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Experience with dark, solid quartz for counter? X-post in kitchen

12 years ago

I was all set to order and schedule templating for my vanity counters: Cambria Fieldstone, a dark gray engineered quartz. I have Caesarstone Blizzard (white) in my kitchen and I love it. Unfortunately, I was with DH and the sales person said: "you do know that DARK quartz scratches very easily, right?". Now DH wants to reassess this choice. We are going to go to the stone yard this weekend to see if any dark, solid, modern looking granite slabs exist and speak to us, but I'm not a fan of mixing stones, and my BS will have a marble/glass mosaic.

I had never heard that dark quartz "scratches" easily. I'm not sure I believe this. My kitchen counters are bulletproof, though I don't cut directly on them. Here, it's a bathroom and there will be no knives near it anyway, as there might be in a kitchen. Anyone out there with real life experience with dark, solid, Cambria quartz counters in particular?

TIA

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Comments (5)

scoutcat
12 years ago
I have a dark silestone on my vanity. It does not scratch, and it looks great. Be aware, though, that the dark color will show water spots and toothpaste marks more than a lighter color. I just wipe it down with a microfiber cloth.
adel97
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks scoutcat, I have no problem with stuff I can wipe off. Good to know you've had no scratching. My white quartz can stain if wine or berry juice sits on it too long, but even those stains are easily taken care of with Soft Scrub with bleach. D you use bleach based cleaner on your Silestone?
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scoutcat
12 years ago
I've never had to, but it's pretty new. I just use an all purpose cleaner. No wine drinking in the bathroom - yet.
Bobby99
12 years ago
I have Caesarstone quartz countertops in Raven, which is a very dark gray, and I find it indestructible. I can't imagine why dark would scratch more than light??
adel97
Original Author
12 years ago
Bobby, the saleslady told me that the manufacturer keeps the dark slabs separate, rather than stacking them on top of each other, because they tend to show scratches more. This really makes no sense to me, and I don't plan to drag quartz surfaces across each other anyway once this is installed. From the feedback on here and on the kitchen forum, it seems everyone loves their dark quartz. I decided to go with the dark quartz regardless of this concern and my slab of Cambria Fieldstone is on its way to the fabricator as I type!

Good to hear of your experience with the CS Raven. It's very close to the Cambria Fieldsone in color.

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