Sorry, Marble: Home Buyers Still Prefer This Kitchen Countertop Material
Zillow just released its top 2023 search terms.
Published Jan 9, 2024 11:22 AM
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Thanks to AI, you no longer have to restrict your online house hunt to a zip code. You can ask for all the other things that matter to you. And that’s exactly what home buyers did when Zillow introduced its AI-powered natural language search last year. After analyzing more than 250 billion search queries, the company found that people prioritized looking at places with a garage, backyard, fireplaces, and walk-in closets first and foremost. But there was a surprising term that cracked the top 10 in 2023: granite countertops. Not milky white Carrara marble. Not super-durable quartz. Granite.
While granite has been a popular choice for decades, the construction boom of the early 2000s brought on a new kind of mania. You couldn’t watch an episode of House Hunters without hearing the words granite countertops. But like most design trends, the coarse-grained, igneous rock reached the point of being overdone…or so we thought. DeVol’s creative director, Helen Parker, called it last February when she predicted that granite—specifically, black granite—was bound to bounce back. “Black granite was a staple in the 1990s, and it still has a certain understated luxury, especially when honed,” she told Domino.
It’s true that when we think of granite countertops, we tend to picture a sandy-colored surface with flecks of black, the kind you’d most likely find in a Tuscan-inspired McMansion. But as Parker points out, there is a world of other granite varieties and finishes out there to explore—ones that sellers could easily put on their home’s résumé without feeling like they’ve sold out. Here are a few slabs we’d happily have in any current (or future!) home.
