Field guide
Remodeler Countertop Pages: Quartz, Granite, and the Sealing Question
Every kitchen remodel reaches the same ten minutes in the showroom. The homeowner is standing between a granite slab and a quartz sample, and the salesperson is talking about veining. The homeowner is thinking about two things: what does it cost, and what do I have to do to it every year. Your countertop page should answer both before they ever reach the showroom.
The two numbers that decide it
Granite typically runs 40 to 100 dollars per square foot installed, quartz 50 to 120. Put those ranges on the page, labeled as installed cost for a standard 3-centimeter kitchen with an eased edge. The overlap matters more than the difference: at mid-range they cost about the same, so the decision is not really about price. It is about maintenance tolerance, heat, and whether the homeowner wants a slab no one else has.
Name the composition, because it explains everything else. Granite is natural stone cut from a quarry. Quartz is a factory slab of about 90 percent ground quartz bound with resin. One is a rock, the other is a manufactured surface, and every difference between them follows from that.
Granite's one recurring job
Granite is porous. Without a sealer it absorbs liquids and stains, so it needs a penetrating sealer when installed and then every one to three years, depending on the stone. The page should give the homeowner the test: sprinkle water on the surface. If it beads up, the seal is intact. If it darkens and absorbs within a few minutes, it is time to reseal. A bottle of sealer costs 20 to 40 dollars and the job takes about half an hour. Say that. The homeowner who knows the job is thirty minutes and twenty dollars does not fear it. The homeowner who only hears that granite needs sealing imagines a weekend project.
Granite's strength is heat. It handles hot pans without complaint, and its hardness runs 6 to 7 on the Mohs scale, so a kitchen knife at about 5.5 will not scratch it. Both of those numbers belong on the page, because they are the reason someone picks granite over quartz.
Quartz's one real weakness
Quartz never needs sealing. It is nonporous, so red wine, coffee, and oil sit on the surface instead of soaking in, and warm soapy water is the whole cleaning routine. That is the entire maintenance story, and it is the reason quartz wins most showroom arguments.
Its weakness is heat. The resin that binds the slab starts to degrade around 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and a hot pan set straight down can scorch or discolor it. The page should say so plainly, with the trivet rule in the same sentence. A homeowner who learns the heat limit from your page trusts the rest of the page. A homeowner who learns it from a scorch mark does not call you back.
How the page should price it
Price the page the way the job is priced: per square foot installed, with the tier named. Entry granite at 40 to 60 dollars, mid-range at 60 to 85, premium and exotic at 85 to 120 and up. Quartz entry at 50 to 70, mid at 65 to 100, premium at 90 to 150. Then add the line that matters most: a typical kitchen has 30 to 40 square feet of countertop, so the total runs roughly 1,200 to 4,500 dollars depending on material and tier. Homeowners do not buy square feet. They buy a kitchen. Give them the kitchen number.
Related reading
If this topic is useful, these earlier guides go deeper on connected questions: our kitchen cost pages on ranges with the assumptions showing, our kitchen island pages on the three numbers before any other decision, and our change order pages on the sentence that costs 2,800 dollars.
Frequently asked questions
How much do quartz and granite countertops cost installed?
Granite typically runs 40 to 100 dollars per square foot installed and quartz 50 to 120. A typical kitchen has 30 to 40 square feet of countertop, so the total usually lands between 1,200 and 4,500 dollars before edge upgrades and sink cutouts.
Does granite really need sealing every year?
Not every year. Most granite needs a penetrating sealer every one to three years, depending on how porous the stone is. The water test tells you: sprinkle water on the surface, and if it darkens and absorbs within a few minutes, reseal.
Can you put a hot pan on quartz?
Briefly, but it is a bad habit. The resin binder starts to degrade around 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and a hot pan can scorch or discolor the surface. Use a trivet every time. Granite has no such limit.
Which countertop lasts longer, quartz or granite?
Both will last 25 to 50 years or more with normal care. The difference is what kind of care: granite needs periodic sealing and forgives heat, quartz needs no sealing and forgives stains but not hot pans.