Cultured marble is sort of like faux pearls or diamondique.... the name is a bit misleading! It is a blend of resin and marble dust which can be tinted and so varies widely in quality and style. We used it in our house when it was originally built and are now remodeling. The white on our half bath vanity and hall bath still looks okay as far as style. Just a plain white with some minor gray swirling and we'll be keeping it as we work our way through the house remodeling. But our master bath counertop and tub surround is now in the dumpster as it was sort of a taupe color with lots of swirling and was just obviously "fake".

Thanks. I don't comment on fixtures often, but I do have to say I think the Memoirs is a lovely sink. The sink itself is large, the wide rim I absolutely love, and it has a good-sized bowl. It is indeed a nice sink. We had the same feelings over the backsplash. We went back and forth between painted wood or teak. I thought the teak backsplash would make the Memoirs pop more due to contrast, but my wife didn't want too much wood grain in the room. So we did painted wood which I topped with a teak cap. If my wife ever did want teak, I told her I'd simply glue a teak veneer over the painted wood. It's still painted. That run of cabinetry changed a couple of times during the design process. It was originally going to be a spacious 2-sink vanity. My wife really insisted on one sink! So that freed up space for the floor-to-ceiling storage closet on the left and what we call the "toilet pantry" on the right. The design has worked quite well for us over the years, I built it around 15 years ago. My daughter, who was 7 or 8 years old at the time, designed the profile for the toe kick cutouts. That was quite a bit of fun "working" with her. If you go in another direction, no worries. Choose what works best for you.

When people say that quartz looks like "fake" stone it always makes me scratch my head. For me, I love it because it is clean and uniform--if I wanted "real" stone with the variability that comes with real stone, I'd choose granite or marble. Saying it looks like fake stone is like saying that cork looks like fake wood. Two very different materials, two very different looks. Neither one is better--it's what style you prefer. Exactly! But I have found that many people try to sell quartz counters saying they look like granite but are better/easier/tougher (which I think has already been addressed above). Some of their colours do appear to be in fact imitating the look of real stone. I don't think they do well at that, but I totally agree with you that it's a great choice if you want a uniform or clean look or their vibrant colours.

If you don't want veining, you should opt for man made quartz as all natural stones have veining. Have you seen Blizzard Quartz that features warm white look from Caesarstone? Pure White quartz is the purest, densest, and cleanest white countertop option you will find if you're looking for a countertop with absolutely no veining. Check out Caesarstone Ocean Foam. It has a clean look although from up close you will spot small speckles.