Marble, Granite, Ceramics and Porcelain: Which is Best?

Marble, Granite, Ceramics and Porcelain: Which is Best?

When you’re looking to remodel the interior of your home, we highly suggest adding marble, granite, and tile updates to bathrooms, kitchens, and foyers. This ensures that your flooring, countertops, and backsplashes stick around for years to come, saving you tons of money year over year.

When it comes to selecting the right materials for each space, it helps to understand the properties of each option available to you. This will help you determine what is right for your home. After all, you know it best.

Photo by Aaron Burden

Marble

If you’ve read our other blog on marble and granite countertops, you’ll know that marble is a porous, water-resistant metamorphic rock made from limestone. Not only is it absolutely stunning visually and has an incredible amount of variety- from solid colors to veins and swirls of others- but it is also used to high amounts of heat and pressure. The only issue with marble is that it’s prone to scratching and chipping and tends to be a bit more costly- not only to purchase and install but to upkeep.

With all of this in mind, we suggest choosing marble flooring for areas with high amounts of foot traffic (like foyers). Adding marble flooring and wall accents in more water-prone areas (such as bathrooms) can look extremely luxurious! Marble can be cut into smaller pieces for a compelling tiled effect that is sure to wow anyone who visits your home. Marble also bodes well when made into bathroom sinks, as well!

Photo by Luke Peterson

Granite

Granite is marble’s scrappier sister. This porous water-resistant igneous rock is made from a little of everything (bits of feldspar, quartz, and mica to be exact). Unlike marble, granite is less expensive, more easily accessible, and a harder rock altogether. Visually, it has a stunning speckled effect and is less prone to scratching and chipping than marble is.

We recommend granite for areas that often have items placed on them and are water-prone such as kitchen countertops and bathroom sink countertops.

Photo by Bernard Hermant

Ceramics

Ceramic tiles are made from clay combined with an assortment of minerals and water and are fired in a kiln at temperatures between 1800-2000 degrees Fahrenheit. They are heat resistant, durable, great insulators, and don’t have adverse reactions when chemicals are dumped on them. Not only this, but they are versatile, functional, and highly decorative. On the negative side, they are highly porous and brittle, making breaks and chips common.

Ceramics make great kitchen and bathroom backsplashes and are great decorative materials to use for wall mosaics in living rooms, bathrooms, and foyers. Tiles are also great options to use in standing shower walls and floors, as well as bathroom floors in general. As ceramic tiles are far less slippery than marble flooring, they reduce the frequency of slips and falls. Mudrooms are also a great place for ceramic tile flooring!

Photo by Michelle Luo

Porcelain

Porcelain is a type of ceramic with a clay, feldspar, quartz, and kaolin base which is then fired in a kiln at 2650 degrees Fahrenheit. Porcelain blends ceramic tiling with marble, taking the best attributes of each. This material is known for its water, chemical, scratch, and heat resistance, hardness, and whiteness. Unlike regular ceramics, marble, and granite, porcelain is not a porous material. This means that not only is it more durable, but it’s more hygienic and easier to clean. Visually, porcelain is elegant and never goes out of style. On the negative end, porcelain is rather expensive.

Due to its water resistance and hardness, porcelain tile can work anywhere in your home including bathroom and shower floors and walls, kitchen and bathroom countertops, backsplashes. It even functions incredibly as a flooring option in high-traffic spaces.