olddog wrote:

Over all it's pretty and I'm not too concerned about the radon. It's
mostly the price. I think there are better cheaper materials. I've
pretty much talked my wife out of granite.

In the SF Bay area, granite is by far the cheapest counter top material.
It comes in in mass quantities from China, and there are now hundreds of
stores selling and installing very inexpensive Chinese granite (often
the exact same granite being sold by Home Depot or high-end kitchen and
bath remodeling stores for 2x or more the price).

I used granite because it was the cheapest material available, much less
than any of the synthetics.

The building supply industry and builders promote granite because it's
cheap, just like they promote vinyl windows.