What about Silestone or Dekton?

Anonymous wrote:Why are so many home reno shows using porcelain if it's so fragile?

Because they are always looking for the "next best thing" even if that's not a product that makes sense in every day life.

I picked Vadara Sereno gold quartz. I considered Ethereal Glow but it was too bland in person. I also considered quartzite but the lighter colors did etch (eg Luce di Luna) and the other quartzite I liked (Taj Mahal) looked too dark and busy. I loved the visual interest of quartzite but I just felt it was too busy for an open concept living/kitchen. We ended up using quartzite in the baths.

Why are so many home reno shows using porcelain if it's so fragile?

We went with a MSI quartz but not a plain white pattern. It is so easy care and stain resistant to difficult stains like red wine and tomato sauce. That is what I need to keep the counters looking nice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Browsing endless options for quartz counters. Drawn toward the faux Carrara, and looking for patterns to google/obsess over. Thanks!

Get quartzite, not quartz. Quartz looks and is, cheap. Wish we did this, now every time I see my counters I want to take hammer to them.

+1. We're working on our kitchen and our stonecutter says quartz is on its way out -- the fabrication process involves toxic chemicals and many quartz manufacturers are starting to divest and shift towards porcelain as the "next" manufactured surface of choice. I also associate quartz with flip homes, especially the ones where the quartz is trying to look like marble but obviously doesn't (especially from a hand-feel perspective). We're going with natural stone.

Yes, that's why you don't go with the fake looking quartz options.

Also no way I would use porcelain for counters - way too easy to chip or crack.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Browsing endless options for quartz counters. Drawn toward the faux Carrara, and looking for patterns to google/obsess over. Thanks!

Get quartzite, not quartz. Quartz looks and is, cheap. Wish we did this, now every time I see my counters I want to take hammer to them.

+1. We're working on our kitchen and our stonecutter says quartz is on its way out -- the fabrication process involves toxic chemicals and many quartz manufacturers are starting to divest and shift towards porcelain as the "next" manufactured surface of choice. I also associate quartz with flip homes, especially the ones where the quartz is trying to look like marble but obviously doesn't (especially from a hand-feel perspective). We're going with natural stone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Browsing endless options for quartz counters. Drawn toward the faux Carrara, and looking for patterns to google/obsess over. Thanks!

Get quartzite, not quartz. Quartz looks and is, cheap. Wish we did this, now every time I see my counters I want to take hammer to them.

I would prefer a natural stone, but I find quartzite too busy. Marble and soapstone are too high maintenance. Haven't seen any granite that I like, either. Which leads me back to quartz.

You have to be very careful with quartzite - often times it isn't actually quartzite but marble and so you don't have the benefits of the harder stone.

The issue with quartz is that many varieties of it look incredibly fake. Don't get those. Find one with very subtle patterns or more of a solid and it'll look great.

And it is very very durable! When we were selecting our counters, we picked up sample pieces of everything we were considering and abused the hell out of them. Cut things on them, left red wine, oil, water glasses, etc. Do that and you'll come to the same conclusion that we did - quartz all the way.

Which quartz did you pick?

I’m one of the MSI Calacatta Monaco folks from above. Couldn’t be happier with our selection. Used other subtle quartz counters throughout our house too. If we had done marble like our builder wanted, it would’ve driven us nuts. The piece of mind knowing we can use and abuse our counters is worth it. I don’t have to worry about something as simple as a child leaving a water glass overnight.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Browsing endless options for quartz counters. Drawn toward the faux Carrara, and looking for patterns to google/obsess over. Thanks!

Get quartzite, not quartz. Quartz looks and is, cheap. Wish we did this, now every time I see my counters I want to take hammer to them.

I would prefer a natural stone, but I find quartzite too busy. Marble and soapstone are too high maintenance. Haven't seen any granite that I like, either. Which leads me back to quartz.

We have quartzite in our home, it was pure white, not busy.

Can you share shade/type you chose? Do you have issues with staining or etching? I've heard that white quartzite is often very soft with the same high maintenance characteristics of marble.

That’s because most stones marketed as quartzite are marble, especially the whites.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Browsing endless options for quartz counters. Drawn toward the faux Carrara, and looking for patterns to google/obsess over. Thanks!

Get quartzite, not quartz. Quartz looks and is, cheap. Wish we did this, now every time I see my counters I want to take hammer to them.

I would prefer a natural stone, but I find quartzite too busy. Marble and soapstone are too high maintenance. Haven't seen any granite that I like, either. Which leads me back to quartz.

You have to be very careful with quartzite - often times it isn't actually quartzite but marble and so you don't have the benefits of the harder stone.

The issue with quartz is that many varieties of it look incredibly fake. Don't get those. Find one with very subtle patterns or more of a solid and it'll look great.

And it is very very durable! When we were selecting our counters, we picked up sample pieces of everything we were considering and abused the hell out of them. Cut things on them, left red wine, oil, water glasses, etc. Do that and you'll come to the same conclusion that we did - quartz all the way.

Which quartz did you pick?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Browsing endless options for quartz counters. Drawn toward the faux Carrara, and looking for patterns to google/obsess over. Thanks!

Get quartzite, not quartz. Quartz looks and is, cheap. Wish we did this, now every time I see my counters I want to take hammer to them.

I would prefer a natural stone, but I find quartzite too busy. Marble and soapstone are too high maintenance. Haven't seen any granite that I like, either. Which leads me back to quartz.

We have quartzite in our home, it was pure white, not busy.

Can you share shade/type you chose? Do you have issues with staining or etching? I've heard that white quartzite is often very soft with the same high maintenance characteristics of marble.

Anonymous wrote:

Get quartzite, not quartz. Quartz looks and is, cheap. Wish we did this, now every time I see my counters I want to take hammer to them.

It's cheap only if you buy a cheap product.

Everyone has their own aesthetic sense, but cost is objective, and quartz is often more costly than alternatives. Quartz is more popular than alternatives at similar price points, although popularity means nothing if you don't personally like it. In general, it seems that quartz is more widely preferred in homes with a modern feel, while alternatives are more associated with more traditional styles of kitchens and bathrooms.

Some people frequently assert a preference for natural over man-made products, but natural materials have no inherent performance or aesthetic advantage over engineered products.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Browsing endless options for quartz counters. Drawn toward the faux Carrara, and looking for patterns to google/obsess over. Thanks!

Get quartzite, not quartz. Quartz looks and is, cheap. Wish we did this, now every time I see my counters I want to take hammer to them.

I would prefer a natural stone, but I find quartzite too busy. Marble and soapstone are too high maintenance. Haven't seen any granite that I like, either. Which leads me back to quartz.

We have quartzite in our home, it was pure white, not busy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Browsing endless options for quartz counters. Drawn toward the faux Carrara, and looking for patterns to google/obsess over. Thanks!

Get quartzite, not quartz. Quartz looks and is, cheap. Wish we did this, now every time I see my counters I want to take hammer to them.

I would prefer a natural stone, but I find quartzite too busy. Marble and soapstone are too high maintenance. Haven't seen any granite that I like, either. Which leads me back to quartz.

You have to be very careful with quartzite - often times it isn't actually quartzite but marble and so you don't have the benefits of the harder stone.

The issue with quartz is that many varieties of it look incredibly fake. Don't get those. Find one with very subtle patterns or more of a solid and it'll look great.

And it is very very durable! When we were selecting our counters, we picked up sample pieces of everything we were considering and abused the hell out of them. Cut things on them, left red wine, oil, water glasses, etc. Do that and you'll come to the same conclusion that we did - quartz all the way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Browsing endless options for quartz counters. Drawn toward the faux Carrara, and looking for patterns to google/obsess over. Thanks!

Get quartzite, not quartz. Quartz looks and is, cheap. Wish we did this, now every time I see my counters I want to take hammer to them.

I would prefer a natural stone, but I find quartzite too busy. Marble and soapstone are too high maintenance. Haven't seen any granite that I like, either. Which leads me back to quartz.