Just want to say that's beautiful!! Hope its a winner!

Hi, designsaavy. Thanks. I fell in love at first site when I saw it. Hope Karin has some good things to say about it.

gorgeous!

It's a good thing I didn't see this before I made countertop commitments lol....

Hi Walnut Creek,

I haven't heard of it but I just Googled up a few images to check it out. It looks like some of the slabs have cross-bedding which is a good indicator that it's quartzite rather than marble. Cross beds only occur in sandstone, which is the precursor to quartzite. If the sandstone only gets lightly metamorphosed, the cross beds can be preserved. White Macaubus also has cross bedding.

Nonetheless, the usual caveats apply. Get a sample and do your tests. Even if it is quartzite, it may be porous because it's only lightly metamorphosed, so check for water absorption and staining. It's a real beauty though! Good luck.

Here' s a good image of what cross beds look like, for comparison to the pattern in the slab.

http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/seds/bedforms/photo_pages/pic50.html

Thank you, Karin. My plans are to go to the yard tomorrow and, hopefully, they will give me a sample.

Did you ever install this countertop? How does it wear? We are in Austin and looking high and low for it. Thanks!

I fell in love with this stone when I saw in one of the yards. Absolutely gorgeous!! I found out it is a rare stone which brought the price way up. Unfortunately I had to select another piece. Taj Mahal my second choice.

I did not have the above in the picture installed. It was just too expensive. I did love it

We just installed Sky Gold quartzite in our kitchen. It is beautiful, no etching, no staining. If I had to do anything different, it would be the edge profile, eased edge is very hard on this stone. The fabricator had a very hard time, it is such a light stone - almost translucent - the seam on the eased edge is visible and they worked on it all day. Or I would try to source 3 cm in place of 2 cm. Our Sky Gold came from the same mine that produces Azul Blue Macabus in Brazil. It is not cheap, but worth every penny. Will post photo if interested, It does look like the photo, I was so scared it was a marble - I had a sample sit in vinegar to calm my nerves, then sat the sample in oil overnight, then red wine - again overnight - no damage or staining. My sample will cut a wine bottle - so I guess it is the real deal sourced where they claimed. It came into US via Port of Miami.

Altho I am not looking for new counters, I would love to see a picture of yours.

Debbie, would love to see the pics!

Slabs before cut

Just beautiful.

Nice! The slabs look more like sandstone than quartzite, now that I see them. It shouldn't matter much though; the only difference between sandstone and quartzite is the porosity. The countertops are gorgeous - congrats!

It is not even remotely porous, was worried about that also. It is not porous, I will post a link about where the stone was mined. My counter top has been in for 8 weeks, Christmas, New Years - wine, turkey, forgot frozen food on counter, hubby squeezed lime all over it - of course did not wipe up - this stone was worth the money. If it's sandstone, we cannot seem to hurt it and we are not even remotely careful with it anymore.

My only compliant is that it looks so nice clean, it so light and translancent - it shows anything - it's like a piece of glass artwork in my kitchen.

https://youtu.be/PBzRarqQhXo

Hope this works - quarry in Brazil

Here is the where my stone came from - page down past Blue Macaubas - they claim they found a vein with creams and golds in place of the blue

http://www.bluemacaubas.com/eng/quarries/

It might explain the movement in the stone - either way is is very unusual.

Karin,

After seeing the source of my stone - do you think it is a true quartizite? It is so different with the veins and it is so translucent - but it is not even remotely porous - but perhaps it is just sealed very well - just curious what you thought after seeing the quarry.

Thanks!

Thanks for the links and video. Great stuff!

Some of the blocks look like quartzite, yet others have cross-bedding, which is an indicator that it's sandstone. Best guess, it's a quartzite that's been lightly metamorphosed. White Macaubus is the same way.

But the bottom line is that its working well for you! You don't need any more proof than that. I'm glad you love it. It sure is a beauty!

This is Debbie in Florida with an update on the Sky Gold countertop.

Sadly our son left a scorching hot ceramic pan by the sink - you guessed it - it cracked.

So now, I have a counter too that cost a small fortune with a crack.

We heard it - this Sky Gold had been indestructible - but stuff happens.

In the scheme of COVid - 19, it’s just a counter top - but it’s driving me Crazy!!!

Thank you for posting this! I saw Sky Gold quartzite today and was going to go with it. It is so gorgeous! What a shame that it cracked. Does anyone know of a quartz countertop that has a similar look?

Natasha:

The quartzite posted above cracked from heat from customer abuse. All natural stone tops need to have trivets used to protect them according to the Natural Stone Institute. Engineered stone is even more succeptible to heat damage and trivet use is even more important. Don't blame the material for the human fault please.

@Joseph Corlett, LLC, good point! I did further research last night and came to that same conclusion (learning a lot as a result of this renovation!).

The supplier only has 2 cm available in the Sky Gold. My fabricator stated that quartzite at 2 cm cracks easily during fabrication and they encouraged me to go with something else. Is this the case or should I check with other fabricators?

Also, I did a test last night where I put hot sauce, lime juice, lemon juice, coffee and olive oil on the sample. No etching (assuming I understand correctly what etching is)! But there are a couple of "water stains" that appeared after rinsing off all the food (see photo). It has been at least 5 or 6 hours now. Would this be because the stone is not sealed? With sealing this won't occur correct?

Thank you to all for the help!

Hi,
This is Debbie in Florida with the Sky Gold. The small crack at the sink actually looks like a vein, I know it’s a crack, but nobody can tell as it is the same look as all the marble like veins. We still love it - it’s beautiful. Expensive yes - timeless - yes, people think it’s marble, it isn’t and doesn’t etch or stain.

Example of how we live, AM after wine and cards. Several bottles sitting for hours - no stains, our Sky Gold has deep vanilla and Carmel veins - that’s why you don’t notice the 1 inch crack at sink because it resembles a vanilla colored vein. Just don’t put a pot made out of the same ceramic as the space shuttle directly on stone. The pot in question will keep food hot for 30 plus minutes with no heat. I consider myself lucky that he didn’t sit it down in the middle of the counter!

Hi debbietannhauser223,

I am in south Florida, and looking for that gorgeous quartzite. where did you find it? i’ve looked everlywhere and haven’t found any gold-veined quartzite. please share!!!

We purchased ours at BR stone in Pompano Beach. Just do not put a straight edge on sides. You can look at my photos, our installer did NOT put an angle on that eased edge because it was difficult to cut. My son has chipped it in a few spots with very hard objects. They are completely invisible and the stone looks like it did 5 years ago. Just passing on learnings from having it installed for years.

It came in from the port of Miami. Sea Pearl has a similar look. But the slabs we saw of Sea Pearl were more grey. I really wanted marble - but not the hassle. This Sky Gold was perfect - it took me about 3 months to find it. Not many people even know what it looks like, I had to personally walk the yards to find it. BR stone knew how it looked and had 2 bundles. I was able to buy bookend slabs, so the longest piece on my counter looks like one large piece of stone. Only seam is a small seam at sink. Good luck - be patient and let me know when you find it. It comes from the mine that produced Azul Blue in Brazil. There is a video above.

@debbietannhauser223 thanks for sharing all this and great photos! It is looking like you all know how to live, and that crack gives your kitchen a good story. With all that wine, I'm sure you have a few good ones and I'm coming over lol.

Update: we installed the Sky Gold in our house and the edges stained terribly! Been working hard to remove them. If I could go back, I would not install this in a kitchen.

It is possible that it is a marble that was labeled as quartizite. i saw many slabs of marble that looked similar.

Used it in my kitchen and LOVE it! In fact we are renovating our bathrooms right now and I tried to find a quartz but none can compare. So its going in my primary bath, too!

Hi @HU-456991673 and @debbietannhauser223 – I'm curious if you are still loving your Sky Gold quartzite? We are looking at it for our kitchen reno right now. We'd love to use Imperial Danby marble but it's not in our budget (or realistic for our lifestyle). It looks like we live similarly to Debbie (woohoo wine!) :) The 3CM slab I found is polished (I was thinking honed but can live with the polished) and we were going to have a pencil edge. Any words of wisdom to share? @Natasha Lock are you still unhappy? What kind of edge profile did you get and how thick was your slab?

Hello! Yes, still unhappy. While I LOVE the look of the stone, I would NEVER use it in a kitchen or bathroom. It stains terribly. Dark spots everywhere and staining all along the edges. I have attached a couple photos. The staining is kind of hard to see, but it is not good. I ended up getting some money back from the stone supplier. The person they sent out to evaluate the stains said I should not have been sold this for a kitchen. My slab is 2 cm. Flat edge profile. I dont know if that is what you call it.

This is Debbie, the Sky Gold is still in our kitchen with no stains. I think this stone is sometimes labeled incorrectly as quartzite when it is marble. If you go up the post, I shared photos of our slabs. It looks ”marble” like - thankfully ours is quartzite and we love it.

Natasha LockWas your stone ever sealed? Or did the edges discolor right away? Also, were you assured that is was indeed quartzite? We don't mind sealing it every year

Yes, sealed. and the edges discoloured right away. they said it was quartzite and the stone is from very reputable company.

I also resealed it, but had to try and remove the stains first, which was so much work. and the resealing didnt prevent staining.

These links were buried in the trail above. Sky Gold quartzite comes from the same region as http://www.bluemacaubas.com/eng/quarries/ 

Perhaps the stone retailer can confirm where the stone was quarried. My stone came into the port of Miami from Brazil.

Here is another one https://youtu.be/PBzRarqQhXo

skip the ad, rotate your phone and you should get a good view. This is at least 8 years oldof, but photos are stunning. I think the true Sky Gold may come from a limited source.

http://www.bluemacaubas.com/eng/quarries/ here it is, this is where my Sky Gold was quarried.

Thanks @debbietannhauser223 and @HU-456991673! I don't mind sealing yearly. @Natasha Lock – I'm so sorry you are unhappy! :( Appreciate the feedback.

We installed this amazing Sky Gold 2cm quartzite in our new kitchen reno about 4 months ago. I did tons of research and felt we knew what we were getting into, especially because of the cost. These pictures do not do it justice, and we love it, but last week we noticed these marks on the side of the sink. They look like an imprint or something bleached in. The surface is still smooth, so I feel like it's not 'etched'. We have no idea what it's from, but we do put down a drying mat for our dishes sometimes, and the pattern resembles the mat (but not exactly - I'm desperately grasping for what this could be). We don't use bleach on the countertops, but I did leave a bottle of vinegar for salad sitting overnight—again, I am grasping for what could have caused this. All to ask, does anyone know of some magic solution to lift this very bright white stain out of the counter (I tried a baking soda poultice for a few hours, but nothing). Help? :)

It looks like residue from the bottom of the mat. ?