If you want honed anything, do the real stone.

Jennifer: Which thread should I look at? Jan: I haven't seen anything that honed quartz won't hold up as well as polished. I do understand that you need to use soft scrub to care for it, so it'll be more daily maintenance. Real honed stone scares me (eg marble!!) in the kitchen. In Phoenix, luxury builders seem to either be doing honed porcelain slab which is harder to fabricate, or honed quartz. I haven't seen either in a house that has been lived in for some time, however. They both look so beautiful in these homes. Why do only real stone in honed finish? Now I'm getting worried....!!!

Thanks Jennifer! That sure helps.... str402020 who posted the sad story had a contractor who tried to seal a product that wasn't supposed to be sealed... aside from that you had a +1 and -1 on the experiences... one person said they had honed finish and loved it. Although I love the look, I'm not overly committed to the honed finish, so maybe I should just go with polished to be safe. Thank you for posting the thread, it sure gives me pause.... !

The entire purpose of man made surfaces is their low maintenance. What's the point of making that product high maintenance? If you don't MIND maintenance, or an occasional flaw, get the real thing which is beautiful even with flaws!.....(.we've walked on it for centuries!) Otherwise, let the shine, ....shine on.

Hi Chloe! I'm looking at the same 3 slabs you discussed, leaning toward the Statuario Nuvo. If you finished your project, do you have pictures?

We have selected Statuario Maximus and will our kitchen complete by Thanksgiving. I saw both the Statuario Max and Calacatta at a show room and feel head over heels for the Max.

I'll definitely share pics on this thread. Thanks for all the comments. Also, based on research and coordination with other design elements and finishes, the quartz will be polished. We are a messy family with children and dogs and we host all holidays. I need a surface that works hard for me rather than adding more hard work. Refinished hardwoods are done in an matte special walnut finish and all fixtures are brushed stainless steel and brushed brass. I'm currently searching for the right backsplash that will compliment not compete with this awesome quartz.

Hi Sonya, We are finally in the process of ordering the slabs. We went with Calacutta Nuvo. I wish I had the opportunity to see both in a showroom like Lisa did, but I did not. I have a lot of movement in my light oak flooring, and the house leans contemporary so I wanted something with less movement, which seemed to be the Calacutta Nuvo. I HOPE. The Calacutta Nuvo seems to go more gray than the brown veining in the Statuario Nuvo, so that's why I went in that direction.

I also went with polished and not honed, Lisa, for the same reasons you did (kids, dogs, parties, cooking, wine, crafts...) I went with a simple lighter gray matte large subway backsplash (no bevel, modern) that I'm also using in a couple of bathrooms to carry the aesthetic throughout the house. You definitely want the beautiful quartz to be the center of attention!

Please post your photos and I'll definitely do the same as soon as the install is done. We have decided to remodel 3 bathrooms and our laundry room with the same Calacutta Nuvo, so I'm hoping for the best - it's an enormous investment.

Some reviews of marble countertops pish posh the idea of marble not being durable, other reviews go to great lengths to explain the opposite. As with reviews online, there was GREAT varying opinions, and my mind exploded. So, I decided against marble, even though it was a key component to my "dream" kitchen design for years.

I literally viewed all of quartz marble lookalikes, sometimes in large sample size, others actually installed in showrooms. Price would vary from $79-$125 per square foot installed, depending on which way the wind blew. After a while, I realized, mountain out of a molehill. Sure, there were differences, but when it comes down to it, none look exactly like marble and they mostly look incredibly similar.

About half of them have circular splotches/splatter that real marble, carrera, calcutta or otherwise, NEVER have. So out those went. Then for me, I was looking for a carrera sub not calcutta or other, so out went any with brown or golden or red veining. That left me with maybe 10 with varying degrees of white and greys. Some read more grey overall, some more white, but you cannot really guarantee what your slab will look like 100%.

I realized that at this point, I was overthinking. The differences were so negligable, that ultimately, I let price dictate. Despite being a materials snob (so I thought), I went to Home Depot, which was having its usual 10-20% off countertops sale, at least, our local store always seems to have a sign out front having some sale. This time, it was 20%. I ended up with the Snowy Ibiza at around $69 a square foot installed. Considering many of the others were $100 and up, and none of them I LOVE as much a real marble, I really couldn't see going any other way. It was still over $3000 on countertops, which is a huge chunk, versus $5000 or more for another quartz that once installed, with small kitchenwares and other stuff on top, makes all the ideas of veining, greys versus whites, etc, a non issue.

DONE.

Couldn't be happier. Snowy Ibiza has some true white areas and deeper grey ones, with all grey tones in between. It is less blended grey than others. But it also has a translucency to it that some of the other samples lacked. Some look like the veining is just slapped on top and not really throughout the stone itself. Snowy Ibiza is not like this, which I think makes it look more like real marble. Price not withstanding, I really think this is one of the better carrera subs. All and all, I highly suggest this one.

I'd love to see photos of installed counters from anyone on this thread that has the time! Thanks!

Hi all. Here are some photos of a Caesarstone Statuario Maximus installation in our personal home which is undergoing a gut renovation. Please note these are not complete. As you can imagine, a contractor's personal home projects "never get finished" as we are always prioritizing clients. That said, I really hope that these photos help provide some visual indication of the beauty of this quartz. As the homeowner and main cook, I could not be more happy with this product for both durability and aesthetic reasons. Any questions? Feel free to give me a shout. Happy New Year! Lisa Walczak

@chloe and @walczak, thank you so much for taking the time to post these photos. it is so helpful when you are trying to make a decision. i absolutely love them. such gorgeous kitchens. @chloe, what is the make of your sink?

Here's our nearly complete kitchen with Statuario Nuvo. (Still needs pendants, hood, refrigerator paneling).

Jennifer M -- Can't seem to open your photo. We are just installing Statuario Nuvo in kitchen and three baths in our 1927 art deco apartment in San Francisco (gut renovation). Love this design but having some issues with the veining and color variation in the slabs we have. Waiting for Caesarstone technical rep to inspect, as the slabs we saw when making the choice, and the small samples, and also Caesarstone's own advertising photos, all show darker veining and quite a bit less white space than we have. Will post again when I have some answers.

sf loftdwellers....I am considering Statuario nuvo and I'm wondering what ended up happening?

For those who have caesarstone quartz countertop, can you update on how your quartz is holding up? even though quartz is not supposed to stain, or etch, or chip, I've read of cases where it did? thank you!!

CK L, mine is holding up just beautifully. All it needs is hot soapy water to clean it. Initially I was using Seventh Generation spray but realized I didn't need that at all and in fact it was leaving build-up over time, while not making much of a dent on grease (we also have a quartz backsplash). Switched to hot soapy water and that's all that's required. I did have a bouquet of flowers create a bunch of bright yellow stamen stains which were difficult to get out, but was able to remove the stains with Barkeeper's Friend and elbow grease. No etchings or chips.

Chloe! Don't use SoftScrub to clean ANY of your countertops. The care and maintainence instructions say clean, soapy cloth with mild cleaner. If you use SoftScrub you will ruin your tops and void the warranty.

Our quartz is holding up beautifully. I don't think it is true to say that it will never stain. It is rare, but not impossible. It is highly stain resistant though which makes it perfect for our household. Our toddler has no problem testing out the quartz though! He recently got a hold of a permanent black marker from the office. I caught him using it but it was a bit too late and it bled through the paper onto the counter. I used Lysol Hydrogen Peroxide cleaner and barkeepers friend - multiple rounds but it's gone. We also have a tall dog that likes to jump up and her paws and nails routinely are scratching the counter. No issues. Best!

CK L Our Calacutta Nuvo quartz from Caesarstone is holding up beautifully! No stains or nicks and we have it in 5 bathrooms, laundry, bar, and our kitchen. Our kitchen is heavily used and I have knocked pots and pans against the sink edge very hard many times with no damage. I believe the quality of the fabrication also matters in the edging durability.

I also have Silestone quartz in our cabin for about 6 years that is also perfect. What I have noticed is that coffee drips in particular will stain initially but they come up immediately with Barkeepers friend, even if they have been sitting for a long while. I have not noticed any difference in the maintenance, so far, between honed and polished - I use Seventh Generation daily & Barkeepers Friend as needed. As noted earlier in this thread, I was debating between honed and polished. Someone made a mistake and purchased a couple of slabs of honed which ended up in our master and a couple of other places. I LOVE the honed and actually quite happy it ended up in our master, and the polished in the kitchen. I get a lot of makeup and gunk on the counter and nothing has happened.