Kaysd, your counters are gorgeous. Lcskaisgir, what I meant by dull is that they seemed darker than yours or kaysd's slabs. I noticed that in the same cut as kaysd's they appeared lighter, but I wanted the cross cut which is more of a swirl rather than straight lines. The color of yours is what I am looking for and haven't found them. I went back to the same place a second time and they seemed to have more light coming in and they looked a bit lighter. I have bad lighting and am worried they will appear flat (no life to them). I have the same problem when I pick glass tile, they are all sparkly in the store and no life when I bring them home. I have to pick something soon so I'm in a panic state because I thought I could just do quartz if I can't find quartzite but even with that I haven't found anything that I love.

I have two carved (solid) white marble fireplaces. One is completely unsealed and the other has a sealer that was done by the installer. I'm not sure what kind. The sealed one has gotten stained on the hearth, which is not a raised one. The stains look like pitch or tar-brownish. I suppose a marble restorer could do something to mitigate them, but they would reappear with future fires. The marks are concealed by the fire screen, which I keep in place to prevent flying sparks. They don't really bother me because we actually use the fireplaces for heat in the winter and I think they look better when actually used. However, I'm not sure whether the sealer makes the staining more or less likely. The unsealed marble fireplace has no stains. We also have a raw stone fireplace. It has more stains than either of the smooth marble ones. In my old house, I had three gas marble tile fireplaces. I converted the fireplaces to gas logs specifically because I was worried that the grout lines would look bad if ashes ever got into them. So, I never made real wood fires with a marble tile fireplace. If you are meticulous about building your fires far back into the fireplace, and about cleaning out ashes, you'll probably be okay. However, if guests or house cleaners or the otherwise uninitiated smear ashes, it would be difficult to get the grout to look like new.

I googled Mrs Limestone's kitchen and it did not appeal to me. Perhaps if there were color in the backsplash, such as in gsciencechick's kitchen, it would work better. I could even see it with colored cabs. It seems more like a progress pic and not a finished look IMHO. The off white cabs and trim look a little dingy next to her walls. I'd go further off white if I were putting it next to a white so that it looks 2 tone and not like 2 batches of paint.

I personally don't have a Quartzite vendor at my business but I do know a few fabricators that have worked with it and they tell me that its relatively similar to granite and marble as far as hardness and durability. However, like granite and marble it will need to be sealed on a regular basis because it is a natural stone it has porous surface so it is more prone to staining with things like coffee, wine, citrus and dyes. The other "downfall" to it being a natural rock is if you have a large area seams might be more noticeable. For example if you have a L shaped kitchen the corner might have a vein in one side but not on the other where as Quartz has the option to "book end" the corners so the vein flows from one piece to the other. There are hundreds of Quartz manufactures so if you dont like the ones you have seen check another brand. The ones I have found to look less "faux" have been Cambria and LG Vitera. But I only have a very small display floor so I have 6 different manufactures, so my opinion is based off of those 6.