I am a geologist. Quartzite is a stone made of quartz SiO2 which has undergone natural pressure such that breaks occur across the quartz grains. Marble is CaCO3, and may or may not be a result of natural pressure. Marble is a lot more at risk of being 'etched' by acids (like vinegar). Soapstone is a metamorphic rock that has naturally undergone heat and pressure. It used to be used for chemistry lab surfaces as nothing would etch it. Granite is an igneous rock. A rock cutting operation cuts massive slabs of solid rock into slices with long diamond saw blades. Matching some rocks is like matching some wood patterns; you almost have to have adjacent slices for the duplication of patterns to look 'right' and/ or symmetric.

I have a big sample of White Fantasy and a smaller sample of Super White. I was told they are the same thing, just different names. They're from two different stone yards and they do look similar but the White Fantasy slab we saw is much lighter and a bit more uniform/has less movement which is why we're going to go with that one. I squeezed a lemon on both samples and left the lemon wedge on it for hours and there was no etching at all. Both samples have a shiny finish (not sure if that means they were sealed or not -- I didn't do anything to them). But if your sample etched then I would assume that the slab you receive from them could etch as well. Is there another stone yard you could go to in your area?!? It really is a beautiful stone, and also the only one both DH and I agreed on! For what it's worth, both stone yards also told me that this quartzite would not etch and would be just as "wearable" as any other granite. They did caution me against using red candles on top of it (they said the warm red dye in the wax could stain, but could also stain other granites as well) and to remove all permanent markers from the reach of our children. Hope this helps! I'm interested in hearing anyone else's experience too! Thanks for asking the question!

Dark photo of super white on a white island right after counter installed in my kitchen. Don't give up on the super white. I looked at 5 different slabs before I found one that would work for us. It really varies from a med/dark gray to a swirly white & light gray. Eventually I started calling the fabricators and asking about their super white. If I got someone knowledgeable they would describe it and send a photo. Be very specific about what you want - I wanted it to have some white but nice contrast so the very gray and swirly white/light gray didn't work. The slab we found also has some areas that are almost peach (it is very light, just an accent tone in the background) that I loved with our red birch perimeter cabinets. The stone is called by many names - supreme white, white princess, white fantasy - but asking for white quartzite and sharing some of the names got me the stuff I wanted. Note - I still went to look at the slabs even if the photos were a little off - often they look lighter and whiter in person. Here is a link to the photos I collected on quartzite slabs in my area (Boston) so you can see how different they can be. http://s932.photobucket.com/albums/ad166/sparklekitty_kitchen/White%20Quartzite%20or%20Granite%20Slabs/ The last two are of the slab we purchased. Note that the 2nd photo was from the fabricator and it shows the slab darker than it is in person. I have also included a link to my recent posting with all the photos of the counter installed. Again the photos are dark, but I am very happy. The paint color is BM Dove Wing, but we also considered BM white dove. Here is a link that might be useful: Photos of superwhite with white island

We recently purchased (and are loving!) our White Macaubus Quartzite counters. I read everything I could get my hands on beforehand, and when we went to choose slabs, I had an old iPhone, extremely sharp tweezers, a pocket knife, a small Phillips screwdriver, and a small ziplock bag of sliced lemons in my coat pocket. I scratched, scratched some more, repeatedly scrubbed with lemon, etc. Discretely, of course : )) I originally was going to bring an empty baby food jar as someone recommended, but having recently replaced my ancient, broken iPhone 4S, that glass worked very well. Some stone places will really know their rock, but IMHO, many times the sales person or the guys moving the slabs around really don't know any more than you or I, so read Karin MT's many posts and test, test, test.