Kitchen countertops are where all the action is in your cooking space. That applies both to doing meal prep and to the aesthetics of your kitchen. If you want to have a kitchen that's on point in its looks and functionality, these four trends will help you do just that.

Quartz is No Longer Underrated

Whether you're looking for a smooth appearance or something more matte, quartz has become a go-to choice for many countertop services providers. It can be created in a wide range of colors and patterns, allowing customers to imitate existing stone styles or bring new ones to life. Honing processes allow manufacturers to produce a matte appearance that's very chic, or you can go the polished route.

Countertops Are in the Zone

Developing a zonal design for a kitchen is a great way to break up functions and areas. While visual consistency in countertops has been a long-standing tradition, there are good arguments for using contrasts to create zones. For example, countertop islands are increasingly being used in open floor plans and studio apartments to act as dividers between rooms. If you want to differentiate the spaces at the point where they converge, making the island distinct from the rest of the kitchen will do the job.

Contrasting countertops can also create visual interest. For example, using one color along the walls and another in a center island will bring visitors' eyes into the focal point of the island. You can then line the island up with a window that provides natural light to guide the eye through the entire kitchen.

A Kitchen's Visual Language Needs an Accent

There's more to putting in countertops than putting down a couple of slabs of stone and creating a flat space for cutting food and storing your toaster. Many homeowners are now adding elements like trim, backsplashes, and even rails to accent the appearance of the cooking space. This can be an especially handy trick if you're remodeling a kitchen that has a very plain or modernist sensibility.

Going Rustic with Wood

Another direction worth considering is something that adds a rustic feel to a kitchen. For example, highly treated rough wood can give kitchen countertops an extreme wow factor. Products like polyurethane make it easy to give the surface a shine, and they also prevent staining. Don't worry. You'll be totally able to prep food on it just like a stone countertop.

Talk with a contractor about kitchen countertops and the choices you're considering for your kitchen remodel.