We've lived in apartments that had granite counters and they were fine. But I wasn't in love with it. Currently we have some sort of solid surface counters, Corian maybe? They look good. Are easy to keep clean, and have been impervious to any damage. A bigger issue to me, in both bathroom and kitchen is that I want undermount sinks. So much easier to keep the counter clean that way since there's no edge to catch crumbs as I wipe into the sink.