Your kitchen is beautiful!

Beautiful kitchen. Love light above window.

Actually we're going to look into Porcelain Slab. The only caveat is that you need someone certified to install porcelain slab to install it. We are getting it priced at about 20 a sq ft for the material and installation about 20% more than traditional granite. If there is a bedrosian porcelain slab yard near you, you can take a look. They say the material is near indestructible and you don't have to worry about water spot, acid stain or anything like that.

I had your exact feelings and went back and forth for months. I feel your pain. It changed for me when I finally found a Quartz that I thought was pretty all on its own--not necessarily because it was trying to be marble. Then it didn't hurt so much to swing the other way although I still panicked about it right up until the install. I know I could have lived with marble and learned not to stress about the etching, but it has been so so nice to just never have to worry about my counters. I have four kids and they are starting to move about the kitchen on their own to fix lunches and snacks and I didn't want to have to constantly nag them about the counters. while I know marble can be prettier, I still think my Quartz is beautiful enough on its own and I love that it will look the exact same 5 years from now. Caring for it is a breeze and I never have to worry about anything. That was enough to swing me in the end.

I am another with Torquay. Yes, I occasionally think wistfully of marble. Overall, it's been fine. People seem to like it, it's held up really well, and I like the reflection. Bigger regrets are for the door style I picked out (I'd go much simpler now). With whatever surface, pay very close attention to the seams. We have one on the island which is discoloring. In hindsight, it would have been better to have selected a slab large enough for the entire island. Good luck!

We're going with LG Roccoco.

I wanted marble when I redid my master bathroom but I couldn't handle the thought of paying a decent chunk of money and then having to worry about the stone yellowing/staining/etching etc. There is no way that once it goes in that I could replace it, should issues occur, so I opted for quartz. No regrets.

For quartzmaster, did you buy a slab and then fabricate each bullnose? Or did you get prefab counters? The prefabs are so cheap in my area (about 300 for a 9x2) that it really can't be beat, although your quartzmaster looks way prettier than the prefab options.

We bought the slabs. I don't think it came prefabricated

Viatera Minuet has gotten a lot of good "press" on GW. (I have white quartz everywhere, and love it, but I was never considering marble). We designed the island to be the maximum length it could be and still use only one slab.

I was looking at Minuet for our bathroom. I loved the little sample but wanted a bigger one to be sure. The bigger one arrived and much more distinctive veining than I had seen in any displays or my little chunk. I still like it but I am worried that it will be too busy with the wallpaper. In a kitchen, you likely won't have that issue. IMO it is beautiful quartz and more "real" looking than some I have seen. A whiter background so the veining stands out but not as much as Rococo. I need to decide soon on the quartz for the bathroom but leaning toward Caesarstone Frosty Carina.

No regrets here...love my Silestone Lagoon after 3 years! I will never consider granite again after having quartz. Maybe it's the lighter color, but it's a breeze to clean! My c. 1990's dark granite took several steps to get it looking perfectly shiny.

I went with the Rococo. I knew myself. It would break my heart to damage the marble. It was a coin flip between the Minuet and Rococo. I was fortunate to see a full slab before purchase. It's wearing like iron. I laugh whenever I drop blueberries, tomato sauce and peanut butter. It's going to last a long time.

I love marble but my husband refused, so I went with a plain white Quartz and put marble on my backsplash. I am supremely happy with my compromise. I've had no real issues with my marble backsplash. I just could not find a marble-look Quartz that both my husband and I felt looked natural enough.

I was in similar situation a year ago, although I don't have kid now but that's planned in the near future. I did similar to what namarie did, solid white quartz with real marble backsplash and am very happy for my choices. I also have weekly gathering that my friends would come and we all cook together. So I don't want to be stress about the countertop whenever they come. I don't have any pictures with my kitchen, but I just took a picture with peonies showing the countertop and backsplash this past wkend!

What color are your cabinets yeh yeh? Your counters and backsplash are so serene looking. The two different whites really look good together.

I would love to see a pic. I have been afraid of having too much white in the kitchen and having it look stark and sterile. But your backsplash and counters look so good together. They look warm and clean-lined together.

I'm getting Caesarstone London Grey and really excited to see it installed. I have young kids and I'm sloppy in the kitchen so I know my heart would soon be broken if I went with marble. I've put my London Grey sample through the stain and scratch tests and it has passed all with flying colours. I was mighty impressed! Not even turmeric nor repeated scraping with a cast iron pan left any marks or stains.

DH also hates marble but actually likes the London Grey so that was another bonus. :)

I do acknowledge that LG does not look much like real marble... but I like it for what it is - a quartz with interesting/pleasing veining in it, that happens to resemble marble.

If it etched, then it's marble.

If you love the look of marble but not the problems what about Neolith

It's said to be indestructible. You can even put hot pots down on it.

@magpier sorry for the late reply, I didn't get a chance to take a picture til today. Here's a pic of my cabinet, backsplash and counter in one photo.

Edited: Happy 4th everyone!!

Love it! That marble is beautiful with everything. Thanks yeh yeh.

A vote for Mont Rhapsody. We have it and I've had several people admonish me for putting in marble with two little kids. They cant believe it's Quartz! Every time I drip something on the counters am SO thankful my architect talked me out of marble. Having nearly indestructible quartz lowers my daily kitchen stress significantly. And I LOVE the look of real marble. Honestly if you choose the right look a like you will forget about the difference.

Cpartist...I have never heard of Neolith. It is beautiful. Is it a man made product?

Oh boy, I just made a big correction to my previous post. We have MONT RHAPSODY, not Minuet, in our kitchen. My very picky architect did not want me to go with a marble look-a-like, he said they all looked fake and wanted me to go with a more solid color. However, after seeing it installed he was very impressed, and said he would be recommending the Mont Rhapsody to other clients who love the marble look.

Will post pics later today.

yeh-yeh and amy, who are the manufacturers of your solid white and gray quartz? Are they polished or honed?

I looked at some of the marble look-a-likes but because my cabinets are wood, some seemed too stark a contrast. I picked this quartz because it had some warmer tones to work with my wood cabinets.

My pics -work in progress: · More Info

My pics -work in progress: · More Info

Abby F, did you ever look at Mont Tranquility? I am looking for a quartz that looks like marble and will stand the test of time with 2 little kids as well. Was originally going to go with Polarstone Olympia but am hesitant because a few people have commented that it scratches easily!? I'm so torn because the Polarstone looks AMAZINGLY like marble but I don't want to spend all this money for it to scratch and stain in a year. I know you have the Mont Rhapsody and it seems like you would recommend that product. Just wondering if you ever compared Rhapsody to the Tranquility?

Ms K Can you post some pics of your London Grey?

yeh_yeh How's your CS pure white holding up? I read on another post that the white quartz sometimes has staining issues. Any problems so far?

@Abby F can you share a picture of your Rhapsody countertops?

I am looking at Mont Rhapsody for my countertops. Would love to see some photos. For those that have it, would you describe The base color as white, ivory, or light gray? We are doing a white subway tile backsplash and want to make sure it’s going to look OK

I an also interested in Mont Rhapsody and would live to see any photos if it installed.

"We are doing a white subway tile backsplash and want to make sure it’s going to look OK"

Pick items with least selection to most and your choices are always expanding.