yeah leathered, matte, and concrete finishes on Quartz are known problems.

I've honestly never seen (or even heard of) leathered quartz. Granite, and quartzite, yes. And never heard of any problems with either.

it comes from the manufacture that way. Ive only seen it on one brand in one color. Im looking to see if i can find it.

You sure you don't mean "suede"? That's completely different than leathered. I did see "Leathered" as a finish on the Hanstone site, but the pics don't show a leathered finish. I think they must be redefining the term. :-)

They called it "leathered" and showed me an example of leathered quartz before I chose it. What I received is nothing like the sample. However, its a different quartz. No one ever mentioned any problems with it. This leathering was done by the fabricators. They just got a new machine for it. It did not come from the manufacturer already pre-leathered, if that makes sense? My quartz looks and feels like it is honed...but chalky. Not smooth and zero glow to it. No texture at all. It feels like a chalk board , (which I have an aversion to!!) I did not want shiney, but this is completely flat and smeared. I went to the fabricators today, where they are working on my island top to" make it right" by "hand leathering" it and applying a sealer. I feel like I am getting someones lab experiment. Paid extra for this, as well. Really need expert advice as to what I should expect.

....and what I should accept!

Catt Combs...where can i learn more about these "known problems"? What recourse do i have?

also...if they are calling it" leathered"...shouldn't there be some kind of texture to it?

no quartz should be touched by fabricators in that matter. it should only come from manufactures in such options. I have no idea what your fabricators did to it.

Also quartz does not get a sealer. Either you do not have quartz or your fabricator is crazy.

yes leathering has a texture

Quartz cannot be modified by the fabricator to leather it, it either comes from the slab yard pre-leathered or they ruined your material because modifying it like this would void any warranty from the slab manufacture.

Catt Combes...i just looked at their website and they do call themselves manufacturers.

custom stone warehouse and manufacturer

Sativa McGee...is a "stone warehouse and manufacturer" able to modify the stone? I DO know that their leathering machine is brand new.

leathering should only be done on natural stone.

Do you have a link to their website, I am almost certain they are just a fabricator. It would be pretty odd for them to manufacture the material.

Why does their website say nothing about quartz?

on their website they only discuss natural materials and have no mention of quartz. are you sure that the material is quartz?

if it is natural then they can leather it and they can fix the leathering.

regardless they are just a fabricator of the material. they purchase slabs from someone and fabricate them for projects.

The stone is HansStone 3CM Serenity

Sativa McGee...if they are a fabricator, why do they have a machine for leathering? Is it possible they just didnt know what they were doing? If it is not natural, then they had no business saying they could leather it??? They are a reputable company in the area, i would not have gone with them otherwise. It feels like my project was a shot at something new for them.

That site lists granite, marble, and soapstone as the material options. No quartz. And they are not "manufacturers" of natural stone. They simply source it.

This is leathered. It is nothing like honed.

Chess, yes...I was not expecting it to look like leathered granite, but I DID expect it to look like the sample of leathered quartz that they showed me. A slight leathering feel to it. Mine has no texture and feels like you are running your hand over a blackboard.

Hanstone is definitely quartz. A fabricator can definitely leather natural stone if they have the equipment to do so. Many fabricators offer that as an option. NOT QUARTZ though. They can HONE quartz, but not leather it. Leathering will always have a bumpy texture to it. Sounds like you hired some knuckleheads.

So somebody out there...what recourse do I have? How do I handle this?

Contact Hanstone and see if they know if leathering their material is a thing. If they say no, get it in writing and contact the fabricator. And go from there.

What Catt said, reach out to Hanstone and see if they changed something to allow fabricators to leather quartz material (highly doubt it). From there you will have them on your side and need full replacement of your counter tops, order honed direct from the manufacturer if you want to avoid a polished surface.

good advice. Thanks. I take it you are assuming that they will tell me that they do not recommend leathering their quartz? ;-/

Well it's just that no one has ever seen that done (except the one poster that said the guy tried it and it was clearly a mistake). The problem is, quartz is not a natural stone. The surface is not just polished, it has resin as a binder. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around how such a material would work in a leathered finish. But I'm no expert.

oh man...this is going to be awful. I have a beautiful brick wall in my brand new kitchen that comes down to my counter top. They are going to have to rip some of that out AS WELL AS my upper cabinets and beaded board. I am sick just thinking about it.

Sorry I can just imagine how you feel. But as bad as it will be, it will be far better than trying to live with a botched countertop. Think positive! :-)

I am not a fan of anything other than a gloss finish on engineered stone. Sophie too.

It's glued together sand for God's sake. What do you expect?

What I expect, Joseph, is for the professionals whose job it is to sell and install, to advise me accurately. They're the experts. I am building a home and had a myriad of decisions to make. At some point, you have to rely on the professionals.

Joseph Corlett, it sounds like you are faulting the OP for some reason? I don't get the impression that this was some custom thing she asked them to do, but rather an "option" they offered, as a supposedly experienced and professional fabrication company. I hold them completely to blame for the whole mess. They clearly have no idea what the hell they are doing. "They just got a new machine for it." Right. And they have no idea what to do with it.

They owe her a new counter, AND a refund, as far as I am concerned. Such idiots should not be in business.

I am faulting no one, just stating my opinion.

Fabricators should help you choose a color, edge profile, and other options, then take dimensions, measure your countertops, do the templating, provide a 3D design of your new kitchen, and customize the countertops for you. The customization needs to be done with your agreement and they must explain what you should expect from it. I hope your counters turn out fine but it seems to me that you didn't get enough information from the start.

Aqua...if all I have read in this thread is correct, then I not only did not get enough information, I got false information. I put a call into HanStone but have not heard back yet.

following the saga

I am sorry you are going thru this. but it sounds like you will get a much better product.

Alison Christie,

I had mentioned upthread that Hanstone does show a "Leather" finish on their website. However, if you look at the pictures, the finish is definitely NOT what we have come to expect for that term. It actually looks like a semi-matte finish. The way these companies sling terms around, I would not trust anything that I had not seen in person.

"At least the company agreed to fix things but it is sad that I had to be “sneaky” to get the right info... and of course, the company wants the name of the rep I spoke with and copies of the email conversation. They wanted to know if it was their local rep, etc. (somebody’s gonna get in trouble)
I may not provide it.The guy was helpful and I don’t want to do him like that!

Are you referring to Hanstone rep "getting in trouble"?? Why would he? The one that screwed up here is your fabricator. I would think that Hanstone has every right to drop them as a fabricator, if they were so inclined, and hell I would even say that to your fabricator. Your fabricator illustrated nothing but incompetence, and thankfully you got the right path to take (going to Hanstone) to get the facts. The owner of the fabrication company is completely at fault here, and the fact that you had to go to such lengths to get the issue corrected, would leave me with a bad taste in my mouth. I would make damn sure they knew how I felt too. I used to be hesitant to speak up about things that I felt were not right, but these days, there is too much of this going on. Consumers need to stand up and speak up. I have no problems paying a good price for good work. But it's getting difficult to find the few that provide it these days. Very glad you are getting it corrected - you will love your new counters. :-)

Thanks Chess. I guess I became suspicious of the rep/fabricator relationship based on the fact that I received no response from HanStone when I said I had a problem. just an automated letter giving me details on how to file a claim with the fabricator. When I went back a second time and said that I had a question about a product I was thinking of purchasing, I heard from a live person right away. Also, instead of apologizing for screwing up, all the fabricator wanted to know was WHO was the rep and was it their local rep.

'The owner of the fabrication company is completely at fault here, and the fact that you had to go to such lengths to get the issue corrected, would leave me with a bad taste in my mouth. I would make damn sure they knew how I felt too. I used to be hesitant to speak up about things that I felt were not right, but these days, there is too much of this going on. Consumers need to stand up and speak up. I have no problems paying a good price for good work. But it's getting difficult to find the few that provide it these days."

Agreed!

Chess, about the HanStone leather finish, the rep described it as such...

"Furthermore the leathering on quartz is a bit different than what you would find with granite.. the leathering that we offer is more like what you would call suede or velour finish… the dimpling in the surface is very minuet… more like a matte finish wall paint vs. semi- gloss.

Aside from the fact that our surface will be 100% uniform…. When performing manually, its very difficult to keep it uniform."

Wish the salespeople knew this!

"more like what you would call suede or velour finish"

Yup. Which is NOT leathered. I don't know why they do this - so confusing for consumers!

Al Otto,

Since this a few months old and I'm new to Houzz not sure you will see this.

I'm having HanStone Serenity (polished) installed and at a loss about my backsplash.

I would love to see a pic of your countertops and brick backsplash. Assuming of course the company finally corrected the problem. So sorry you had to go through this nightmare, hopefully you now have beautiful countertops!

Al Otto, are you still happy with your Serenity? (and I'm so sorry you had to go through all that to get it!)