Counter conundrum continued

Contrary to my most recent post, where I proclaimed that my love of the beauty of granite would trump my efforts to do things in a sustainable way, I'm thinking of pulling out of the granite ring.

After a friend casually asked, "Isn't granite unhealthy?" I started my research anew. The more I read, the ickier it sounded, from transporting stones from Brazil or Africa to China and then to the U.S., to some stones having crazy high levels of radiation and other heavy metals. There's the 2008 New York Times article, a WebMD entry, a Snopes piece, and morning shows about the issue.

And then I asked my doctor, an integrative MD who uses Applied Kinesiology. She said the color I was considering would be "highly detrimental" to me. I didn't have time -- or was I prepared -- to ask her about other materials, but since then, I've been reconsidering granite.

If all things were equal and money were no object, I would probably go for custom concrete counters, which I wrote about early on in this process at this post back in January. I like the idea of creating something unique. It can be beautiful. After talking with landscape designer Nancy Striniste of EarlySpace about possibly using dyed concrete with flower and plant pressings for our porch floor, walkway, and/or driveway (in two tire strips with grass between), I started to warm back up to the idea of concrete kitchen counters. I sure would love a built-in dish drain!

Now, in addition to concrete, we are also considering other materials for our kitchen counter. Right now, engineered quartz like Silestone, Cambria, and Chroma are not on the list because I just don't love any of the colors or finishes, and they contain enough natural stone that there might be a concern there, too. And they are not a whole lot greener than virgin stone, I don't think. They are somewhat cheaper, like $5000 instead of $7500 for granite (one fabricator's estimate. Other granite estimates came in as low as $4000 and as high as $10,000, depending on the stone and the fabricator).

One non-stone option is paper-based Richlite (color: Green Mountain).  I'm not in love with the PaperStone look, though, and the way it wears. But I could be convinced, especially if the price is right.

As for recycled glass, it's pretty, but also pretty contemporary. We've got natural maple shaker cabinets and an oak floor, so multi-colored glass chards just don't provide the look we're going for. Don't get me wrong; eclectic is cool. We may have abstract art alongside repurposed barn timbers in a few places in the house. But for a counter, I like calmer. Less multi-chrome confetti explosion. Also, the recycled glass comes with a hefty pricetag. But I could get used to the idea if the right color came along.

I'm hoping to get a price on DEXterra terrazzo (color: Green Goddess) and some more info on how the product wears.
Ice Stone is too expensive, especially since it is pretty high maintenance and can stain.
We're getting lower maintenance Eco by Cosentino (color: White Diamond) for the upstairs bath vanity, but we don't like any of the colors for the kitchen.
I don't think any of the colors of Squak Mountain would work for us unless we went with a really lively backsplash color (which might send me back to Fireclay tile).
One vendor suggested Avonite, but I'm not in love with the Morning Tundra color that is probably closest to what we'd want and shows that it has recycled content. Maybe if I saw it and some other colors in person...

Where we are now is waiting for some price estimates, and then we'll need to go look at materials in person and through portfolios, especially of concrete.

I'm also casting about for a Geiger counter that I could take with me to a slab warehouse and see what it says about different types of stone.

It's been hard to buckle down and make a decision while we've been dealing with construction delays due to mold remediation (which is a whole other story I've yet to write). But we seem to finally be back on track, now halfway through drywall installation. We should really be templating the counters next week. So we hope to have some apples to compare soon!