Sure you can get by with many things, and I mostly have. But if I had some money, I'd buy something more durable. Admittedly, I might not actually buy granite:

Sure you can get by with many things, and I mostly have. But if I had some money, I'd buy something more durable. Admittedly, I might not actually buy granite: tile countertops are cheaper, and have many of the advantages I'm looking for. I don't cut on countertops, and agree that's bad for knives (I use cutting boards, as is traditional even in countries like Italy and Greece where stone countertops are the norm). But I do often have sharp things in the kitchen. The last time I dinged a counter it wasn't even due to a knife, but because I accidentally dropped a corkscrew. Would've been no problem with stone or tile, but since I don't have those, it caused a permanent mark where the tip hit! With wood countertops I've found myself paranoid about even setting a coffee cup or wine glass down without a coaster, lest it leave stains that are hard to remove. And with linoleum I'm always paranoid that even a bowl taken from reheating in the microwave will leave a ring-shaped heat-mark. In addition to tile as a stone alternative, I am somewhat curious about the newer generation of synthetic countertops. I have heard that modern Corian countertops (or generic brands making Corian®-style countertops) are quite durable, and somewhere in price between linoleum and stone.