I was told by my fabricator that the edge needs to be mitered (i.e., built up, such that the countertop will end up appearing thicker), in order to get the leathered finish on both the top and sides. This adds quite a bit of cost, of course, but might be worth it. I'm curious if others have heard of different solutions...

I talked to a different fabricator, who is a lot more experienced with quartzite and leathered quartzite. He said he would leather the edge to match. He's not local, so his bid is quite a bit higher, but he does know how to work with quartzite.

Any chance he's in the Boston area? :)

Sorry, no. However, he said he travels all over to do countertops. Told me he's installed in both FL and CA, along with quite a few other places. He's in CO.

My fabricator gave me a sample of my leathered counter, it had an edge just smooth, and an edge that they leathered by hand. I cant remember the quote to leather the edge, but it was quite a bit more, and I didnt think the difference was that noticeable, so I skipped leathering the edge.

Thanks, OOTM_Mom! What type of quartzite do you have? How do you like it?

And thank you, neroselover! Good luck with your countertops!!

Alas, while the stone yard had it labeled as quartzite, my fabricator told me it was marble. It does etch, but we havent had any problems with staining, so I think my fabricator was correct. Its Fantasy Brown. I love it though, and the leathering will help ease the etching visually until I have a full patina. So far two spots of etching, both hard to find unless the light is right. We had tacos the other night and my youngest spilled some salsa, his first words were, "is salsa acidic?" I said yes and he just grabbed a towel and wiped it up. DH has them thinking about the counters a lot. Hopefully they'll relax a little with time. Although its good to clean up your mess in any event.

Fantasy Brown is gorgeous! Sorry about the etchingâ¦and hope that you will continue to love it -- and be able to relax -- over time.

Not sure if this is helpful to folks on the forum, but I took home an unsealed sample of honed White Macaubas quartzite from my fabricator this weekend, and I spot tested it for about 12 hours with a bunch of liquids (lemon, balsamic vinegar, oil, water, tomato sauce, prune juice). The only thing that left a stain (and a light one at that) was the tomato sauce. I didn't notice any etching at all. We plan to have our countertops sealed, so hopefully staining won't be a problem either. Still nervous, but hopeful...

Also happy that honing our slabs (vs. leathering) seems to be a much less expensive option, given that our fabricator can hone the edges, thus avoiding the need for a mitered/built up edge.