It's rust, and it's a defect, but I doubt it's covered by Cambria's warranty. I'd drill and fill it and forget about it. You'll always be able to find it, but the home inspector for the people who buy your house some day won't.

I am a fabricator. I agree with Joe. A simple repair that will be barely noticeable if done correctly … and Cambria is unlikely to consider it a defect but typically your fabricator would fix it at no cost unless it was fabricated at one of Cambria's factory owned shops.

It seems to me, that a metal piece left behind to rust in a countertop is the equivalent of a dead fly you find in in your Coq au vin. Neither is an expected part of the product one paid for.

How is this not a manufacturing defect ? Metal is not a listed ingredient of quartz countertops. Its inclusion is therefore a defect. Sure, if it had been a small piece of stainless steel, it probably wouldn't ever have been noticed. Alas, it wasn't stainless and therefore it rusted and is now a noticeable stain.

Still it looks tiny and should be able to be repaired. I'd contact both the fabricator and Cambria directly to see what they have to say. Before I'd agree to a repair though, I'd want to see a sample of their repair work. I've learned that repairs can actually worsen the look of the end product.

Good luck to you. I hope you get this solved to your satisfaction.

Hello, we would be happy to send out a technician to review your countertop. Please give our Cambria Customer Care team a call at 866-226-2742 to set up an appointment. Thank you.

Hello, finish work is common for any stone surface and our technicians are very skilled at this type of procedure. We would like set up a time for our technician to perform finish work on one or two of the spots so that you can see what this will look like. To set up this appointment please contact 866-226-2742, thank you.

Our Senior Services Manager would like to discuss this with you directly. Please contact our customer care team and request to speak with Chris Donaldson directly. Thank you, we look forward to finding a solution.

Great to see Cambria involved in trying to resolve the problem for the OP.

Taking a look at the new photos, I wonder if it is just some pooling of one of the colors used in the mix. That batch of color had clumps or blobs that did not "dissolve" or get mixed in.

We just had Cambria Summerhill installed and are starting to notice the same orange rust stains in ours as well. Were you able to get yours repaired or replaced?

Resin pooling and off color inclusions are specifically EXCLUDED from the warranty. It is not a functional defect.

I understand that there can be some off color inclusions, but not orange spots that look like rust.

This is an easy fix. Drill and fill. You'll never find the spots and they. won't come back, although some new ones may appear.

I appreciate the info. That’s my fear is that new ones will continue to appear. It is frustrating given the amount we paid. We chose Cambria because we were told it was a better product than others we were considering.

I had a tiny, brilliant spot of turquoise in a slab of Shirebrook once. And if you know that pattern then you know there surely isn’t turquoise in it. Also had awful resin pools, one as big as my palm, but that’s another story. Anyhoo, I colored the turquoise with a black sharpie. Never saw it again. I continue to use Cambria in projects and overall like it. I’m just waaay more careful and go over slabs with a magnifying glass before approving them.

Try granite next time.

"Try granite next time." Right.

Our CAMBRIA Quartz Countertops are now 10 years old and the section in front of the window is fading (turning whitish). BEWARE!!!

UPDATE: CAMBRIA does NOT honor their Warranty if it is UV (that is Light) damage.

Hello BRIAN HEIMBACH, thank you for reconnecting with us. Though neither our Limited Lifetime Warranty (from 2009 when installed) nor our transferable Full Lifetime Warranty cover damage, our Regional Product Representative will be reaching out to you shortly to answer any questions about the terms. We look forward to working together to find a solution.

Hi We still do not have a resolution with Cambria. They were only offering to try and fix the orange spots and not replace the countertops. We paid a lot of for the countertops because we thought Cambria was a very good company with a good warranty but we were wrong. No resolution on brand new countertops. Very disappointing.

Picky.

It’s not just cosmetic issues. It has rusted metal within the quartz. And no I’m not picky. i don’t like to receive a defective product when I pay full price for an item.

"You could always have gotten laminate if you wanted something printed and predictable on pattern and color."

Years ago in my store fixture manufacturing days, we had a mosquito perfectly squished into a sheet of white plastic laminate. He was flush; no peeling him off. Shoulda kept that piece.

JuneKnow, I love my Silestone! Have never noticed any defects except right about the dishwasher and I know that is from loading and unloading the dishwasher. But the color of the chip is the same at the top! Would definitely buy Silestone again!

I had summerhill installed in May 2020. I though it was two small rust spots and couldn’t figure out how this happened. Now my daughter just had summerhill installed and she had the exact same thing happened to her. While, I love the design this should have never happened for a high end quartz countertop. After all the money we both paid, I would hope something can be done.

Hello HU-827860755, we would be happy to review the surfaces. Please give our Cambria customer care team a call at 866-226-2742 to get started. Thank you.

yes we have this same issue and Cambria acted like they never heard of these orange rust spots. Don't buy Cambria!

Hi Mike Dubsky, our Senior Services Manager would like to learn more about your experience. Please give us a call at 866-226-2742 and request to speak with Chris Donaldson. Thank you.

Hi Mike. I still do not have a resolution with Cambria. I still have the rusted metal spots throughout my quartz. I regret my purchase and I should have went wIth another manufacturer. Cambria’s warranty and customer service are horrible!!!

They are not rusted metal spots. They are normal industry standard acceptable resin pools. They would have grown 3x the initial size by now, and show pitting everywhere. Rust doesn’t stop rusting, or expanding.

It is metal contamination that is oxidizing. Resin pools aren't orange; rust is.

My Cambria is being installed right now and this huge spot is immediately visible. Installer say it's part of the material - um, okay, but it's a huge cosmetic defect. I think it's too big to ignore - it looks like a dirty spot on the counter I forgot to wipe off. How can this be fixed?

Oh, dear. From a distance, seems it will look like a dead bug. Are there any similar spots? What is the pattern and how big is that spot? As big as a dime? Or . … ?

sfp:

Cambria has very specific written criteria as to what is and isn't acceptable contamination, however, they bend their own rules in their customer's favor more often than not. They'll probably send a technician to fix this for free, but I would advise you to live with it for a bit please. I had a potential replacement sink customer tell me "Absolutely not!" when I offered to drill and fill her bright red spot out of her white estone:

You may learn to like it. I could have made the above disappear, however, you're always going to be able to find your repair if you look for it. Your guests and the home inspector for the buyer of your house someday won't though.

As to how it will be fixed, it will be drilled out and filled with color matching methacrylate. It'll have to be a two-tone to be as inconspicuous as possible. The hole is overfilled, scraped to flush, and polished to get the gloss to match.

@MizLizzie omg, now I'll forever remember it as the "dead bug" countertop. :/

Here it is compared to the size of a dime. There are other much smaller blotches that can be overlooked as part of the pattern, but this one stands out like a sore thumb. It's in a highly visible area - working service of the kitchen countertop, not around the edge, corner, etc..

@Joseph Corlett, LLC Thank you for explaining. Haven't heard from Cambria reps yet, but something so big really should be fixed.

Not as big as I’d feared. Joe is right. That is an easy fix and will look just fine if Cambria will send someone qualified to drill it. Sorry this happened.

Spoke with Cambria and they're sending someone out in 2 weeks. Glad it's an easy fix as I've heard that quartz is hard to fix compared with granite.