When you’re an editor at Consumer Reports, cocktail-party chatter often turns to subjects the magazine covers—kitchen appliances and remodeling, HDTVs, family sedans, and the like. So it was last Saturday night when, following the usual pleasantries, an old friend updated me on her search for the perfect countertop. After months of deliberation, she’d settled on honed slate.

“Nice,” I said, thinking how the matte texture and blue-gray tone of that slate would be a perfect fit in her contemporary kitchen.

“Actually, no,” she countered.

Although her local stone supplier had insisted that all of the slate it sells resists staining, my friend decided to conduct her own tests on her four top choices. Acid and many counter types don’t mix, so she put a few drops of lemon juice on each slate sample and let them sit overnight. The next morning, two of the four samples, including her favorite, were visibly stained.

She contacted the supplier, who disputed the results and said he’d run his own tests. The next day he called back, his voice a bit obscured by a mouthful of humble pie: Two of the samples had in fact reacted to the lemon juice. His  explanation was that the slate in question had come from a different quarry, one used primarily in the production of roof tiles.

Disappointed, my friend was back to square one, her desire to find the perfect countertop redoubled. As someone who covers home products professionally, even I learned from the cautionary tale.

First and foremost: Due diligence is the secret to smart remodeling. Our product reports, buying advice, and ratings offer excellent starting points when you’re choosing a countertop, flooring, or the kitchen sink.

But don’t stop there. Whenever possible, get samples of your top choices. Live with them for a few days, seeing how they look under different light conditions. (This is especially important with interior paint.) And if you have any doubts about performance, don’t be afraid to conduct your own tests. “I tell my clients to cut on stone samples, scratch them, spill wine on them, or ink or cooking oil,” says South Carolina kitchen designer Duval Acker, ASID, CKBD. Every home is unique, so you need to create the precise conditions a material will be subjected to.

As for countertops made from slate or any other stone, slabs do differ from quarry to quarry. “There are 6,000 varieties of materials, and every one of them is unique,” says Chuck Muehlbauer, technical director of the Marble Institute of America. That’s why it’s important for you to work with a reputable distributor who really knows the specific stones it carries. The Marble Institute of America recently launched a nationwide accreditation program to help you find a reputable dealer in your area on its Web site.

I’ll be sure to mention this to be my friend the next time I see her.—Daniel DiClerico

Here’s the key to the different counter types in the image above: 1. Quartz (aka engineered stone).
2. Granite. 3. Laminate. 4. Stainless steel. 5. Solid surface. 6. Marble. 7. Ceramic tile. 8. Concrete.
9. Limestone. 10. Butcher block.