Some of those are marble. Caveat Emptor.

Beautiful, but yes be careful of what Sophie said. You don't want to be sold a "very hard" stone & get a fussy marble.

OP: To Sophie's point, please do your research as slabs are often (knowingly or not) mislabelled. Just based on my non-pro, looked-at-lots-of-slabs-in-person-and-online experience, the first one does, indeed, appear to be Macaubus White quartzite. Regarding the second one, a slab is either Super White or Calacatta, but not both -- Calacatta is the cross-cut version of Macaubus White. (We have Calacatta in our kitchen.)

Our unofficial resident geologist (and all-around helpful person) karin_mt has posted a number of very informative threads in this forum -- do a search for "Countertop Geology". Please also take time to sit down and read through The Definitive Guide to Quartzite, so you make sure you're actually getting quartzite. Good luck with your kitchen!

More quartzite:

CP--Do you go and visit your 3 slabs on a regular basis? I think I would, just to get my spirits up. They are truly gorgeous!

Sea Pearl is a true hard quartzite. I would ask them to do a scratch, acid and stain test with you.

I will be using Taj Mahal quartzite in my kitchen soon. Bought the 3 slabs months ago when I was first going to do a kitchen refresh. Decided to do a complete gut/remodel so they have been sitting at my fabricators yard for months.

CP--Do you go and visit your 3 slabs on a regular basis? I think I would, just to get my spirits up. They are truly gorgeous!

I did see them sitting in the yard last week but could only see a small corner. Hoping my kitchen will be in beginning of next month. It's time.

czarinalex, that is absolutely gorgeous.

chispa, before I found my quartzite, I had been leaning towards the Taj Mahal. It's so dang pretty with all those subtle color variations.

I was/am in love with Taj Mahal. It's so pretty! CP your stone is amazing. I can't even imagine what awesome kitchen can pull that off!! Can't wait to see it!

Thank you mark_rachel and nidnay. I actually hesitated on getting it...for five minutes. LOL.

We love the depth of this..

We remodeled our kitchen about 4 years ago. It was very helpful to read all of Karen_MT's threads about stone choices for kitchens. I think there are several threads now. She explains how to do the test to see if you have a quartzite or marble sample. I think you should be able to search for it by tying in "countertop geology."

We have white macaubus quartzite on our island and it has held up very well. It took a long time to find a slab with a subtle pattern with light lines rather than the dark grey or black lines. Carefully examine the slab for areas that might have been repaired and for any cracks that you can get your fingernail into. I passed on those and waiting to find one I was happy with. Some have reported oil, or water-type staining on the cut edges by the stove or sink. Not sure why that was, but ours is just the island, so we have had no issues. It does not stain or etch.

We do have marble in our master bath and we are happy with it. It will etch and stain, so I would not be happy with it in a kitchen. I would be especially unhappy if I thought I was buying an expensive quartzite, but was sold marble instead, such as Super White quartzite which is actually marble.

By the way, there is another name for white macaubus quartzite when it is cut the other way (meaning the other way as far as the orientation to the mountain goes). Instead of long lines, it is more swirly, but with the same general coloration. I think it might be called calacatta quartzite or something like that, but it's the same rock.