Toblerone quartzite

New 0 0 Insta0 0

"Toblerone
quartzite is an exotic stone from Brazil, with the natural looks of
marble but the performance of granite.It completes kitchens, bathrooms
and living rooms with a novel material that will captivate the attention
of watchers and viewers. It offers a delicate glassy white background
in combination with spectacular grey veins with effortless appeal".

Much depends. Is it a new kitchen with great apps and cabinets or a refresh? ( meaning don't do" kitchen overkill") What is your FLOORING? Nothing, including counters, lives in isolation from the whole. Your answer had better NOT be travertine : )

Quartzite is quite easy care for the most part. Use cutting boards, mats or tripods for hot pots, wipe up , as you would with any other material. All materials are subject to human use. It will be far more resistant to etching and stains than any marble. It IS fairly easy care. Same is true of man made QUARTZ! Nothing but nothing but nothing is 100% perfect in every single respect. Nothing.

If you have perimeter turns, ,make certain you are shown location of your seams and what they will look like before any cut polish. Show your layout to the stone shop now. Be home for the LASER template.

I have a client with Taj Mahal quartzite and after nearly a year she is nothing less than thrilled.

Thank you for the quick replies! To answer your questions:
1) it is a complete reno (gut) of a house so brand new kitchen and $200,000 spent on renos. Big stainless appliances with column fridge/freezer.
2) hardwood floors
3) I think we are okay with the seams. One big island and then one long counter (likely a join) and one smaller coffee/wine bar.
4) we have always had granite and had no issues. But I just find that granite doesn't have the nice "flow" that I love in quartzite.
5) we are just a 50s couple and adult daughter who is very careful

I have seen the description you posted above but because there is so many quartzites that are really marble, I get so nervous. But if I am to believe the description above and the man at the slab store, I think we may be okay. I am so excited about this stone and am not at all excited about any of the granite I have seen.

Decisions, decisions!

You already DECIDED!! Yes? : ). Now, just execute and move on. It will be fine.

Thanks Jan! You are right!

Test, please. I visit a house a month with etched "quartzite".

some quartzite slabs don't have a lot of calcite deposits (Taj Majal and Sea Pearl are two of the harder quartzite ) the one way to know for sure is to grab a piece of a left over of your slab and test it.

use the sharp edge and run it across a glass tile. marble will not scratch glass and will leave a dust trail. anything else will put a groove into .

lemon juice test. calcite and dolomite will etch. granite / quartzite will not.

https://www.sensagranite.com/colors/tangier/

Thank Karin for responding! I didn't word it properly re: marble tendencies. We showed my father-in-law another slab we liked and his response was:

"Metamorphism is a process of heat and pressure in varying amounts. The picture is of a "well-metamorphosed" impure quartzitic rock. Squished and flowed so that it looks pretty, but the impurities have separated into the brown parts and the quartz into the white. The white looks well-compacted and super hard, while the brown variably softer. If you look closely, there may already by small caveties in the brown part, and it looks abrade-able." I have posted that image here too.

This is why I am torn. Some say no issue with it if it is truly a quartzite but then FIL comes back with these comments. I am looking for your feedback Karin, and don't worry if you contradict him. Although he is a geologist and is world-renowned in the mining industry, they have never shopped for a countertop in their lives (always bought houses that were done) so perhaps this is the issue?

And because of what he said, I question whether you can do a lemon juice test since wouldn't you have to test various spots on the slab? The manager at the slab store said he tested this one (the one on the original post) and it had no issues. I am going to ask him if I can do the glass test but again, could there be areas of the rock that are softer than others?

I'm sure your FIL will also tell you that the slabs they sell as 'granite' aren't actually true granite, geologically speaking. Absolute black and one of the Chinese Red granites are two types of actual granite. they are so dense that a sealer won't penetrate them. Most of the granites for sale are probably metamorphic rocks, some sedimentary rocks,,so labeling and mislabeling seems to be the norm w/stoneyards. It's just easier to call label them all as 'granite', or marble, or quartzite.

Thanks Beth. So I am thinking that he just doesn't understand kitchen counters since they have never bought one. I am hoping Karin replies to my comment about the "shrinkage cracks" and if they matter. Thanks everyone. We are making the final decision this weekend so really need to get this under control.

Totally Off Topic (but kinda funny for those of us here): Yesterday I was browsing vacation possibilities. Here is a description of an island that appealed to me for some reason :-)

From Wiki:

Saint Barthélemy in the Caribbean, jutting out on a craggy quartzite bluff overlooking the Baie de Saint Jean on the central north coast.

But is it real quartzite? haha! St. Bart's is gorgeous!

Hi Nedleycan,

In a stone like the second one you posted, with the folded/flowy look, yes, you have to test each area. In some cases rocks of slightly different compositions get folded together, so each part may be different. Do the scratch and etch test on each area, and that's the only way you'll know.

The first stone you posted has a lot of cracks/joints/fractures/whathaveyou. Those can fill back in with minerals that are dissolved in groundwater, so it's not necessarily a dealbreaker. It's up to the fabricator and installer to deliver the stone intact, and after that, it's not terribly likely to break under normal circumstances.

Your FIL will agree that you can't tell anything about a rock's properties by looking at a picture on a screen. Test, test, test, and don't take a salesperson's word for it.

Beth H: Ironically Absolute Black isn't a granite either. It's basalt or andesite.
Here's a rundown of granite from both the geologic and commercial stone points of view.
http://usenaturalstone.com/granite-whats-name/

Does ANYONE remember when a kitchen was a pretty darn ugly place, and the speckly yellow Formica was just supposed to be clean and all the orange flowers in the wallpaper somewhat grease free?? Yeah....... there was a time.

Thanks so much Karin! I appreciate you taking time to answer my questions. I now feel prepared to make the decision. Going to another slab store today and another on Monday and then our decision will be made! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Beth H. : you are exactly right it has calcite in high quantities hence the marble look

A quartzite its still a metamorphic stone... its not granite nor a igneous rock.

It is a sedimentary rock in this case a type of soft sandstone subjected to heat and pressure in the earth's crust.

Like karin_mt has explained this is why it has marble like tendencies and is class a soft stone as well. Marble after all is also a metamorphic rock which was a sedimentary stone - limestone.

I love linen shirts. I only love them fresh off the ironing board, therefore, I don't buy them. As it is with counter tops. Almost anything glossy is easy care in almost any kitchen. The rest, (even glossy marble), are what you can put up with to get a particular "look".