Recession chips away at granite kitchen tops

By Tammy Joyner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Not long ago, it was a home-improvement rule seemingly set in stone: a new or upgraded kitchen had to have granite countertops.

The more granite counter space, the better. Real estate agents steered clear of homes without them. A lot of home sales hinged on the sleek sheets of stone. Home-improvement chains couldn’t keep them in stock. Interior designers thought only in granite when it came to kitchen design.

“Granite was a prestigious statement for building,” said interior designer to the stars Jim Weinberg of Atlanta.

Now, 21 months into this recession, granite countertops are relics of a fizzled-out housing boom. Granite varies by market, and it has dropped in price, but it still can be pretty expensive. Here in metro Atlanta, with granite priced at $25 to $75 a square foot, insisting on it in the time of recession seems impractical.

Construction of new homes has fallen off so much that were it not for renovation work, many construction firms would be in danger of closing. And even that work isn’t as promising: Home values in metro Atlanta have fallen more than 11 percent in the last year, according to real estate Web site zillow.com. And many homeowners owe more than their home is worth, making home improvement projects at this point moot.

Quarries that mined the more exotic granite have shut down or curtailed production drastically.

Home improvement chains, such as Home Depot and Lowe’s, are offering lesser-priced alternatives, such as concrete, solid wood and laminates, as well as a “best-value granite” that costs a little less for customers who want to fix up their kitchens. Many of the alternatives cost 10 percent to 15 percent less than granite.

“We knew people were more value conscious. So we worked really hard to find ways to give them more for their money,” said Home Depot spokesman Stephen Holmes.

Styles, colors and surfaces of some of the granite alternatives are “pretty amazing,” Holmes said.

At a distance, he said, the alternatives “can look pretty much like stone or another solid countertop.”

The lower-priced countertops can serve as quick kitchen facelifts for investors who have bought foreclosed properties.

“Countertops are a great way to refresh a kitchen without doing a complete ripout,” Holmes said.

Similarly, interior designers are working with alternative materials such as glass and other eco-friendly materials.

“Everybody saw so much granite during the housing boom,” said Jim Weinberg, whose Atlanta firm Jim Weinberg Lifestyles is the interior designer for Trump Towers and other high-profile and celebrity homes in Atlanta, Miami, Los Angeles and Aspen. “The statement now is cost-saving and [being] environmentally conscious.”

Glass and concrete tops tend to get better with age, Weinberg said.

As for those homeowners who have granite or are still holding out for it? They can take comfort in the fact that the stone holds its value.