Countertop Questions and Answers

Thanks to the team at 103.9 WSOS  for having Luis from our Jacksonville location on the air to discuss trends in countertops! The team at WSOS had some questions Luis was happy to answer, but if your questions are still unanswered, stop by your local Design Works location and we will be happy to help.

Read the full FAQ on Countertops below!

103.9 WSOS:

What are some of the trends when people are coming in now? Let’s talk about countertops— what are people asking about? Granite? Quartz? What’s going on?

Luis from Design Works:

So right now, it all depends how you want to see your kitchen. A lot of people are going to the quartz product. It’s a lot easier to maintain, it’s a pore-less material. You don’t have to worry about staining or anything like that. But you do have to be a little bit careful with heat. One of the things that a natural stone has is that it doesn’t matter if it’s too hot or too cold, it’s not going to break. But on the other hand, you do have to be careful with staining on those materials. So today yes, we’re seeing probably 50/50 quartz versus granite.

103.9 WSOS:

So, with quartz, they don’t have to worry about it being a porous substance and about bacteria and if you’re cutting up a raw chicken or something with quartz. That bacteria can be saved in a granite countertop, but you wouldn’t have to worry about that with quartz.

Luis from Design Works:

Exactly. Yeah. Because quartz is pore-less. Yep.

103.9 WSOS:

You can help people with tile floors? People are still doing tile floors and other flooring options, right?

Luis from Design Works:

Oh yeah. We’re doing a lot of porcelain floors. A lot of the things we’re seeing now use the larger format tiles. We’re seeing 24 by 48 [inch tiles] on floors. We’ve even seen a 60 by 30. So yeah, those large formats are something new that’s coming in.

103.9 WSOS:

Well, and I think too, because of the whole coronavirus COVID situation, people have spent so much time in doors. They’ve been able to stare at projects that they should’ve started a long time ago. Yeah?

Luis from Design Works:

Oh yes. Yes. We do see a lot of that. A lot of folks that always wanted to make that change in their kitchen countertops and their backsplash, even on flooring or matte bathrooms, you know. [One customer] was changing the whole master bath. So yeah, we’ve seen a lot of that.

103.9 WSOS:

The opportunity is there with Design Works to get the items that you would need to renovate your kitchen, your bathroom, other parts of your home, and to do it with some style and to do it distinctively because you’re going to have such a better selection at Design Works than what you’re going to find at Home Depot or Lowe’s, right?

Luis from Design Works:

Oh yeah, yeah. Or selection is huge. A lot of people feel overwhelmed when they come in and see so much product. But we do have designers on staff. They can help you out with your selections— so there’s nothing to worry about with that.

103.9 WSOS:

Yeah. And I would think that people come in and they say, “well, I have this sort of style in mind,” or maybe they’ve printed out something from Pinterest or something like that. And then from there you help them?

Luis from Design Works:

That’s usually a best way to go about it. Once you have an idea of what you like, bring it in and we can put things together. We can help you out with your design.

103.9 WSOS:

Sometimes it’s hard to find contractors, tile folks, you know, handyman, whatever, that can do the renovations that you’re maybe about, small or large, in your kitchen or in your bathroom or somewhere else in your home. Maybe you want to change out the flooring in your hallway, your entryway or something like that. You can help them with that though, if they’re having trouble finding people?

Luis from Design Works:

If they are having trouble finding people. Yes, we do have a large list of contractors we work with we can pass that list along. You can contact him directly. They’re really, really good folks.

103.9 WSOS:

You all work on jobs of all sizes, right?

Luis from Design Works:

All sizes, yes. We can do a small bathroom. If you want to update your guest bath or master bath, kitchen, or we can do a full reno—the complete house.

103.9 WSOS:

Folks are coming in now doing all kinds of dramatic changes, right?

Luis from Design Works:

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. We do see a lot of things going on in kitchens, we’re redoing everything, changing cabinets, putting in new counter tops, going with a backsplash, all the floor tile.

103.9 WSOS:

This is a key time too to start the process if they think they want to get this stuff done in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas, now’s the time right?

Luis from Design Works:

It’s a perfect time. You gotta start early. I mean these projects do take a little bit of time once we put it all together. So yeah. It’s best to start now.

103.9 WSOS:

I would imagine a lot of times folks come in and they have some initial ideas—what they’d like their new kitchen or their new bathrooms to look like— and you guys sort of take it from there?

Luis from Design Works:

Yeah. That’s usually the best way to do it. If you have an idea, bring it in. We start looking for comparisons, comparable pieces, put the whole puzzle together.

103.9 WSOS:

Yeah. I think if they work with one of those design magazines or if they go online to Pinterest, or all these other sites out there and you say, “hey, I like this part of this kitchen, this part of that kitchen. I like these cabinets. I like this countertop.” And then they kind of give you a budget and then from there you can put all the pieces together?

Luis from Design Works:

Oh yeah. Yeah. And it’s really important to be conscious of your budget because we can either go way past your budget, you know, something that you’re going to really, really love. And then you have to start walking backwards. So we can know your budget, you know what you like, we’ll put it all together and make it a lot easier.

103.9 WSOS:

What’s great about Design Works is that unlike just going and getting some stuff or working with Home Depot or Lowe’s where everybody’s going to have that same look. If you go to Home Depot or Lowe’s and get a backsplash, you’re probably going to walk into five or six homes within the next year or two that have the exact same backsplash. Not the case if you go to Design Works, correct?

Luis from Design Works:

Yeah. Yeah. No, at Design Works you can get lost looking for backsplashes— walls and walls and walls of backsplashes and different things. You have your marbles, you have your glass, you have marble with metal inserts, so yeah, there’s a lot.

103.9 WSOS:

That’s the big differentiator by going to Design Works—making that effort to just go beyond Lowe’s or Home Depot— you’re going to find just an amazing selection, but really good prices, and have your home, have that kitchen and bathroom feel like that it was custom built, right?

Luis from Design Works:

Yeah, yeah. We’ll help you throughout the whole process. We’ll customize everything you need and do what you like. We’ll make you look great.

103.9 WSOS:

It’s an amazing place to go. You’ll have a lot of fun there anyway, just looking at all the different options. That’ll give you a lot of ideas. Like Luis said though, try to go in with a few ideas. Otherwise it might become a little overwhelming for you because of their great selection, right?

Luis from Design Works:

Yeah. Yeah. You know, a lot of people say that as soon as they walk in the first time, it was like, “Whoa, where do we start?” But yeah, we’ll point you to the right direction. We’ll help you out.

103.9 WSOS:

Well, they have design professionals there that are going to help you out. They can also connect you with the contractors who can get the job done. I know a lot of you out there are just intimidated by that and say, “gosh, I don’t even know who to get to help do this job. They work with people every single day and they’ll connect you with the best in the business here in Saint John’s County in Northeast Florida. Luis, did we leave anything out?

Luis from Design Works:

No, I think we covered a lot today. Thank you so much.

103.9 WSOS:

Thank you very much. Thanks for coming by and best of luck out there.