If you post pics of all choices it will help us help us.

Quartz and marble are two different things. The style of your kitchen and cabinetry dictate the style of your kitchen. Not the choice of either of the quartz, or the marble.You are talking about two different materials, with natural vs man made properties, care, maintenance etc. First decide which of those you want, based on your expectations for those issues.

Photos?

Jan Moyer, the cabinetry is shaker style, and off white, close to White Dove or Dover White..it changes during the day. I love that classic style, clean, elegant, high end look. :) We would've gone w/ marble, but were scared out of it, and our practical side took over.

You must sample with your cabinetry, in your home, in your light. There are a million marble mimics in quartz. You must also very carefully consider SEAMS. A corner perimeter turn, will be A TOTAL MISMATCH seam, guaranteed , unless placed at the sink, (or the turn can be accommodated with no seam.) with any boldly veined top such as Brittanica. If you don't believe that, talk to your fabricator with layout in hand , and be ON SITE for a laser template and verify. A tighter less obvious vein/ pattern would be better if that is an issue. Not every fabricator will seam at the sink, despite a perfectly safe option. Dilemmas on this site abound with those who did not ask, did not consider, and dealt after with vast disappointment . .......... and after the money is spent.

Jan Moyer, I totally agree about the seams! I've made sure ahead of time that there will be no seams, thanks to the jumbo slabs, and I have no corner turns. :) That's another reason I was afraid to go w/ the marble because I would've had one next to my cooktop on the perimeter and that would really bug me. One thing about Torquay is that it reads solid white unless you are next to it and the veining in Brittannica shows up more when you're not up next to it. I like both..just don't know which would be easier to live with and decorate around. We have Torquay in the master bath and like it. It's calming. Just thought maybe we should make more of a statement in the kitchen. We also have a large island and I like the linear movement on an island. I have samples everywhere in my kitchen. :) Torquay's white is probably a better match, and Brittannica is a little brighter white, but they both have taupe veining, and both would work. Just don't want the cabinets to look too yellow next to it. With all the different bulbs in our kitchen, it's throwing me off. We have white led under cabinets, yellow puck lights in uppers (need them changed out) and warm candelabra bulbs in pendants, and whites in can lights. We have warm lights everywhere else in the house. We were told not to use warm lights in the kitchen?

Lighting is preference. It's just an impossible question to answer without seeing onsite, Windows vary, exposures vary. Take a DOOR to a fabricator and look at it next to a full slab of either. It's just a personal preference, and it can't really be answered online, it's to be in a vacuum.. : ) Neither question can be. Ya' gotta BE there.

It's hard Jan Moyer, because where the slabs are is all fluorescent lighting and it throws you off. :)

I agonized over the quartz vs marble debate for months. Everyone remodeling in my area is going with quartz and I was totally sold on its price and durability. After seeing my friends’ beautifully remodeled homes, I realized quartz works great in contemporary and modern and transitional spaces, but just wasn’t quite right for my more traditional home.

We wound up going with Mont Blanc quartzite and it is the show piece of my kitchen. Not everyone would feel this way, but for me it is the natural variations and imperfections that make it interesting and beautiful to look at.

By the way, with three kids my counters are wearing very well! Good luck finding something you love!!!

I hear you as to florescent lighting. Take a large sample or remnant from the fabricator, and a door or drawer face and go outdoors and out of the kitchen . The natural light IS the real light and the real color. Most fabricators will save a decent size sink cut out, from almost any job, if you ask, even offer to PAY for it It's cheaper than a result you dislike. Just say you're struggling : ) But a door and a decent sized sample will help quite a bit.

Thank you Jan Moyer! You're always so helpful! :)

Diana Bier Interiors, LLC, Funny you should say that! I said that very same thing about it looking very fake, and that I'd get tired of it quickly. Too bold for me. We definitely are not going w/ that one. Thank you Diana, wish I could've gone w/ Danby, but it wasn't practical for us. Thank you for all your advice. :)

You're welcome, RHM. Carrara marble is beautiful and may be less costly than quartz.

Diana Bier, it isn't about the cost..we were willing to pay for it, but my husband was so afraid he'd ruin it and I was afraid I'd be a "helicopter mom" wife over him! All the Carrara marble we've seen was way too gray for our cabinets/splash. Our cabinets are close to Dover White/White Dove. I fell in love w/ one slab of Imperial Danby, but we couldn't find any more with the same tones and veining as that one, and our builder is pressing us to get the project going so we ran out of time.

I have cambria quartz, and I will say it is bulletproof, zero problems. I have granite in the vanity, no problem there, but it doesn't take the use the kitchen countertop gets. I love the cambria product.

I don’t mean to belabor the point, but look at quartzites. They are absolutely stunning! I know quartz is touted as the most bulletproof material, but if you are having a hard time picking one it might be because quartz isn’t right for you.

Diana Bier - It seems like you prefer marble over quartz. It does seem the quartz looks FAKE to me like it's trying to be something it isn't. I have pretty much decided I will go with marble. Unlike most people I am not going with Carrera as it is too grey for me, but want something soft with simple grey/tanish veining. I have heard that Vermony Danby is harder or wears better. ANy suggestions would be so helpful. I have a tradtional home and want a timeless, classic white kitchen. I'm also thinking of doing a thick walnut on my island to prevent staining where we eat sometimes and prep. Is that out of style? Kids are gone now but grandchildren could be in the future? Suggestions? Thanks.

I'm not Diana, but :

All marble means the same thing. Danby is lovely as long as you can live with the properties that are marble. An etch, a stain .........potentially. If you use the kitchen to cook a lot, maybe that word is likely. Perhaps it is VERY likely. A walnut topped island is never going to go "out of style", it's as classic and timeless as the white kitchen. You may see less of it today as people show off marbles ( faux or the real thing ), on larger unbroken surfaces. You do a kitchen for YOU. Your budget, your style, your habits, and accepting of all the bonuses and flaws with any given selection, therein. That is the deal on kitchens. There are no "perfect" surfaces, any more than there are perfect people: )

I have had Vermont Danby, the Olympian White variety, for over 4 years. If you go with any marble, you need to understand its properties before you purchase it, so you won't be surprised.

It is indeed more dense than other marbles, and does not stain, meaning that it does not discolor from coffee, tea, wine, berries, etc. I have no discolorations on the marble, BUT I do have lots of etching. It is a calcium-based stone, and as such will etch from anything acidic--wine, vinegar, pickles, citrus, tomatoes, even hard water. There's no way to prevent it, as etching is a wearing away of the stone due to a chemical reaction of the stone with the acid. There's also no way to get rid of the etches unless you have the stone re-honed or re-polished. Also, you can only see the etches when the light hits the stone in a certain way. And honed marble shows the etches less than polished.

It is also relatively soft, as stones go, and chips easily. The first chip I got was from dropping a glass from the upper cabinet, which not only broke the glass, but the glass left small white chips on the surface of the marble. Of course I panicked and called the installer who came and filled them in and smoothed the surface. After that I have lots more chips, especially around the sink and on the edges from banging pots, bottles, etc., while working in the kitchen. I haven't called them back to fix them, as I just learned to live with it.

So if you think you can live with a counter top surface that isn't going to look as good as the day it was installed, and has reminders of all the entertaining and cooking you do in the kitchen, then you probably will do all right with marble. If not, then you might want to go with something more durable. BUT realize that all of these surfaces are in a work room, and will show wear and tear sooner or later.

Good luck!

Thank you for this report on your marble. We are remodeling our kitchen in January and using White Fantasy Dolomite marble, leathered. We cook for lots of family and friends and neither of us are perfectionists. We went back and forth with marble or quartz or quartzite. In the end, we loved the organic nature of the marble and was a bit less expensive than quartzite. We lived with a large sample of Danby for 6 months, seeing how we dealt with the nature of marble. This was a good test for us. We did get a chip in it on the edge of the piece. While I was prepared for staining (we had none) and etching. I forgot about the chipping!!! Thanks for the reminder. I am certain my first chip will be upsetting and then I will forget about it.

Jan Moyer and Diana Bier - thank you for all your input. Even though my kitchen is in the very beginning planning phase, I have decided I am just going to go with the marble. I live in CT and have access to the Vermont Danby and since I have heard it is more dense I will go with that as long as I can get a few slabs I am happy with. I'm not as concerned about the cost, as I am one who would rather pay the money than get something I am not happy with. I am pretty sure that I won't like quartz (especially the marble look a likes) because to me they look fake and the solids remind me of the Corian I have had for years. I have never been a granite fan (hence my decision to have Corian 20+ years ago so that is out. I have had marble in all my bathrooms for years and the etching doesn't really bother me. I did get a rust stain on the marble in the kids bathroom as one of the metal type toothbrush holders had a spot on it. I just cover it with a soap dispenser now. Not much I can do about it. In the end, I have decided I'd rather have something I LOVE and have it be imperfect, than have something perfect that I don't love.

Very good thinking--at least you are aware of the issues before you take the plunge!