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natural stone 'Quartzite' kitchen counter

13 years ago

I saw a natural stone material called "quartzite" that I would like to use for our kitchen countertops. I am told that it's pretty durable but have heard nothing else, and the granite yard didn't know much about it either. Does anyone have any experience with this material? Thanks! (The exact slab name is "antartide quartzite", white on white with lots of speckles, looks almost translucent)

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Comments (9)

sparklekitty
13 years ago
Do a search on quartzite in GW search (or through google - quartzite Gardenweb) and you will get several discussions from the last 6 months. I just had my supreme white installed and started using it 3 days ago so not much to report other than pur-tee :) My granite place told me it was not quite as durable as the most durable granites, but durable. But I don't have any official info or experience. Good luck.
carol08
13 years ago
I don't know anything about "antartide quartzite" but here's some info from a stone dealer that I came across when looking for info about natural stone alternatives to granite. Hope it helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: quartzite
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We are still waiting for the sink we ordered, unfortunately (one that we found thanks to the people on this forum) :-( I totally understand that the splurge comment. If we were doing everything at once we wouldn't be able to do this, but this project has been in the works for many years! I told my husband that it has to completed this year, or else, lol. You will love your beautiful piece of Fusion no matter what you decide. Bye the way, we have been living with a mix of real stone and Formica for several years, and no one has ever noticed or commented on it.
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We have these countertops in our kitchen with a cabinet color I call "greige" (light grey/beige). I love the color combination. And love this stone and all the fossils in it. One thing to realize with these countertops it that etching will be lighter than the dark stone color. So rings, spills, etc will etch and be more visible than they might be on a lighter marble. The flipside is you don't really have to worry about stains, can't see wine spills, tomato, etc. We still really like our Belgian Bluestone (2 years in) as we like things to look aged over time, Our house is 120+ years old and we prefer natural materials that age with the house and look like they could have been original. But I can see people who are particular about keeping finishes looking new not enjoying this counter. It is also very soft and easy to scratch, But the scratches come out very easily as well. If your countertops get light across them, the imperfections will be more visible. I might be able to get you a picture of mine if you are interested.
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I'm no expert, but there are some useful threads on quartzite - see this one, for example: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/countertop-geology-part-5-marble-quartzite-and-other-favorites-dsvw-vd~2438427?n=165 One thing I do know is that stone shops often mislabel softer stones as quartzite, so you want to be sure what you have is actually a true quartzite, and not something like Super White, which is often called a quartzite but isn't.
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sochi
13 years ago
I have quartzite counters. Quartzite is harder than granite, making it a little more difficult to cut and fabricate. It does not etch like marble, and many of the quartzite's have a marble-like look to them. Properly sealed it does not stain easily either, although I'm sure any light/white stone could stain if you tried hard enough.

I've had mine for four months now, no problems with it at all (and we have a busy messy family with two very young children).

There are quite a few posts about quartzite. Here is a picture of mine, known as quartzite bianca or luce di luna.
carol08
13 years ago
Gorgeous counters, sochi!!!
Cloud Swift
13 years ago
We also have quartzite counters even though ours look very different from sochi's. Quartzite is composed mainly (usually >90%) quartz. It gets its colors from the impurities.

Ours is mainly blue but there are some white nodules.

We have had the counters for about 4 years now and they are wonderfully trouble free. We tested a sample before it was installed and it absorbed nothing. Many of the true metamorphic quartzites have very low porosity. Quartzite is also very very hard.
salmon_slayer
13 years ago
love it
chihuahua6
13 years ago
OMG Sochi!!!!!! That has got to be the most beautiful counter I have ever seen!!!! Was it expensive?

Please post a link to pics of your gorgeous kitchen : )
sochi
13 years ago
Cloud_shift and salmon_slayer, wow, are those gorgeous counters! Drool ...

I LOVE that the picture of the pie on the blue quartzite - perfection!

chihuahua6 - thanks! I actually just posted pics and the story of my nearly finished kitchen (check out the modern walnut kitchen thread).
dkauf
Original Author
13 years ago
beautiful kitchens! Thank you everyone to helping so quickly!

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