Stone Countertops
The most popular stone countertops(and the best ones in my opinion) for your kitchen are granite countertops. Marble is a softer material, which means it's more suseptable to cracking, chipping, breaking, staining, etc. Granite countertops are durable, heatproof and waterproof. You can break it - if you really try, or if you're in an earthquake. Under normal conditions, it's indestructable. There's a substantial array of colors and patterns - not as much as laminates, but more than you'll need, and every piece is different. You definitely have to go to the stone yard and pick the individual slabs you want.
Don't look at a sample and say "I want that." Walk out to where the slabs of "that" are located and have them put your name on the slabs you want. The slabs usually come 3/4" thick and the fabricator will build up the edge to 1 1/2" by adding another piece. This edge can then be machined into a variety of shapes. Again, lots of choices for you. Installation is tricky, so don't attempt it yourselves. There will be a delay between cabinet installation and the installation of your stone countertops because the installers have to come to the house after the cabinets are in and make templates for the various pieces. 
Then they go back and cut the pieces to match the templates. This could take a week or more. In the event that you can't cover a full run with one piece, you should point out to them that you want the edges that butt together to be as close to matching as possible. This will help make a long stone countertop look more like one continuous piece. The pieces are very heavy. It takes 2 or more gorillas to handle them. This is your most expensive option for kitchen countertops. But the price difference between granite, quartz and solid surface is very little. Granite will have unique patterns and graining inconsistencies which make every piece different, while maintaining a more "natural" look than the alternatives. Solid surface is man-made and is very uniform in appearance. Quartz is natural, but because of the way they have to incorporate the natural stone into a countertop, the overall look of your kitchen countertops will also look very uniform.
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