Ugh! I typed a whole story and just lost it! I will try again... I love marble too and the light quartize but opted for LG Minuet Quartz because of its ease of maintenance. I have 2 kids and a messy DH. We push and pull and drag stuff all over the counters. We don't clean up spills in a timely fashion. I tried but couldn't find a real quartize and now after a few weeks in my new kitchen I am glad I have a low maintenance counter. I can even understand why people use laminate. It's durable and you don't have to think about it. i have to use hot plates but I have always had too so that's no big deal to me. I haven't had my Quartz long but so far it hasn't stained.

I am a fabricator. As stated previously sealer does not make the stone stain-proof; it only slows the adsorbtion rate so a staining agent left in contact with the stone for several hours can still stain. That said; the good news is most stains can usually be removed with one or a couple of applications of a poultice wetted with the correct solvent. There are also various stain removers that your fabricator will know about. I once had a job where a rookie plumbers helper stuffed every faucet hole for 7 different sinks (2 kitchen, five vanity) with oil based plumbers putty and stained every top. It took a couple of visits but we were able to completely remove all the darkened area caused by the oil stains. For oil stains I have had the most success with a wet paste made of diatamaceous earth and acetone. put the paste on the stain and cover it with plastic wrap taped on 3 sides. after the paste has dried out remove it and reapply if the stain is still there. it helps to warm up the stone with a blow dryer immediately before you apply the paste. Good luck.

I’m having white quartz , not quartzite, installed in my kitchen, though I do love soapstone and marble. My engineer sister told me to avoid the extra work, which is fine. I have other plans for marble. My home is a 1953 ranch one level house with walk out basement. I hated the mantel in the living room. Too much mill work and this awful granite the previous owners picked. I’m having the flooring in my living room, former dining room, kitchen and addition replaced and the kitchen , dining room, pantry and addition remodeled and my garage turned into an ADU - so major work. The fireplace was always an afterthought since the living room wasn’t used often (too dark & crowded with furniture). With the removal of the flooring, I saw an opportunity to reflect the mid-century look of the fireplace and get rid of the millwork and granite. Instead, I’ll be using Empress Green marble. I wanted Spider green marble from India, but simply couldn’t find it. Turns out it is very popular in commercial business foyers. Empress Green is a little darker but just as marbleized. The slab I found was great. I even have a fancy gold mirror I’ll be able to hang above the fireplace. No food or drink will be allowed on the mantel and I don’t want it junked up. Since I added a window in the old dining room, and the addition is now the dining room, with the 8 foot ceiling now segwaying into the additions vaulted ceiling, more light will be coming in. Even with the rooms being unfinished, the space is brighter.

You're an odd duck Joe 😅 But I have to say I do agree with the sentiment of a lack of standards within the industry has soiled it. Many overpromised and underdelivered jobs which is unfortunate... but I'd argue this is due to a large portion of the industry lacking general required skills & knowledge. With wholesalers willing to sell to anyone with a wet saw, many "fabricators" seek a quick buck leaving the client in a lurch. I work in the wholesale business while previously on the front line for a fabricator. I find it interesting that some of my fabricators rarely if ever bring these problems my way, and yet others are putting one fire out after another before saying they won't work with certain materials. This leads me to the conclusion that knowing what you're doing might have something to do with it. However as mentioned this is a wholesaler issue as well as many stones are passed off as something they are not. Calling a dolomite a granite, or a marble a quartzite for example. While quartzites like Taj Mahal or Cristalo are a much stronger, less porous materials, but many of the stones in this thread like Do Brasil, Macubas, Aria, etc.. I have sold over a hundred times easily (annual wholesale sales $8,000,000-$10,000,000 which also includes quartz, granite, marble, dolomite, limestone, onyx, porcelain, etc...). In fact I've recently had customers come back after 4 years because they were building a new home only to put Aria in again because they loved their last counters so much. That said I have seen these issues crop up many times, and in quite a few cases I've had to link up a quality fabricator to rescue a sus fabricators job. I always say "I have 40 clients, but I don't have 40 I'd let into my house". I'm sure the same goes for your business 😉 Now just to respond to a couple of your points "Some of these quartzites have had your recommended procedures followed to the letter and have still failed miserably." - How do you know? You hovering over them? You know the disiccants that you find packaged in products occasionally? Well the same stuff occurs naturally in some of these stones. These stones will suck up moisture, oil, and anything else; you're not sealing your way out of them. It's the nature of the beast; they are unsuitable for use as countertops. - You know everything on earth has a saturation point. Science! But many stones have a higher cement content that binds the quartzite leading to these more porous qualities. However many stones are marketed as "soft quartzites" which is a misnomer, and some stones that are not quartzite at all which is on the entity that sold the material to them. What is more unsuitable is the industry's lack of self-policing. Every time there's an unhappy customer, the natural stone industry suffers. I hate what these irresponsible hacks, importers, trade associations, and fabricators are doing to my industry. - Agreed When I click on your link I get this: "This content isn't available right now. When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted." I'll be happy to debate this with you and your fellow stoners on your Facethingie page. Or bring it over to All Slab Fabricators, unlike the SFA, where everyone is welcome. - I know for someone of your age the internet can be difficult; I don't mind showing you how to do it: https://gprivate.com/69fzy once you're there just ask to join. It's hardly exclusive with 18k+ members, 5K more than your group 😘 I sense a bias Joe, certainly it could be argued that I have one as well, but my goal when selling product is not to be an evangelist for any one product. You on the other hand wrote this: We Corian fabricators were telling consumers over a decade ago about the problems inherent in natural stone. But no, like a wayward daughter in love with the bad boy biker at the bar, you wanted hard and shiny and turned deaf ears to our pleas. We told you Corian never, ever, bled at built up edges. We told you it was virtually stainproof and repairable. No. You were warned repeatedly. Now own up. It's all we can do to hold our "I-told-you-sos" inside. We don't wanna hear it. I provide the pro's and con's for a product and let the customer decide. I always say no news is good news. Unfortunately; as you pointed out many in my business do not approach it with the same tact.