Granite by any other name...

When The Motley Monk was growing up, formica was the "to die for" kitchen countertop material.

Formica came in a dizzying array of colors and styles.  Formica was easy to clean.  Formica was durable, as long as a cook didn't use it as a chopping block.

Like most things of that era---transistor radios, 8-function calculators, tape recorders, and tile countertops which had a short life span in the 1970s---formica is now passe, relegated to the dustbin of history.

Today's "to die for" is granite, which is short for "that which constitues much of the continental crust."

Like formica, granite comes in a dizzying array of colors and styles.  Granite is also easy to clearn.  And, formica is durable.  So durable, in fact, that a granite countertop is likely to last longer than the building in which it is installed.

Oh, and there's that "sparkling" clean that's possible with granite but not formica or other laminates.

The Washington Post has published an article analyzing the "age of the granite countertop" to understand better what it all means:

• Granite is expensive.
• Granite is very hip.
• Granite is comfortable.
• Granite brings out the color of cabinets and furniture.
• Granite is nature in your kitchen.
• People "bond" with granite as if it is a siren song.

All of this and more for only $3k, the average price of a granite countertop.

In short, granite isn't just a countertop.  Granite is a "gotta have," "aspirational," a "pursuit," an "ambition" that functions like a mirror: "a glossy, reflective surface that allows us to gaze at ourselves and know where we stand."  Granite has become so important that a real estate agent in northern Virginia observed:

What's interesting is how granite has quickly become the one and only material, across the country and across all price points.  It used to be a high-end thing, back in the 1990s when these countertops began making appearances.  It was aspirational. Then, 12 years ago, the first sort of moderately priced homes started using it. Now, every home has to have granite if you want to sell it. Not just sell it, but rent it. It’s become such a thing.  It's almost---It's almost like trying to sell a house without a toilet.”

A granite countertop makes a personal statement---who an individual is and where that individual is in one's life.

If The Motley Monk "gets it," because each granite countertop is unique, it's something that people want for their kitchens.  A granite countertop makes a personal statement.  And, that's fine to the degree that people can afford what they want.

But, is that really why people want granite countertops?

The Washington Post article concludes:

Bring it home and install it. Styles may fade, but it would take eons and eons for the granite to crumble, returning to the elements from whence it came. Have something permanent. Something dependable. A big, weighty slab of the American dream.

Is that what it's really all about?

Permanence and dependability in an impermanent and undependable world?

Could it be that granite countertops are a sign of a deep, spiritual disease that---unlike granite---can be filled only by something eternal and uncreated?

The simple fact is that no one needs a granite countertop but everyone needs God.

Why pay $3k for something counterfeit?


Let the discussion begin...



To read the Washington Post article, click on the following link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/granite-why-every-homeowner-wants-a-piece-of-the-rock/2012/02/01/gIQANBN4uQ_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines