Sounds very valid to me....as I am obsessively drying my quartzite...although from our resident geologist's (karin_mt) information, my Super White is not actually a quartzite but rather a marble..... Nonetheless, it changes with water sitting on it and gets rough.

Can you put a drain board under it when you do dishes, or one of those drying pads from BB&B?

Here is a link that might be useful: drying mat

Thanks for the plug Bee!

I don't think I'd go with the drain board if it were my kitchen. (That said, I do think it looks very cool). Most of the stones do absorb some water and are temporarily darker after they've been wet. I don't know if I'd want my stone to be wet regularly. Even though the grooves slope toward the sink it's a shallow slope so the grooves will still be wet often. But the biggest reason for many people would be hard water. Any place where water collects and then evaporates frequently will build up with minerals.

But that's just my opinion - not backed up by experience. Quartzite is pretty bombproof (real quartzite, that is!) so it would most likely be fine. It would be good to hear from those who have this feature in real life.

I recommend against the drain board on the quartzite material. It will discolor over time. Just my thoughts as I have been doing it for a while.

Best,

Chris

This post was edited by PrecisionStone on Tue, Nov 27, 12 at 10:38

I never thought of the actual water causing marks. We do have soft water but during droughts it can get a bit murky. This quartzite has veins of minerals such as iron running through it - I wonder if any colour would leach? Because the surface is already brushed, I'm not sure if it would feel rough. However, three negatives makes me stop and rethink it all. Thank you all!
Carol

Hi. Me again, on my own thread, trying to reason out the best solution. The area where the drain board would be is a dedicated clean up zone, prep will be done on the island. My kitchen style is to clean as I go, so there is often something drying - usually things like large bowls or pots that don't go in the dw. During this long reno period, I have used one of the drying pads mentioned. Because of no dw, drying items often remain on the pad overnight. I have noticed, over time, that the counter underneath the pad has darkened (it is wood), so clearly some moisture gets through. My question is this: would it be better to have a slightly damp pad or towel sitting on the quartzite for hours or a drain board that would, in theory, drain away the water? Just wondering.
Carol