Have you looked at Taj Mahal? Its pretty tough and you can get shiny or leathered.

I think that quartzite is not sealed and is a natural stone. Quartz is manufactured and is sealed. I believe that is the difference, so you might reconsider and look for quartz. I have it in my kitchen and love it!

It seems as if most quartzites from what I am reading are porous.

NO, quartzite is NOT porous. Marble, mislabeled as quartzite is porous. Reread Karin_MT's thread about quartzite.

I think that quartzite is not sealed and is a natural stone. Quartz is manufactured and is sealed. I believe that is the difference,

No that's not the difference. One is natural and one is manmade.

so you might reconsider and look for quartz. I have it in my kitchen and love it!

Quartz while beautiful in its own way is nothing like a natural stone. Quartz does not have the depth that natural stone has.

NE, my counters are quartzite and nothing stained it. And nothing etched it either.

I believe my comment was correct, as I said one was natural and one manufactured which means man-made. The poster asked for one's experience with these products, not a criticism of others' comments made in earnest.

http://usenaturalstone.org/definitive-guide-quartzite/

I was curious on people's experience with quartzite but thank you anyway espc I appreciate your effort to help.

CP Im curious exactly which quartzites are true quartzites?

Taj seems to be, How about the diffrerent macubus quartzites? I guess I have to find the exact post from Karin and reread it again. I didn't think she actually named any that were the harder quartzites. I plan on speaking to my fabricator tomorrow if I can get a hold of him.

I am really bummed because i loved that slab of Mont Blanc. :(

Suzy Q my laundry tile is this which is a soft grey (pic 1). The tan color in taj conflicts with the grey. The solid grey is what will frame the tile with a design. I am hoping to find something that will compliment it. My cabinet in my master is going to be walnut with this tile in the shower (pic 2).

So I have to find something that matches everything. I am most likely going slab shopping again tomorrow. Im getting tired of doing it!

My Taj doesn't have much tan at all; mostly gray look overall. The other hard one is Sea Pearl.

Thanks Suzy, I have read up and do know the difference between quartz, quartzite and marble. I think this is my pet peeve, stone yard calling marble quartzites or granite when they are clearly marble.

I have to look up Karin's posts again. I was hoping some others would come on and post their experiences with their quartzite countertops.

Here is a picture of sea pearl.

Mid Century Modern Sea Pearl Master Bath · More Info

Got a real good explanation of the differences when I visited a local cabinet/countertop shop. The woman there gave me very good advice, had samples of quartz and also had two brands including Cambria. It was very helpful to talk with a local merchant who had a good reputation for their work and answered your questions. Maybe you can seek out a shop in your area and stop in with your questions. Good luck with your project!

My taj mahal is in the kitchen. Its leathered. It doesn't stain, but failure to wipe dry has left etch marks by the faucets. I'm assuming it would be worse if the stone was polished. The wabi sabi doesn't bother me but it would drive some people crazy. If you can't handle it don't get quartzite or marble or wipe after every use and train your husband to do the same.

I saw these in the stone yard but both had more tan. I think I need to go to the other two stone yard and have a look at their slabs and see if I can find some with more grey color in them. I do like them! I found a small piece of crystal ice quartzite at the tile shop and really liked that but cannot find it.

Here is a slab I copied from MSI:

But again, is it really quartzite?

Thank you for all your help! If you think of anything else let me know!

There is no perfect. It does not exist.

Skip the angst of weighing the infinitesimal and go straight to picking the good. You may have stains, etches, chips, fissures, cracks, on any natural stone. Man made isn’t any different. It can stain, chip, crack, become heat damaged, and be a pain to clean if matte.

Pick your poision. Or don’t pick stone. Do stainless, or wood, or copper, or laminate, or Trespa, or Corian, or soapstone, or Paperstone, or epoxy, or zinc, or linoleum, or concrete, or decopauged vacation souvenirs under a bar top coating. There are lots of choices if you find stone to cause too much anxiety.

"There is no perfect. It does not exist." True. But you need to define perfect. and where perfect needs to be located . There are few lemons in a master bath. As far as that master bath is concerned? I would ditch the pebble tile /framed in the shower.. Fast fading to FAD status.

It's hard to figure out, what you are trying to put where, and if two rooms........or including a kitchen with lemons......three.

Post EACH room, and the selections for each grouped together. and labeled.

Jan that is the shower floor you are calling pebbles. What do you suggest for the shower floor? The blue will be in a herringbone on the back wall of the shower. I have not ordered any of my tile yet. My master baedroom will be painted BM Silver grey.

The slab will go in the masterbath, guest bath and laundry room. I was wondering if the slab was sealed if it would be ok for those rooms. In other words will sealing the slab protect it from water being soaked up b the slab? It does scratch glass so is hard but it is obviously porous.

Water made dark stains but are gone this morning and the lemon stain is not but barely visible. Will sealing help with the water? These are the things I need to know. Again, I have read Karin's threads and posta and am also reading more posts on quarzites and people's experiences with different ones.

I think one needs to know oneself where these products are concerned. I see many people on GW who want nothing less than perfection; nothing on their countertops in the kitchen, a surface that will never mar/stain/etch/chip, and a kitchen or bath that will look exactly the same 10 years from now. If that's what you want Corian is for you!

I love my Corian in my kitchen - I would not have anything else if someone gave it to me!. But in my bath (the only bath in the house with a vanity), there is marble. It was that way when I bought the house 35 years ago. It was honed marble and it had been stained by something orange. I'm thinking perhaps hair dye - who knows. The first 2-3 years we lived here, I tried all sorts of things to remove that stain, and then I just learned to accept it. It's not perfect, I'm not perfect. Who cares! It does not bother me at all and I barely notice it anymore. But a perfectionist who looks at my house someday when it is sold, will have a heart attack and declare it MUST go at once!

My DD has Glacier White Corian in all 3 of her bathrooms. She has a very messy husband (they do NOT share a bath, he's so messy!), and she shares the other 2nd flr bath with her two boys. They did not exist when they bought this house 20 years ago, and are now 16 and 19. Believe me, they are ALL BOY and are not careful with anything in the bathroom or kitchen. She has them well trained in other rooms, but not these two. Those white Corian countertops in the bathrooms look like they are brand new. They were NOT new when the moved in 20 years ago.

My kitchen place (also does baths) says they use a ton of Corian Rain Cloud in bathrooms these days. The marble look without the cost of quartz or the fragility of marble. Give it a look!

My taj mahal is in the kitchen. Its leathered. It doesn't stain, but failure to wipe dry has left etch marks by the faucets. I'm assuming it would be worse if the stone was polished. The wabi sabi doesn't bother me but it would drive some people crazy. If you can't handle it don't get quartzite or marble or wipe after every use and train your husband to do the same.

Taj Mahal shouldn't etch at all. See this article by Karin

https://usenaturalstone.org/properties-of-quartzite/?utm_source=related-articles/

Shouldn't but it does anyway. Its def Taj Mahal quartzite. City water.

I have white macaubus and haven't had any staining or etching. But I read a thread on here where someone was having a big problem with staining right near the stove. I'm not sure what the cause was but some people were thinking maybe it was absorbing oils from an unsealed edge. It was quite discolored and the person was very unhappy with it. Ours is just on the island and not near stove, so no issues. I would htink it would hold up okay in a bathroom. If you want to swirly look rather than the linear look, there is a cross-cut version of White Macaubus called Calacatta Quartzite.

I have Victoria Falls quartzite. It's only been a few months since installation, but so far no issues whatsoever.

True quartzite can indeed be porous I believe CP is incorrect there. Sealing it helps that though

Yes you're correct in that quartzite can indeed be porous. However it will not etch. Porous means it will absorb water and sealing will help with that. Etching means that even with sealing, it will eventually get marks on it like marble. That's different than being porous and my bad for misquoting the two.

My sister thought she had gotten Crystal Ice Quartzite. Turned out to be a marble with all the problems marble has. Because she was mislead, she now is turned off by anything labeled quartzite.

One room at a time:

First, the bath. Where is the layout? You will probably have far more ( surface) tile in a shower and on a master bath floor, than on ANY vanity top you select.. The pebble shower floor seems very forced with the blue tile on shower walls. It also takes incredible tile skill, to make look good. Most need to be sealed and sealed before the install. What is the other flooring in this bath, and the vanity is walnut? What style on that vanity? By that I mean..it's shaker door/drawer, it's raised panel, , it's a slab clean front? In short? What is the overall feel you want in this bath ?

Not by accident, that's the pecking order in a bath as well.

Layout, most visible /greatest sq foot surfaces first. Then , or in conjunction with stain or paint on vanity, a top that suits all. There can only be so many stars in a show. Wall paint is LAST Well after lighting and fixtures and those finishes.

Post all this if you can, you will get a lot more help that way. Also separately. A counter in one room has nothing to do with that in another space. : ) Laundry separately.

Also:

As to quartzite and etching.......................it DEPENDS. Likely? No. But not impossible.

"To understand why quartzite may etch, it’s important to understand its origins.

Starting its life as sandstone, quartzite forms when sandstone and quartz are together, under tremendous amounts of heat and pressure. This causes the empty grains of sandstone to become filled with quartz—a process that actually makes the quartzite harder than quartz. Quartzite is a very strong and durable material that possesses a high resistance to heat and stains. Since it’s made primarily of silica, quartzite actually has a very high resistance to anything acidic (which is the culprit of etching).

But, in some quartzite slabs, there can be traces of calcium carbonate—a substance that reacts very easily to acid. If these areas come into contact with acids, this can cause localized etching. Mild etching still feels smooth and can be removed with a polishing powder. Deeper etches feel rough and may be cloudy looking. You’ll want to contact a stone restoration professional to address these etches".

I didnt pick out the paint color for the master bath, only the master bedroom.

The floor tile is in the picture at the bottom, light in color.

CP I feel so bad for your sister and completely understand why she feels the way she does.

I put the sample in water, it absorbed it quickly and lemon did etch BUT it also scratched glass easily. The etching left behind was smooth.

Kim yikes on the price! My slab is 84/sq ft.

Jan I am utilizing the slab for the laundry, master and guest bath because I do not want to waste it and you have to buy the slab.

I really liked this slab but may go look for something else at another yard.

I appreciate everyone's help and suggestions and am planning on speaking to my fabricator. I knew there were lots of quartzites out there and some are harder than others and some etch and some stain. Am thankful for people posting to let me know how their quartzites are holding up. I love the fusion quartzites but bet they are expensive. I am kind of bored with granite. The quartzites are so beautiful and have that wow factor.

I've had white macaubus in our master bath for 4 ½ years now with absolutely no problems. It is polished and sealed, and between DH and I there has been toothpaste, mouthwash, contact lens solution, and who knows what else on there. No staining, etching, or water marking. And no chips either (and I'm really clumsy, so I hope I didn't just jinx myself.) We love it.

Oh, and it's also on the threshold to the shower and the top of the pony wall with glass above for the shower.

We have had white macaubus in our entire kitchen for almost two years now. Before it was sealed, it soaked up water like a sponge. (And, before it was sealed, my contractor stained it with oil from his nail gun, and it was a major pain to get the stain out.) After we properly sealed it, no problems.

My Naica quartzite is amazing (which is similar to Taj but with less red/brown tones) It has never been sealed yet it isn't a bit porous... it has only been 6 months, but I am an abusive cook who leaves puddles from time to time. I think there are a bunch of stones in the Taj Mahal family that are pretty indestructible (Naica, Perla Veneta, Victoria Falls). Some are more brown and some are more grey.... you just have to keep looking for the right slab.

Leela4 that is exactly what I am doing with mine in the bathroom. Your white macaubus looks amazing!

dmpsd that makes me feel a lot better. I was wondering if with proper sealing it would be ok. My husband will be calling the fabricator this morning so hoping that is what he tells me. The stone yards all know him well and think highly of him. He did a job at my husbands business and it came out beautifully. Thank you both for easing my mind!

Fabricator says that stone has maintenance with it and is softer so we will be looking for something else. Thank you everyone for your help.

I dont expect perfection but at the same time I do not want to have to worry about water splashing on it either.

Do yourself a favor and consider Corian. It is bullet-proof. I've had it in my kitchen now for 34 years and re-used my countertops when I remodeled my kitchen 3 years ago. I would never have anything else. The basic colors (I prefer Glacier White) are very well-priced.

Don't let anyone tell you it is a "low-end" product. In the UK and Europe, it's considered a very high-end product and is used in architect-designed houses that cost millions. It started being considered "low-end" in the US when it appeared in Big Box stores. Most no longer ever carry it as one must be a certified fabricator to install it, and most fabricators just learn by the seat of their pants and prefer installing granite.

dumped "(And, before it was sealed, my contractor stained it with oil from his nail gun, and it was a major pain to get the stain out.) After we properly sealed it, no problems."

Had a similar problem on my kitchen island, which was labeled quartzite, but believe it's not. Anyway they used plumbers putty around the air switch and the stone soaked it up like a sponge creating what looked like a grease stain. How did they get yours out?

New England Gal, we just had installers put the beautiful Mont Blanc in our kitchen. What a disaster! The supposed ‘quartzite’ has water stains all over from fabrication and porous issues or they left hard water standing on it for it to pool and stain. We stopped the install and sent it back. Our choice now is to pick out another stone from their warehouse which is pretty small selection and we like none! WARNING QUARTZITE: read up on proving its real quartzite or know that it could be labeled quartzite but lower grade or even marble. We are going with granite after reading so many stories with quartzite.

So sorry Tracy you had that happen but thankfully you stopped the install before you were stuck. Ugh. Is the warehouse getting more stock in? Can they order something for you, a stone you like? What a major pain! Let me know how you make out.