The good news is that pricing of stone countertops have fallen because of their popularity. You can now purchase these countertops for the same price as Corian or solid surface countertops. Higher end customized countertops are entering the market allowing the prices to get even better for stone or engineered countertops. The more customized countertop would be cement or stainless steel.



You'll need to do some shopping around first to find what will work best for you and your family's needs. For example, a marble countertop would not work well in most bathrooms or kitchens with a lot of traffic because of it getting scratched and stained easily. But it would work very well for an area without much usage. Marble countertops are beautiful and do work well as accent countertops in your living room or on your end tables. Another idea that would look great is to have marble on your mantle and base of your fireplace.

But there is a variety of countertops available that would look beautiful, are durable and at the same time, may boost the value or resell of your home. You most likely will recover up to 74% of the cost of the countertops after the sale of your home. It would be better if the return was higher on the cost of the stone countertops, but on the other hand, it might make for a quicker sale. Another good reason would be that the buyer doesn't have to spend money on updating the countertops and they may fall in love with the look of them.

If you decide to install new stone countertops, you'll need to plan on buying a new sink first, because under-mount sinks look the best with the stone countertops and must be installed beforehand. When choosing colors for your countertops, staying with the more neutral colors would be best for resell. Many prospective buyers may not like the dark green colored stone that you thought would be ideal.

Outdated, scratched, damaged or stained countertops might turn off a potential buyer, especially when most new homes already have beautiful countertops. Ceramic tile countertops used to be the most popular choice, but it had problems with chipping, cracking and stains in the grout. Plus, it is difficult to find a matching ceramic stone to replace the damaged tiles. Most home buyers automatically think that this style is outdated now, even if the tile is in good condition.

But the decision ultimately is yours, but remember that the countertops are not the only improvement needed for a faster sale. New paint, landscaping and flooring are just some of the important things that also play a major part in the value and sale of your home. Staging really helps when it involves picking up clutter and making the home more of a selling piece by temporarily removing family photos.