Portland area homes did not commonly have granite kitchen counter tops as recently as 10 years ago. I have witnessed firsthand, a series of changes in kitchen design over the last 20-25 years that has included several broadly accepted themes. Early Portland homes had Tile counter tops. Some had wooden counters. With the introduction of high pressure plastic laminate, we saw the removal of wood, tile, & even some old vinyl counter tops. Due to its versatility & reasonable cost, Plastic laminate, better known by the brand name ?Formica? held the majority of the market share for many years.

As Formica became too common, as is always the case, the design world wanted something new & different again. Tile counter tops became re-introduced as the latest innovation for kitchens both new & remodeled. Tile accounted for the vast majority of installations in upgraded homes & higher end new homes for several years, even as Formica continued to be used in starter level homes & apartments. Of course tile countertops also began to be viewed once again as ?old? & something new & different was again needed to satisfy the ever changing desires of designers & homeowners alike.

Another new innovation arrived on the scene & became touted as ?the? upgraded necessity for upper end kitchens. This product, properly called solid surfacing, but better known as Corian, held the attention of the industry for several years. Believe it or not, I recall seeing at least one job where the expensive Corian was covered with Formica in a remodeling situation where a color change was desired!

Granite was used extensively during this time also as an upgrade from the standard tile or Formica counters. It was however primarily in a 12 inch square format 3/8 of an inch thick, rather than in the current slab form that is being used. These ?tile? granite counter tops were somewhere in between Corian on the upper end, & tile on the now lower end of the pricing spectrum.

Once again there began to be a clamoring for something new & different. Granite slabs had been used in the most expensive homes, but not very much of it was seen. As the tooling technology developed for speeding the processing of stone, granite slabs became the new major player in the countertop industry. First, of course, it was seen in high end homes & remodels, & most of us did not even know of its existence in countertop form. As the housing spurt developed, builders needed to set their homes apart from their competitors, & granite countertops began to be seen in mid range homes. This in turn exposed the public to the idea, & the remodeling sector had to have granite also.

Even now, we are seeing granite moving into the kitchens of apartments as some apartment owners perceive the value in its timelessness both aesthetically & economically. Other counter top materials have made their way into the market as well, concrete, glass, stainless steel, quartz, paper stone, among them. We are even seeing wooden counter tops being re-introduced as something new.

Although the Portland market may not have had many stone counter tops in its infancy, & ?thin stone? is perhaps a relatively new innovation, there can be no doubt that stone, both Granite & otherwise, is one of the oldest building materials known to man. Whatever may be introduced next for countertop use, it is indisputable that when the circle of development comes back together, Granite, or perhaps some other form of stone, must necessarily be the ultimate counter top choice for your kitchen.