so much depends on your area.

you buy a fabricated countertop made to order. you do not get to buy a sheet, as you say, and fabricate it yourself.

once you build the framework, you go with a measured drawing of the proposed outcome... the supplier plugs those measurements in to a computer program and come up with an estimate of price... you sign a contract and pay for it. they scheule a professional to come and laser measure the project and come back with a revised contract, you sign and they fabricate... then install you pay the bill.

I used HD to have two quartz countertops fabricated for two bathrooms. The MSI quartz is not as durable as some other brands and I wouldn't want to use it in my kitchen, but bathrooms do not get the same punishment as kitchens.

When I went to HD they quoted me the cost for each bathroom separately and for the two bathrooms done at the same time. The countertops were 5' and 8' long. That put me over the minimum needed to get their "special pricing". The two individual prices added together were over double the price that it cost me to do the two at the same time. They also charge for everything separately, so the cost rises quickly.

https://qualitystoneconcepts.com/2016/11/08/how-home-depots-35sf-granite-magically-becomes-82sf/

All in all, because I did the two counters in the same material and at the same time the pricing was better than I could find elsewhere. The 8' counter was installed and I had no issues. The 5' counter was installed and the drainage hole in the sink was filled with something that wouldn't come out. They sent a repair guy out to fix it and he couldn't fix it, so they had to send out another guy to take it out and they made me a new countertop. The second counter was installed and there was a big deep divot that ran the width of the counter. They sent a specialist out to buff out the "scratch" and he was not able to just buff it out, so they had to send the guys back again to remove the counter and they brought me a 3rd countertop and installed it. I was without a countertop in that bathroom for 3 months.

I am okay with the final outcome, but it was a PITA.

Most fabricators have to buy whole slabs, so they can't really sell it at less than a whole slab. They may have some 1/2 slabs or quarter slabs that were left over from some other job that can be used for smaller jobs, but if you are doing your whole kitchen and need just shy of 2 slabs they aren't going to be able to use the rest for some other kitchen.

Use caution when choosing quartz as a backsplash. Some brands discolor with high heat and can be scorched if placed behind an oven or stovetop. Some ovens and stovetops can scorch even the most heat resistant quartz.

thanks. Regarding Quartz alternatives. I know there are many. But in all practice the only alternative is Porcelain?

You could visit MSI in Elk Grove Village. I went with my designer and they let us walk through the aisles of slabs (they gave us helmets.) If you’re not working with a designer I think they will want to walk with you, so I’d call ahead.
https://www.msisurfaces.com/chicago-countertop-showroom-distribution/

You can also check Global in Addison. They let me buy a half slab for a bathroom renovation.
https://www.globalmarbleimporter.com/

The other yard I went to was United in Willowbrook. Smallest of the three but where I found my slabs for my kitchen.
https://www.unitedgraniteusa.com/

Finally, if you need a fabricator, I was very happy with John at Granite Empress in Bedford Park. He’s done many projects with my designer and the three yards mentioned above are the ones he works with.

Quartz alternatives - How about Granite, Quartzite, Soapstone, Slate, Concrete.

Of course their are alternatives and they are used every day. You could go with Corian. It is much less expensive and a high quality surface.

Quartz is about 37% plastic by volume. This is why it scorches. The cost of using it as a backsplash can depend on the measurements. If it comes out of your two slabs, the cost will be less than if you need a third slab. Quartzite is one alternative. With Taj Mahal the runaway favorite by far. Harder than granite and quartz. Some yards have rows of Taj slabs of different grades. While porcelain makes a good backsplash, using it as counter can lead to chipping and other problems.

Chicagoans, I'm in NW Indiana and will be venturing to granite places in near future. My local fabricators have the typical choices so I will be heading up to the Elk Grove Village suppliers. So you had good experiences with MSI, Global, and United? (Otherwise, I assume you would not have mentioned them.) Any others that I should consider?

Were any of them also fabricators, so that I am not dealing with two firms (supplier and fabricator) and getting two markups?

If you have a Cambria showroom near you I would start there. You can view full slabs and discuss their warranty etc. They can also connect you with installers. The by ft/ by slab thing is installer and pattern specific. In my area certain colors that are popular they stock and sell by the sq ft but most get sold by the slab.

Often, the materials that your fabricator stocks are sold by the square foot that you use. But if you have to br ng in slabs, you pay for the whole lab. Theres always going to be a certain amount of wastage on every job.

“The default choice is quartz”… do you want quartz? If so, great! If you are going that route because you expect it to be most cost effective, I recently did a kitchen and bath renovation, and used marble and soapstone. Tbh I wanted real stone and don’t like the feel of quartz. It was far less expensive than quartz, although of course YMMV.

There are a ton of other counter materials beyond just quartz and granite. There's marble, soapstone, serpentine, dolomite, sandstone, slate, and bluestone. Just in natural stones. There's standard restaurant maple butcher block, rich and dramatic walnut wood tops, and even exotic zebrano wood tops. Wood tops alone is a whole subset of options, just like natural stone. There's stainless counters, maybe with an integral sink. Copper, zinc, brass, cold rolled steel, and other metals. Solid surfaces like Corian are another whole world. You can get basic white, almost as inexpensive as laminate. Or you can branch out into wood looks. stone looks, and translucent back lit looks. It is a renewable surface, and easy to DIY polish out any issues down the road. There's agage, petrified wood, amethyst, rose quartz, and other luxury choices in the Prexury line. At that same price level are Pyrolave and other enameled countertops. Or other exotic materials that you won't find in the average american kitchen.

In many places, tile stores often also have slab yards for natural stone, and they also carry different quartz brands. For the latter they usually have samples on the showroom floor. If you don't want to do natural stone, I'm a big fan of Cosentino products, i.e. Silestone and Dekton. IMO, they have a great selection of designs and colors and aren't as busy pattern-wise as Cambria.

And yes, the showrooms will often have recommendations for fabricators in your area. Make sure that whatever material you select, the fabricator is certified for that material.

^^^ isnt that funny, in my area tile and counters are completely separate showrooms except at big box places. It would be easier if they were together!

Also not ALL Cambria is busy though their signature Brittanica certainly is! This is Inverness frost in matte.

Thank you Chicagoans! Very helpful!

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and insights. I have to admit I am bit torn.

I felt that I want quartz since this is the desired material. Both from a usability standpoint in kitchen (scratching, stain resistant,...) and resale value of home.

I am going to have a large white shaker section. Possible accented with wood cabinets for island. It seemed that the natural choice would be a white quartz with some gold/yellow in it.

However, I start to have second thoughts such as:

- this is going to be a lot of (shiny) white

- paying that much for an artificial product

I might consider slate, if there is a grey one. Don't care that much for the black kind.

While quartz is very popular, I would not agree that it is "the desired material". We put it in our last kitchen remodel, but if I had done more investigating into natural stone we might have chosen something else. If we remodel our current kitchen (different house), we want to use quartzite as counter and backsplash.

Slate comes in a variety of colors including black, gray, purple, red, green . . .

BTW. Regarding MSI quartz. Do they offer several thicknesses? One for countertop, one for backsplash?

Forget MSI. Nothing but problems.

@HU-48094157

What kinds of problems?

I could be wrong but I think Deckton has had problems?

Research it on reddit