I slide stainless and stoneware across my quartz and haven't had any scratching. What will scratch it is using an abrasive on it like Scotchbrite pads and gritty cleansers. My fabricator told me they can easily polish out scratches on granite. Not so with quartz. On install they cleaned epoxy off my Caesarstone with Barkeeper's Friend, which is oxalic acid, and dulled an area. They wanted to try to polish it out and got training from Caesarstone, but after 2 1/2 hours of a two-man team working their way through different levels of polishing creams and buffing tools, it was still noticeable, so they replaced the countertop. But it was a good learning experience for them.

I suggest doing your research on fantasy brown if you are considering it. It sounds to me like a marble. (Super white is another that is often billed as quartzite but is is actually usually marble.). Not that there is anything wrong with marble--I chose it for the ktichen in our last house, but I did so knowing what I was getting. Those countertop geology threads are really informative.

for the handles, may I suggest something to pick up on the hues in the flooring? A little more copper toned. you have light cabs, light floors. I think throwing in a dark ORB w/o actual copper highlights would be too much of a contrast. IMO. cypress park Sandra, I like the porcelain one better than the other one. Does the backsplash have to be done immediately? If the tones in the porcelain tile you picked clash w/the ivory tones in the counter, it could be a problem. However, I did find some copper toned ones that should be avail. these are porcelain/SS, and treated so as not to stain or tarnish. I LOVE these for your kitchen. timeless and gorgeous. They are probably not super cheap, but it would be worth it for me. http://www.miusartmosaics.com/arabesque-lantern-beacon-copper-tile-in these would also work. the site is here: maybe they have them in stock.http://www.westsidetile.com/arabesque-tiles/ i like this one too. notice the copper faucet. beautiful w/the glass mosaic. if you got the cream countertop, this would look amazing w/your floors. this last one is a copper colored slate/quartzite.

Hi The posting for above photos did NOT go through, hence our question for above post is below. We have a 20 year old home that we are re-doing our kitchen. See pics below. We are kinda stuck with keeping our exotic mahogany (reddish acacia) engineered wood since flooring is still in good condition. We dont' like a all white sterile looking kitchen. Want suggestions to see if we need to go with an off white (see pic) or a black material with light veining. don't want plain looking or too busy looking material. We plan to take the quartz all the way behind the stove to the ceiling for easy cleaning reasons. Rest will be some type of glass tile. https://www.caesarstoneus.com/collections/supernatural/empira-black-5101/ any suggestions on colors/names would be appreciated. thanks, Chris