Fantasy Brown is gorgeous! Sorry about the etchingâ¦and hope that you will continue to love it -- and be able to relax -- over time. Not sure if this is helpful to folks on the forum, but I took home an unsealed sample of honed White Macaubas quartzite from my fabricator this weekend, and I spot tested it for about 12 hours with a bunch of liquids (lemon, balsamic vinegar, oil, water, tomato sauce, prune juice). The only thing that left a stain (and a light one at that) was the tomato sauce. I didn't notice any etching at all. We plan to have our countertops sealed, so hopefully staining won't be a problem either. Still nervous, but hopeful... Also happy that honing our slabs (vs. leathering) seems to be a much less expensive option, given that our fabricator can hone the edges, thus avoiding the need for a mitered/built up edge.

I am a fabricator. It distresses me when someone goes thru an experience like yours because the stone supplier or fabricator did not accurately communicate the material properties of a particular stone. In my shop we make CERTIAN a customer knows the properties of a stone they are considering including signing off on the details because we don't want that unhappy customer coming back a few months down the road. "soft quartzite " doesn't exist. If it's soft (and etches) it's marble and has all the performance deficiencies marble is known for. with Real quartzite is so hard it's a challenge to process in the fab shop which is part of the reason it's considerably more expensive. For your application the only long term option is to replace the top with any one of hundreds of options in natural stone that will hold up to your planned use with little or no maintenance.

To answer the request for what the silicone bleed looks like, here's a picture of it. You can see it's a white line that runs above where the countertop was glued to the cabinets below. It soaked through to the top of the counter. It's not overly noticeable. I can live with this error, especially since this isn't getting worse. What did I end up doing? I shopped replacement counters. I finally got the company I bought the countertop from to agree to let me replace with a different material but when I selected one, they told me the one I picked was so much more expensive that I'd have to pay MORE than I originally paid. That stopped me in my tracks. The company, Mont, does not have transparent pricing. Their prices are letters of the alphabet, the higher the more expensive. My original counters were an "R". They have since dropped to a "P". The counter I wanted was a "T" and it was going to cost me an extra $9,000 for the material, demo and installation. I decided they were trying to rip me off. So, I told them to come fix what I have. I haven't heard back from them. I've told my sad story to tons of people, but they all go forward and buy quartzite regardless. If I could fix my counters, I could love them but I haven't found anyone who can fix them yet.

Real stone is overrated IMO. It has man-made processes applied to it to make it suitable for residential kitchens, as well as sealers, so being more ‘real’ is just marketing in my book, particularly for a surface you’re going to be cooking and eating off of. A sterile man-made product that is easy to clean makes more sense in a kitchen environment to me personally, which is why we chose white solid surface for our remodel. Our second choice was white quartz. It’s easy to tell if it’s clean and maintenance is a breeze. There are many many threads here on quartzite getting water ‘stains’ around the sink, seems, and stove, issues with sealing, issues with food stains and etching, poultices being applied, etc. The pale colors can be unforgiving. I personally think real stone is not a great choice for residential kitchen applications, at least not for working kitchens in the suburbs. In kitchens that see limited use where it’s all for show, or in old traditional working kitchens that utilize marble and embrace the patina, I can see the appeal more.