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Counter Intelligence: The Right Surface for Your Kitchen

April 2002
That counter may look sleek in the showroom, but will it stand up to years of wear and tear? Our Institute home-care experts put these varieties through a series of tests that mimicked common kitchen mishaps: a frying pan scorch, a knife slip and wine and spaghetti sauce dribbles. Our results may surprise you.

New Quartz

What You'll Like
Attractive, durable, a cinch to care for. Unlike natural stone, these never need to be sealed.

Test Scoop
Our favorite. In our tests, this material took the heat and still looked brand-new.

Best If
You love the look of granite, but want a surface that's simple to maintain without special products.