Thank you. I had SUCH a difficult time deciding on counters. Everytime I see a finished kitchen with one of the counters I was considering, I feel like I wish I would've chosen it instead. I think it's because the calacatta quartzite was not my first choice....I REALLY wanted Superwhite but couldn't risk the etching issues. I know that I would be unhappy with etched counters and couldn't commit to the extra care they would require, especially considering my very messy sons and husband! I have no etches or stains and stuff sits on the counter without getting immediately wiped up on a regular basis...tomato sauce, mustard, red wine, etc. On occasion I have noticed that it has absorbed water near the sink (resulting in VERY subtle darker blotches that none else would ever notice) but after a few days it seems to evaporate. I just resealed it so hopefully that will solve that problem. I do love them though and they are definitely one of the things in the kitchen that gets the most compliments.

Acrylic panels are the best because they dissipate the light evenly without shadows which is important for a standard counter depth. I used LED perimeter because it was a shallow shelf but can still cast a shadow. No one seems to notice but me because they rave about the beauty of the result.

Has anyone seen Mont Blanc quartzite used in a kitchen? I saw some slabs and they were quite lovely, but the veins were a bit more linear than I would like. (Yes, I am extremely fussy!) Taj Mahal quartzite varies immensely in tome and colour. It is difficult to find a very light one with delicate markings The thing that concern's me about marble in a kitchen vs in a bathroom, is that unless some people have strange habits, acidic liquids such as lemon, vinegar, tomato sauce, pickles or red wine usually don't end up on bathroom counter tops, but any of those will etch marble very quickly.

This thread has been very informative for me as we are just starting a kitchen reno, so thank you to all contributors. We plan to do a quartz backsplash, including behind a 30" wide residential gas cooktop (not a range or stove). Please bear with me as I continue to explain! I looked at the specs of the cooktop I was planning to order. Based on those specs and assumption the new quartz countertop depth is 25.5" (I know assumptions are risky, but since 25.5" is what we have now and considered standard, I'm going with that for this example), my calculations are: 25.5" (countertop depth) - 21.25" (cooktop depth) - 3" (min distance from rear wall) - 1.875" (min distance from counter front) = -0.625" Which means I'm 5/8" short, and this isn't taking into account the thickness of the quartz backsplash, which I believe should not be included in the 3" from rear wall guideline from the cooktop manufacturer. Sorry if I'm hurting anyone's brain with math today! Just looking for some validation my logic is correct in how I should be calculating. And also curious if my belief the distance from the rear of the cooktop to the front of the quartz backsplash (not wall) should be 3." I plan to look for a different cooktop, hopefully one that is closer to 20" deep and add the backguard just to be safe (thanks to @Elizabeth Alvarez Sell for sharing her backguard photo)!