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Living Structures is proud to be an ENERGY STAR Partner, committed to renovating homes to the ENERGY STAR Version 3 standard, to deliver whole-house energy savings to improve comfort and help protect the environment.

Choosing a countertop material is a good example of this search for the perfect material.  Like many building supplies, we expect countertops to perform magic in the kitchen.  We expect them to be water-proof, scratch-proof, burn-proof, perfectly level and square, safe for food contact, “green”, gorgeous, and we want them last forever.  No wonder they cost so much!

We’ve collected all the wisdom we can find about sustainable choices for countertops and assembled it here, in hopes of helping you make materials choices that fit with your own values.  First, we describe the different kinds of materials commonly used for countertops, then we give a run-down of the factors that go into choosing among them.

TYPES OF MATERIALS

Laminates

Laminate countertops are built up layers of different materials, including plastic and paper, usually glued to a plywood substrate.  These need some kind of edging material so you don’t see the layers exposed around the edge of the counter.  Examples are Formica and Wilsonart.

Solid Synthetics

Instead of a thin layer of plastic material on top of a substrate, these are solid plastic slabs that are the same color all the way through; they need no edging.  The most common brand is Corian.

Natural Stone

Granite is the classic choice for higher-end countertops, but marble and soapstone are also commonly used.  All are quarried stones, cut and polished and delivered to the home looking much like they did when they came out of the ground.  Usually, you are able to choose the actual stone that will become your countertop – each one will have different colors and pattern unique to that stone.

Composites

The number and variety of composite materials are growing all the time.  They are made of basically two parts: some kind of filler, and some kind of binder.  Some also have cement added.  The fillers are usually quartz (e.g. Caeserstone, Cambria, Silestone), glass (e.g. Icestone, terrazzo, Vetrazzo), or paper/wood (e.g. Paperstone, Richlite, Torzo).  The binder is generally some kind of plastic or resin, which was once commonly made from petrochemicals, but most manufacturers are moving to plant-based sources.  Many people think quartz countertops are a quarried stone like granite, but they are actually a composite material.  Unlike natural stone, which may have dramatic streaks of color, composites are uniform in appearance over the face of the counter.

Wood

Perhaps the simplest material – many people are accustomed to seeing butcher-block type slabs used for countertop materials, but rough-sawn slabs of wood showing the tree’s natural grain are also regaining popularity.

Concrete

We were skeptical when we first heard about concrete countertops.  “Concrete” is often associated with buildings that are hard and ugly.  But hand-crafted concrete countertops can be quite graceful and beautiful.  The installers add colors and flecks of glass or other material, so you would never recognize it as the same stuff that makes up your basement slab.

Metal

Stainless Steel is the choice for commercial kitchens, and with the shift to modern, industrial design, stainless steel is now appearing in residential kitchens as well.  Although much less common (and less economical), copper can also be used for a countertop.  Copper must be installed over a rigid substrate such as plywood, as it can form pits and dents.

Tile

Grouted tile made of porcelain or other materials can be used on countertops, and the huge variety of choices for colors, shapes, patterns, and grout colors means your countertop will be a unique item found nowhere else.

Glass

There may not be many glass countertops in your neighborhood, but they are showing up in design magazines.  The use of solid glass as countertops allows for neat tricks like putting lights under the countertop to give the whole surface a surprising glow.  But even without a gimmick like that, there’s something to be said for glass, when we’re looking for that “miracle” material.

MATERIALS FOR COUNTERTOPS – YOUR GREEN VALUES

 People often ask us: “What’s the greenest material for countertops?”  There just isn’t a single answer to this question.  Sustainability involves a complex web of issues, and the choices you make should reflect your own personal values.  Here are some of the issues around countertops materials and the choices they present.

Local Materials

Local building materials are always preferable if available, because they don’t have as much associated fuel use and carbon emission associated with their transport.  However, locally sourced materials are not as easy to come by as they used to be.  It’s quite possible for granite to be mined in Brazil and shipped to Italy for cutting and polishing, before arriving at your door.  Icestone recycled glass countertops are attractive here in New England because they are made right down the road in Brooklyn, although the materials involved in their manufacture come from all over the country.  Vermont still has quarries that are producing domestic soapstone, and soapstone and other natural stone can sometimes be reclaimed from other buildings (see www.greendemolitions.com for example).  Using salvaged materials is not a guarantee of saving money though – cutting and fitting someone else’s custom materials to fit your kitchen takes extra time and work, and can result in a quirky layout.

Energy Intensive Manufacturing

Another aspect of a material’s carbon footprint is the energy that was used to manufacture it.  Plastics and composites require substantial energy in the factory that makes them – but quarrying stone, milling lumber, and fabricating metal also require energy.  Again, salvaged materials can save you some footprint points here, as you’re basically extending the life of materials with a high embodied energy.  Getting more use out of an object, compared to the energy that went into making it, is a good choice when practical.

Off-Gassing

We’re looking for miracle materials, but miracles don’t happen on their own – when it comes to countertops, miracles happen through the use of modern chemicals.  These are used as binders for composite materials, glue that holds most counters in place, and formaldehyde that may be present in the plywood underneath laminates.  All of these have the potential to release bad-smelling and potentially toxic fumes.  Natural stone could be a better choice here, but some granite slabs have been found to release trace amounts of radon gas.  Composite manufacturers are making improvements all the time, and the leading manufacturers are all certified by Greenguard – an organization that tests building materials for off-gassing.  Most people will not even notice the trace amounts of fumes that come from building materials, but for people with chemical sensitivities, this can be a real deal-breaker.

Natural Materials

Outside of issues around embodied energy and toxicity, some people just prefer being surrounded with naturally occurring, rather than manufactured materials.  There may be ethical convictions involved, such as wanting to avoid petroleum-derived products, or they might just enjoy the look and feel of a particular stone or tree that shows its character through veins or woodgrain.

Sealers

If countertop choices weren’t already complicated enough, we also need to think about sealing them.  Since our miracle materials really aren’t so miraculous at all, they sometimes need a little help to be as waterproof and stainproof as we’d like them to be.  Stone, wood, and some of the composites should have some kind of sealer applied, and the sealers available are as varied as the countertop materials.  Soapstone and wood can be sealed with mineral oil, which is a petroleum derived product, but generally considered food safe.  Soapstone can also be left unsealed, if you enjoy the rustic look of water marks that blend together over time.  Wood can be sealed with Tried & True Danish Oil – made from food grade linseed oil, which is zero-VOC and free from solvents.  Granite and marble sealers of the past were foul-smelling brews that needed to be re-applied every 1-3 years.  These days, less harmful alternatives are available, but they are still not something you’d like to breathe for too long.  Some of the composite materials also need sealers, but others do not, such as ECO by Cosentino and Caesarstone.  If you thought using tile would keep you free of sealers, think again.  The grout between the tiles generally needs to be sealed about once a year, and sometimes the face of the tile does as well.

Durability

The materials we use for countertops are some of the longest-lived materials in our homes.  But is this really a good thing?  A big slab of natural stone might have a useful life of hundreds of years or more.  But it’s not going to last anywhere near that long if it’s installed on top of cabinets with a 30-year life span, on top of a floor with a 20-year lifespan, inside a house with a 50-year life span.  Considering the abuse we give our countertops, might it make more sense to install countertops that have a shorter expected life, but are easily removed and replaced when the time comes?  If you’re installing countertops with a relatively short lifespan, just make sure they’re installed in a way that will make them easy to replace without damaging the cabinets.  A recent client of ours actually decided to spend their remodeling budget on top of the line appliances, rather than fancy counters.  They are living with polished plywood countertops for the first couple of years until they’ve saved up enough for the counters they really wanted.  Above all, never install expensive countertops on top of cheap cabinets!

Recycled Content

Using recycled and reclaimed materials keeps them from becoming landfill waste.  It’s easy to lose sight of this fact in our ecologically-conscious age.  But using recyled content materials helps to create a market for them, which encourages more recycling.  Reclaimed and salvaged materials have the same advantages, and if you check out some of the design blogs (Apartment Therapy, ReNest), you’ll find that salvaged materials are also quite fashionable.  The glass composite counters all contain post-consumer glass.  Paperstone is made from 100% post-consumer recycled paper, and even the quartz manufacturers have lines with recycled content.  Recycled ceramic and glass tiles are also now available (Fireclay tile is our favorite).  For reclaimed stone and butcher blocks, try architectural salvage companies, or even craigslist.org.

Recyclability and Reuseability

In order for materials to be recycled or re-used, they need to be manufactured and installed in ways that promote their re-use.  Countertops are generally glued firmly to the cabinets below, so that removing the countertop usually destroys the counter, the cabinets, or both.  Deconstruction crews can only reuse these materials if they are installed in a way that facilitates their dismantling at the end of their useful life.  And while recycled content and recyclability are related, they are different concepts and should not be confused.  Using recycled glass to make countertops is a great use of recycled material, but when glass is mixed with cement and resins, it is no longer recyclable, and will go to a landfill at the end of its useful life, unless it can be reused.  Most countertops are not allowed to stay in place as long as they could – perfectly good countertops are routinely pulled out of homes for cosmetic reasons, as trends change, homes turn over and the new owners prefer a new color or layout.

CONCLUSION

So what is the conclusion?  We told you it wasn’t an easy answer.  Here are our favorite choices:

• Butcher Block – coated with Tried & True Danish Oil.  Best used away from the sink.
• Salvaged soapstone – coated with food safe mineral oil, or left uncoated to develop its own rustic finish.  Look on craigslist.org for homeowners selling pieces of soapstone counters, or check with VermontSoapstone.com to see whether their new quarry is producing local soapstone again.
• ECO by Cosentino or Caesarstone – both high quality (but high-priced) quartz counters that don’t require any sealing whatsoever.
• Icestone and Paperstone for high recycled content and non-petrochemical materials.  Use with the lowest-VOC sealer you can find.  Again, these are not inexpensive materials.  But check out Icestone’s stunning palate of colors, and you might be sold.
• Concrete counters with low-VOC sealers because they are locally produced.  In our area, try the Slab-Lab.com.

Whatever you do, don’t install expensive countertops on poor quality cabinets.  If your cabinets are not up to the task, there’s nothing wrong with a retro laminate countertop (on formaldehyde-free plywood) until you’re ready for a higher-quality upgrade.