters, although I realize it may not work so well for people with vision challenges or who are very tall.

Some people thought I was crazy when I chose white for my kitchen. That was eight years ago and it's still pristine despite the fact that the kitchen is used to cook lunch and dinner every day. So WHITE :)

I'm sorry stiletto but that is OTT! I have patterned granite counter tops and have zero trouble keeping them clean. The surface is so smooth that left over crumbs are easily discernible.

Why do SO many posts move smartly away from design to germaphobia and cleanliness OCD? It is one thing to keep you kitchen clean. It is another to treat it like an operating room. Geez!

We have solid black, soapstone countertops and stainless appliances, and I hate both. The black is impossible to simply wipe down. You have to dry it, or it shows water spots and streaks. And the stainless? Unbelievable. Shows every fingerprint, drip, smudge…

The kitchen needs to be redone anyway, so eventually we’ll make different choices. I love the look of subtly-patterned statuary marble… but worry that will bring its own set of maintenance issues. So maybe the quartz options will be appealing.

Yay! A post about What's Wrong with Granite. I have never understood why people like it. It's too hard for a kitchen countertop (for the clumsy), you can't tell if it's dirty, it's shiny (!), expensive, and now ubiquitous. We had Paperstone installed in our itty bitty kitchen, in black matte, and like it a lot. Yes, it does show dirt. I keep it clean.

Also agree about the floors - we opted for cork in our last home, hardwood in the current. Much more forgiving of dirt than other choices.

SUZEE, thank you for bringing up what I really think is the problem with granite -- it's so hard! I lived in an apartment with granite counters for about 2.5 years, and I broke more glasses and chipped more dishes than the rest of my life put together. 7 or so years later, I'm still looking at chips on some of my bowls and plates every single day, a constant reminder of that damn counter. Never again.