This is the question we field most often at our showroom on State Highway 155. A homeowner has narrowed the kitchen down to two materials, and they want to know which one is going to cost more before they fall in love with a slab.
The honest answer is that the two ranges overlap heavily. The material you pick matters less than the specific slab, the size of your kitchen, and what your layout asks the fabricator to do.
Preference does lean one direction. In the 2025 U.S. Houzz Kitchen Trends Study, 39 percent of renovating homeowners chose engineered quartz and 19 percent chose granite, with quartzite at 11 percent. Popularity and price are two different things, though, and plenty of granite slabs cost more than plenty of quartz.
Why Quartz and Granite Pricing Overlap
Granite is a natural stone. Its price is set by how rare the block was, how far it traveled, how much movement and color the slab carries, and how much of it a quarry can actually produce. A common speckled granite and an exotic granite with dramatic veining can sit thousands of dollars apart in the same yard.
Quartz is manufactured, so its pricing is tiered by the brand and the series. Entry level quartz in a simple, uniform pattern is often less than a mid grade granite. A high end marble look quartz with a complex vein structure can land above it.
That is why we stopped answering the question in the abstract. We answer it by pulling both slabs for you in person.
Pro Tip: Ask which group or tier a slab falls into before you get attached to it. Most yards and quartz brands price by group, and moving down one group on a similar looking stone frequently saves more than shrinking your island by a few inches.
We Do A Fantastic Job!
Trying to Decide Between Quartz or Granite for Your Tyler Kitchen? Let's Price Your Actual Layout.
Send us your measurements and we will walk you through both options with real numbers. Request a free quote or call our Tyler showroom at (903) 581-5501.
What Drives the Number More Than the Material
Square footage is the obvious one, but it is not the one that surprises people. These are the factors that quietly move a quote in either direction:
Slab yield. A kitchen that needs 52 square feet does not automatically fit on one slab. Vein direction, seam placement, and the shape of your island can force a second slab, and a second slab is a step change in cost, not a small increase.
Edge profile. An eased or straight edge is standard. Ogee, mitered, and built up edges add labor and, in the case of a mitered edge, extra material.
Cutouts and finished work. Undermount sinks, cooktops, faucet holes, and a polished finish on an exposed end all add fabrication time.
Tear out and install conditions. Removing an old tile or laminate top, working around a plumbing relocation, or carrying a large island piece into a tight East Texas floor plan all factor in.
Pro Tip: If you want the visual impact of a heavy slab without paying for 3cm everywhere, ask about a mitered edge on the island only. You get the thick look where people actually see it and standard thickness on the perimeter.
The Long Term Cost Nobody Quotes You
Granite is porous and takes a sealer. Quartz does not. For some homeowners that is a real difference in how they want to live with the surface, and it belongs in the comparison alongside the install price.
Neither material is fragile. Both handle a working Tyler kitchen for decades when they are fabricated and installed correctly. The bigger long term risk is a bad seam or an unsupported overhang, and that comes down to the fabricator, not the material.
It is worth keeping the money in perspective. The 2026 Cost vs. Value Report put the national average minor kitchen remodel at $28,458 with an estimated $32,141 added at resale, roughly 113 percent recouped. Countertops are one line inside that project, and the difference between two materials is usually a fraction of it.
How to Compare Two Quotes Fairly
Get both numbers written as a full installed price for your actual layout. A price per square foot on a slab tells you almost nothing until template, fabrication, edge work, cutouts, tear out, and installation are included.
Then check that both quotes assume the same edge profile, the same sink type, and the same number of slabs. If one quote is noticeably lower, that is almost always where the difference is hiding.
We would rather show you. Our 6,000 square foot showroom lets you stand in front of granite and quartz at the same time, with quartzite and marble nearby if the comparison opens up. Photos on a screen flatten the depth and the sheen, and those are exactly the qualities people are paying for.
Let’s Price Your Kitchen, Not a Hypothetical One
Ashcraft Granite & Marble has been fabricating and installing stone across East Texas since 1977. We serve homeowners, builders, and commercial projects from our Tyler location, and we will give you a straight comparison rather than a push toward one material.
Bring your measurements or your cabinet plan and we will build both quotes. Browse our recent projects to see how each material reads in a finished kitchen, then contact our team or call (903) 581-5501 to get started.