andreammd - I'm afraid I can't help much with stone yards in BC, I'm in Ottawa and I had to go to Montreal to get the quartzite. That said, I'm sure Vancouver must have a couple of great stone yards with a good enough selection to stock quartzite. I doubt you would find it anywhere other than in the lower mainland generally, but who knows? The quartzite goes by a few names, I've seen Luce di luna from most of the US posters, at Ciot (the stone yard I visited in both Mtl and Toronto) it is called Quartzite Bianca. There are other white/grey quartzites out there that seem to hit that combination of a marble feel without the granite look and yet more movement than quartz, so definitely call a few yards and ask to see everything they've got. I have also seen here on Gardenweb a few white/grey granites that I actually like - it would probably be worth looking at all of the white/grey quartzites and granites in case you see a granite you like as well. I saw lots of the more common white/grey granite slabs at Ciot, but nothing that really did it for me. Good luck!

I would also want a single slab of granite if I were you. That being said, we have a massive island with a single slab of granite. We are not the original owners and didn't install it but noticed that it has a section with an irregular crack that obviously broke off at some point and then was repaired. The crack is lengthwise along the overhang where barstools go. We suspect that it was either damaged during installation or someone put too much weight on it later and it broke. Either way, there are obviously new, additional supports put underneath the overhang. The crack isn't particularly obvious since it is so irregular and blends in with the veining of the granite. If you go with a single slab, I would just make sure it is 100% supported. I suspect it is a lot easier to crack.

I just had the same thing happen to me with Della Terra Vittoria White quartz from AZ Tile. Manufactured by santamargarita. I am sick over the result. If I had known it could vary this much I would have tried to get a dyelot # from our bathroom counter install just a few months prior. (Or chosen something else!) I thought since we had our sample (and one full counter installed that matched said sample) that we knew what this would look like. I am really disappointed. Our bathroom counter is a true white with beautiful veining and depth variation if you look closely. The kitchen counter slabs have sparse veining and have an overall grey, almost rosy undertone. It looks like a mottled pattern with some veining instead of a veined counter with some mottling. And they are an entirely different shade. The kitchen counters wash out against our wall and backsplash and almost have a pink hue when viewed next to the white cabinets. If it's a known quantity that there is this little consistency, they should be required to provide a sample from the dye lot you are purchasing. And insist that customers preview the slabs before finalizing the sale. I like everyone else was told that quartz was consistent and that was unnecessary. I pulled the trigger on this remodel because I wanted to love it. It's not reasonable to expect customers to be expert enough to head this off.

"Quartz and man made stones are now more expensive because of demand." Not always... Some exotic granite slabs can cost more than quartz. Granite prices vary because you have cheap china slabs to mid grade to exotic.. But popular/overused low to mid grade granite is typically cheaper than quartz. I agree that Quartz is popular right now and demand is driving prices up. When I was searching years back, I saw a blue granite slab with big swirls in it - 7k a slab...