MEGAN MCARDLE: Stainless Steel and Granite: The Harvest Gold of the Future? “I recently discovered HGTV, a channel I watched devotedly for about three weeks before all the renovations began to look the same to me. Every young couple looking for a house wants stainless steel and granite countertops, and wants them RIGHT NOW. Everyone redoing a kitchen wants the same, ASAP. Which makes me think that these things must be on their way out. . . . My understanding of the luxury cycle is that as soon as everyone can afford a decent replica of high-priced items, the replicated qualities become outre. By that metric, stainless steel and granite have to be on their way out; the only thing more ubiquitous in the American kitchen is the George Foreman grill. On the other hand, maybe in 1948 I’d have been saying that wall-mounted cabinets were a passing fad.”