Clients of interior designers will be thrilled to see their remodeled kitchen with granite kitchen counter tops. Granite gives a warmth and elegance to the appearance of a room more than other building materials. Clients are counting on the interior designer to incorporate building materials that will make their new kitchen stand out from all the rest.

The durability and appeal of granite kitchen counter tops is beyond compare. Granite is intrinsically beautiful because it has been “designed” by nature-a design that will always be unique and impossible to duplicate. From a structural point of view, granite’s characteristics make it an ideal choice for kitchen counter tops. The reasons are many, but include:

Durability - Granite stone is extremely durable so it makes sense for an interior designer to incorporate it into the design of the kitchen. On a hardness scale, granite ranks as one of the hardest rocks and minerals. In fact, it is harder than the blade of a stainless steel knife.

Ease of Maintenance - It is not only important to use beautiful building materials when designing a kitchen, but to insure that the materials can be maintained easily. Cleaning granite and maintaining its natural beauty is actually easier than cleaning some man-made materials. In fact, you do not even have to buy expensive cleaning sprays. You just wipe it with a damp sponge dipped in soapy water and dry it with a soft towel. Its natural luster is restored immediately!

Health Aspects - As incredible as it sounds, granite counter tops in a kitchen helps your family stay healthy. Bacteria that might be on the counter top from raw meat, for example, will not be retained by granite because it is not porous. Other materials used for kitchen counter tops do not have this characteristic.

The Hospitality Institute of Technology and Management in Minnesota (a group specializing in educational materials and research for the food industry) studied how resistant six counter tops usually used in kitchens were to bacteria. They were contaminated with about 2 billion E. Coli microorganisms and then washed with soap and water. This was followed by a vinegar-and-water mixture. Then they measured the amount of microorganisms that were eliminated. The results were:

Stainless steel 85,113,804,Granite 79,432,823, Laminate 498,884,Ceramic Tile 293,765,Concrete 32,810,Wood 2,080

An expert interior designer will take the health benefits of counter top materials into account when designing kitchen counter tops since your food is prepared on these counter tops.

Granite benefits building contractors as well. Of course, when the job is done the building contractor will be pleased at the beauty of the job using granite, but the profit margin is another huge benefit for the building contractor when granite is used. The Factory Plaza gives discounts of 40% to 80% on granite, marble, and other stone building projects. No other retailer offers such steep discounts. As a result, contractors can make large profits on jobs using granite.

Not only does the client benefit from granite counter tops, but the interior designers and building contractors do as well. A smart interior designer or building contractor should recommend granite counter tops when remodeling a kitchen or bathroom.