My Sea Pearl had bluish tones that turned greenish once in my home. Will they give you a sample? My stoneyard did not so I took a chance. Did you see the chart Karin_MT made up? Maybe you could go by her description of the various levels of quartzite. Will they let you do a water absorption test? The crystalline quartzite is easy to spot. Look at the names on the right, find one in your stoneyard and look for the grains, cross bedding, crystalline structure to see which one comes closest to looking like your stone. You might try either lemon juice or vinegar on a small paper towel in a zipper bag or maybe you could use an extra small empty hand sanitizer bottle. Don't ask...don't tell??? Don't forget to test it in different spots on the stone, not just one spot. Same with the glass test...use different spots. Read this article that Karin wrote about telling white stones apart. https://usenaturalstone.org/telling-white-stones-apart/ https://usenaturalstone.org/how-to-be-your-own-stone-sleuth/ And this one is excellent. https://usenaturalstone.org/properties-of-quartzite/

After looking at this more, and in different light, this really is unacceptable. I can't ever remember seeing any marble countertop that looks this bad. I was able to get another photo that catches the problem in better scale, and you can see what I'm talking about. See below. I really do understand that some pits and blemishes are normal. But I'm guessing you will agree this is excessive and distracting. So, I guess the real question is, what recourse do I have? And does anyone know how would one go about fixing this to begin with? As I mentioned, the fabricator says that he is not responsible for the surface finish- and it comes that way from the place that sold us the slab. Furthermore, I am not thrilled with the overall quality of his work, so I'm not sure if I trust him to try to "fix" it. I haven't contacted the store where I bought the slab yet. I'm not sure if they should be responsible for repairs because they sold us a bad slab, or if this is the fabricators responsibility. I feel like I'm about to be caught in a 3-way finger pointing argument with no clear resolution. Before I start raising hell with these guys, I want to have a clear idea about whose fault this is, and what kind of resolution I should expect. So, that brings up the second big question. Regardless of whose fault this is- how would one actually fix this? probably 80% of the blemishes are very shallow. I can feel the roughness with a fingernail, but can't feel an indentation with a fingertip. I would think that most of the blemishes could be ground and polished out. Does anyone know how big of a job that is to do on-site after the countertop is installed? Again, your feedback is much appreciated.

Sorry I didn't get the close up seam photos yesterday the contractor was here messing the kitchen up again installing the disposal, faucet, dishwasher. They ran into a couple snags that slowed them down so now we have a functioning sink but now DW yet... getting tired of contractor time as they were supposed to show up at noon and came at 3:30, so only worked for a few hours. Anyway... back to the countertops here are the close ups of the seams! This is the seam on the counter to the right of the range - you can see why it's hard to spot from more than inches away or at an angle, because they matched the colors and grain so well. It's only about 6" from the wall and we will likely have an appliance there such as MW or toaster etc anyway. And here is the seam to the left of range. The bottom photo there is a reflection of the drawer handle on the overhang, not a mark or flaw. Finally I did find (in the daylight) the repaired notch, it's up against the wall under the wall cabinet overhang so I didn't see it with room lights. We don't have under-cabinet lights since we only have a few uppers, we can add later if we want it. This will be easily disguised by countertop items in this area such as utensil jar or canisters. We're keeping counters clear for now since the backsplash goes in next week. Even if we'd bought a second slab we would have needed a seam to the left of the range since that was the largest slab available, and the quality of the seams and their placement is completely satisfactory to us - so a second slab would have spared us only the seam to the right of range near the wall. This fabrication was by Stoneman of San Francisco, in case anyone is looking for an excellent fabricator in the bay area!

clt3 - Thank you! I will save this and ask my fabricator. Install is this week. We have a semi-personal relationship with the fabricator owner. He has invited us out to his house to look at his kitchen. We have been working with the company (the owner, his daughter, and 3 other great associates) to find the perfect FB. The have been very meticulous to find a stone that has no fissures and is the color range that I wanted. They have even sent back two batches that have come into their business that had flaws. I hope that I can trust them to give me a nice finish and recommendations on how to care for it. While reading about the More Anti Etch product, they mentioned travertine as being etch susceptible. We had travertine in our bathrooms in the previous home. Our builder suggested them and we went in not really knowing what they were. They held up great until about 3-4 years before we sold...so they were 10 years old before one day noticing an outline of a circle on my vanity. I think that my housekeeper must have put down a bottle of some type of household cleaner. I tried to remove it, polish it, etc. One day I took some sand paper to it and it partially disappeared with out really changing the surface around it. Moral of that story is to make sure to instruct proper care to anyone cleaning for you...and to your spouse!!! karin_mt - I knew that Fantasy Brown is both a marble. I know that it is considered to be a very hard marble as opposed to most. I did research and talked to my cousin about it. I know that being careful with the stone is important. I was just taken aback that a water glass could leave etching. I never considered water to be acidic. After having a good talk with my fabricator, I will be purchasing a couple of drying mats, and maybe some Turtle Wax. :) Kathy Rivera - Have you talked with your fabricator about the etching? Also, I am curious about what happened with your cabinets. Are they really gray, or just a white that had a gray tinge versus a bright white? I purposely order a shade darker than the brightest white for my kitchen. As a whole, they look white.