However, why spend money now and spend money again later?
Just buy what you prefer, now, once.
Just because the options for this new kind of surface are pretty limited, and, like I said, expensive ($92/sq ft. installed at Home Depot). The marble-looking Aura I thought looked nice on the website didn't look all that impressive in person. They had a black one I would have certainly considered at a lower price point, but it seems wrong to pay $92/sq ft. for a plain black, no matter how durable. In any case, I ended up going with a laminate. There was a darker pattern I liked more than the others, at $27/sq ft. installed. Right at $1k for the amount of countertop and backsplash I need. It would have been over $4k for the Dekton.
But you're right about none of the laminate samples having a real wow factor. I think part of it, for me at least, is it's hard for me to visualize a full countertop from the tiny samples available. Hopefully I made an okay choice. I'll revisit the higher-end materials down the line once this starts looking ugly. In the meantime, all you guys with nicer counters can point and laugh. I'm just glad I finally pulled the trigger on something. I need to be able to use my kitchen!
