hawaiijenn23:

Sarcasm isn't always negative and mine was not meant to be. I constantly tell people the problems with marble (I fix the stuff for a living) and they constantly try to rationalize its faults away with finishes and sealers. It's exactly like when your daughter is dating a bad boy. You talk and talk and present proof and facts, but she isn't hearing it and just doesn't care 'cause she's in love.

Got it, thanks Joseph! Things don't always translate well on the internet, but I can indeed appreciate good sarcasm. ;-)

Lauren, great suggestion! I've actually looked at that and love it! However, the slabs we saw were more tan. If I could find that in grey tones as I've seen some people have online, we'd be golden!

Have you looked at all the quartzites available in your area? Mine was called Luce di Luna or quartzite bianca. Lots of lovely gray movement, still indestructible almost 7 years post installation. They go by all kinds of names.

I've spent lots of time in Europe with marble countertops too, you get used to the etching, it becomes normal. You can really go either way.

Sochi - that looks exactly like our Olympus that's etching!! How ever did you find that as a true quartzite?? Unfortunately, we put our money down with the fabricator thinking this was it! I haven't asked, but I wonder if we can even get that money back. We've looked at their other quartzite offerings and haven't found anything close to it. Very sad.

I found luce di Luna at Pental. They didn't have it at the location I visited last week so i never saw it. But the location just north of me has it. So I'll go and check it out. Thanks Sochi!

You're welcome, good luck!

I have super white quartzite.

When we first started planning our build, I knew that was what I wanted. I went to get a sample from a local place and they had had a slab fall over in the yard and so I took home a 2x2 huge piece. I put it on my kitchen table in my 3yo (at the time) son's spot. I didn't do anything special to it, and experimented with lots of things on it. It was almost bullet proof. The only damage I could inflict was the white bruising if I stabbed it hard with a sharp object, and some stains from very deep pink icing (but those came out with clorox). I loved it, so we went with it in our new house.

So far, the slabs I ended up with in our house are not as bulletproof. They scratch, and so far I have one tiny stain. But no etching. I still love them though!!

I originally wanted marble, but when I found this, I loved it so much more than the carrara. Especially after seeing it along with carrara at the warehouse, I wouldn't have gone with the carrara anyway, lookswise!

If you love it, I vote you go ahead and get it!

Ah! Sadly, the Pental quartzites are coming in about 3-5k more than Olympus from our fabricator. It's because Olympus includes the fabrication while they have to charge us separate for the Pental options. I'm not informed enough on the process to understand why - or why the big price difference. But, the good news is that they cut off a nice long piece of the Olympus, left one side polished and the other honed! They're sealing both sides so that we can test it and see results based on a finished product. I'm nervous but this will given us a 100% answer (I hope) so that we can move forward one way or another. Pental explained to me that all lighter colored quartzites tend to have more marble tendencies. Therefore, they only distribute honed versions of those stones to the fabricators because people complained a lot about etching. She also said with them all being honed now, they haven't had one single complaint. I hope honed is our answer! I personally like the look better myself. Will report back!

Thanks Amy! I'm encouraged to hear you still love it! And with a child in the house too!

That pic IS a honed finish. With etching.

I have 4 kids....6 and under. My son was just the messiest, so he got to be my experimental kid :-) The only problem we've had so far is from them scooting sandy things across the counter, like my heavy stainless water bottle that was set down outside, or someone puts shoes or something (gag) on the island, then scoot glass or ceramic dishes across before I can clean. And I don't baby it AT ALL. I'm lucky if it gets wiped off daily. Usually every other day is the norm.

I will say that I do not have direct sunlight into my kitchen. I have an 8ft deep porch outside the one window in the kitchen, which is actually about 8ft from the kitchen countertops. So I could possibly have etching and not know it, but I notice E V E R Y T H I N G so I am still confident we don't have any.

I have Super White in our new build home that is now 2.5 years old. First learned about this magnificent stone here on GW. When it came time to look, I secretly wanted SW, but never mentioned it to DH. He's the one who found it and immediately fell in love. Our initial slabs ended up being cracked, so we were left with slabs the fabricator searched for in the Boston area. At the time, I was livid, but in the end, we have beautiful, bulletproof countertops. I've never gone through all the testing, call me superstitious, but we don't baby the stone at all. We've had no etching or staining and only some minor scratches. The fabricator insisted our stone was quartzite and after 2.5 years, I would agree.

"Pental explained to me that all lighter colored quartzites tend to have more marble tendencies."

No - that's not correct. Color has nothing to do with the properties of the rock. If it's marble, it will have marble tendencies. And if it's quartzite, it will have quartzite tendencies. The two rocks are totally different and anytime a salesperson hints at any middle ground between them, it's a red flag that they don't understand their product.

That aside, it looks like you are going into this decision well-informed and that is the best possible place to work from. It's a hard enough decision in any case, but at least you've got your facts straight. Good job on that! And good luck deciding!

Sophie, I didn't realize that! Thanks for clarifying. Is your stone marble or the super white? It's odd because our slabs don't look exactly like the super white i keep seeing. Yet the distributor keeps calling them super white or Olympus. I'll post a picture.

Karin - yikes! It's all so confusing!

nh - I love your kitchen!!

amy - I love the hope you keep giving me. :-) We have tons of natural light in our home but the kitchen gets the least of it. That's why we're going light color on everything - cabinets and counters.

This is one of our slabs. I'm sure you can see why we love it!

That looks more like a Bianca Quartzite or a Perla Bianca . It does not look like most of the super white slabs I have seen . Do a Google search for those 3 the 2 I mentioned and super white and look at the images tab. You can see the difference . I don't know. I have fantasy brown Quartzite and I love it mine has mostly gray and white with just a little tan. I will not baby it I will live with it and love it even when it has warts lol. Have you looked at sea pearl Quartzite it's a really beautiful option, your slab reminds me of sea pearl .

That's is a gorgeous slab, but definitely not super white!

Beautiful slab. Doesn't look like the super whites I saw. Btw, karinmt is a geologist and has some long threads on here explaining stone countertops-- titled something like countertop geology. Just mentioning in case you haven't seen them.

Raven, I'm searching those two and am seeing more tan tones. But its so difficult to know! It seems the different companies attach their own names to these stones. Perhaps just to make people like me confused. ;-)

Karin, I'll look up your other posts! I find this really interesting and never knew I'd need to learn so much about the different stones! But when you're not wanting man-made, there's much to to know about the differences in the natural stones.

Perhaps our slabs will remain a mystery, but we pick up our large sample today for testing. I HOPE it holds up nicely because the beauty is so hard to pass up!

Agree with the others - it's not Super White, but regardless of the name it would be nice to know if it's quartzite or marble. I see a nice broken corner on the slab - a perfect place to do the glass scratch test.

As CRL mentioned, search for Countertop Geology part six and the top post explains the test methods in detail.

It is gorgeous - I can see why you're swooning!

Does sea pearl tend to have some green in it? We saw other slabs of ours and saw a few bundles with beautiful blue - it reminded me of the waters off Oahu. But all the slabs we selected are true grey and white except for maybe a few places that hint blue (barely noticeable.)

Karin, I had a small broken off piece I ran over glass but we were perplexed. It scratched the glass but also glided a bit like people describe marble doing. What to make of that?!

Sea pearl can have hints of other colors as do so many types. I think sea pearl is one of the prettiest quartzites I really wanted it but it was not in my budget. Azul macabus is some absolutely amazingly beautiful stuff some looks just like a painting of the beach and the water, the blues in it are amazing. I would hang some of those slabs on the wall as art. Nature is a fabulous artist.

If I had a home near the beach this would be in it. Gorgeous Slab.

Ravencajun, I couldn't agree with you more!!

Karin, you're amazing! I'm loving your posts about counter geology. I believe our slabs are dolomite. Because they do scratch but they also etch. It's definitely a mix of something and not true quartzite. At least that's how it seems to me short of being an expert!

I googled "Olympus marble" and of course come up with this. It's basically our slab just with a different cut in the pattern. Do I have a right to feel mad at our fabricators?? It's just so wrong to tell a customer this is quartzite when I doubt it's even close. Now I'm thinking it isn't even dolomite. It's marble, guys. Ugh!

https://www.houzz.com/products/olympus-white-standard-marble-prvw-vr~8546503

Sounds like you are right - nice work! If the rock scratches glass and also etches, then it's marble (or dolomitic marble) that has some areas of quartz in it. Super White and Fantasy Brown are examples of this. This is one of the trickiest rocks to ID, but I agree with your assessment. Now you just have to decide if you can live with it.

Just saw your other post. This is sadly common, and that's why I got involved. Yes, you absolutely have a right to be annoyed. Just think of how you dodged the bullet by being informed! If I were you, I would complain to the manager, owner, etc. They need to learn. This always vexes me because it is not that hard to learn how to ID rocks. Alas, I am working with the industry now, and hopefully helping them to learn their way around rocks a bit.

Karin, I appreciate you speaking up. I'll probably end up speaking with a manager after testing our sample. If we want our money back, I hope they'll do it given that they sold us on a product that isn't what they said it was.

Results of testing are in. Our sample slab had one side honed and the other side polished. Both sides were sealed but then of those sides, they used one sealer in one area and a different sealer in another (separated by the blue tape.) The top part of the blue tape is something we can't read the handwriting. The lower portion is called Pro. The left side of this sample is polished and the right side is honed. Surprisingly, after all these items were left on for 35 minutes, the etching is more noticeable on the honed side. And overall, the etching is less noticeable with the sealer we can't read and worse with the sealer labeled as Pro. Here's a pic of what we used.

The beet juice didn't stain. Coffee didn't etch or stain, oil didn't absorb. The only issue is the etching from lemon juice. My husband really wants this stone, which to be honest surprises me. He's a civil engineer, very left brained and extremely practical. I'm the more impulsive and adventurous one so I'm surprised that I'm the one unsure about this. The look I love 100%. So the question remains: can I live with possible etching? If so, I think this is right for us. If not, well, it's a deal breaker. I'm also surprised the etching is more noticeable on the honed side. Does anyone know why that would be? I was sure honing wouldn't show as much at all. We plan to sample again tonight - leaving each thing on until morning.

Does this look like the name of a sealer familiar to someone? We can't make sense of it, but we can also ask our fabricator. It's BY FAR a better sealer than what they used on the other side. Fascinating!

Picture:

Looks like gmant? I plan on Just living with my fantasy brown quartzite no matter what warts it develops in life like my child, I don't actually have a child. The marble in Italy has been exposed to the extremes of the elements and who knows what in the cafes but it is treasured it has worldly patina!

Ravencajun - I hear you. I'm sitting here now, looking at this slab in all its slightly etched glory. And all of a sudden I love it more than I did before. The etches are NOT bothering me at all. And it's truly the most beautiful stone ive ever seen. Maybe this is too metaphorical for an online forum, but nothing about my life is perfect. And I'm glad it's not. I think my husband is right that this is our stone. It's perfect for us. And I'm going polished because this has confirmed for me that I like it that way!

HawaiiJenn, I just put my down payment on some of the slabs for our new construction. Im doing super white in the kitchen. I know super white has many different variation depending on where it is sourced/cut, I have been to 5 different suppliers. There are also a few different names for super white. Anyway, my slabs are a bit more gray. Ill log in in a little from my phone and try to post a picture. I was told that polishing it will add a layer of protection and also help hide "things". I am honing other stones that i have chosen for different rooms.

Once the stone etches, should it be sealed over the etch? I'm wondering if the etched areas would be more susceptible to staining because they're exposed.

We put permanent marker on our sample and even that eventually wiped off. The honed side was more difficult though.

I have honed Vermont Danby marble in my kitchen, 5 years ago. I have carrara marble in my powder room for 20 years. I do not like the etching in my kitchen and I am sorry I got the marble. But what is worse is that the marble in my powder room oxidized at year 19, with big ugly splotches of rust, brown, yellow . Joseph commented on my 'oxidize' which I posted to warn potential users of marble. He said that the toilet leaked and water was the trigger.

I mainly dont like marble for my kitchen because I wanted a modern look and marble has a more traditional/transitional flavor. I struggled with selecting a countertop and settled on marble after some months and it was a compromise. But I never received one compliment on it either. I do like cooking and baking on it. I think if you love love it you will perhaps forgive it's sins but as a gardenwebber, I have to share. I have no stains whatsoever and a couple of dings. Im pretty sure that I will get quartz for my new kitchen.

"Once the stone etches, should it be sealed over the etch? I'm wondering if the etched areas would be more susceptible to staining because they're exposed."

Yes and yes.

Hi, I am wondering what you eventually ended up with? Out of curiosity, did you find the "quartzite" at Granite and Marble Specialities? We are looking at a similar stone but am now concerned that it isn't a true quartzite.

@andrea eh YES! Same place. We ended up not going with the "quartzite." It was too risky for us. I ended up falling in love with LG Rococo quartz. Granite and Marble Specialties installed it for us and did an amazing job. The seams are perfect. I love the Rococo more and more every day and don't regret it for a second! It looks very similar to marble.

Shoot! My phone autocorrected your name to Andrea. So sorry!

Thanks for your response. My name is actually Andrea so autocorrect was actually right for once. Can you post a photo? I do love the "quartzite" so I'm a little bummed to hear that it's more like marble. Also, did you find the rococo at the same place or did they just install it?

Oh too funny! Yes, we found the Rococo at the same place. Please keep me updated on what you decide!

Forgive me that the lighting isn't the best!

Karin "Color has nothing to do with the properties of the rock. If it's marble, it will have marble tendencies. And if it's quartzite, it will have quartzite tendencies. The two rocks are totally different and anytime a salesperson hints at any middle ground between them, it's a red flag that they don't understand their product."

This should be posted in every slab supplier and fabricators showroom.

Karin; as always thank you for your expertise.

Smiling. Thanks.