AZDoodle

Looked at laminate - reminds me of the linoleum floor that needs to be ripped out and replaced with ? Looked at quartz - same price as granite. Why granite? We like things that please the eye and soothe the viewer. Laminate and quartz are boring because from end-to-end they're identical, and there's nothing to draw the eye to anything of interest. Some people like that. But, it's like looking at a great painting: our eye is drawn to the unique details, the flower drawn to perfection, but not an exact copy of a real flower. Boring is a blank canvas, no matter its color; "busy patterns" drive us nuts because they're repetitious. We like natural wood precisely because each board varies in an infinite variety of pattern, and dislike that old paneling precisely because it doesn't and after a while when the eye finds the printed pattern we look away because we know it's fake.

Remember when all homes had oak floors and the craze for "wall-to-wall carpeting" dictated that those oak floors be covered over? And then what happened? The carpeting got old and dirty (and if you've ever removed old carpeting and shaken it out, you know what dirty really is!) and the oak flooring was rediscovered, refinished and sanity prevailed in the room after decades of (ugh!) shags, pastels, browns, greens, orange shag, and white, sisal, etc.

Why didn't concrete counter tops catch on? Boring! Stainless steel is eminently practical as a counter top, but it's - boring. Granite maay fade in and out of use, but I'd guess it's mostly about the color than it is about the granite itself. It's not going away any more than painted fiberboard kitchen cabinets are ever going to make a permanent come-back and replace real wood cabinets. The lesser products simply appeal to a lower price-point, and though those bored with granite will probably replace it, why are you planning to replace your laminate in 10 years if you're not already anticipating becoming bored with it? Anyone with granite anticipating its replacement in 10 years with a laminate product? I didn't think so...