Swooooon!

[Disclaimer: I'm a geologist]

The cut up pattern looks just like a textbook illustration of faulting. That pattern is called horst and graben and it comes from the rock being pulled apart. Personally, I love patterns in stone that show you what happened to it while it was underground. If I had that in my house, I'd be giving every guest a little lesson in faulting.

Link to the textbook diagram: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst_and_graben

FABULOUS!

Ha! Nice Karin! Faulting makes complete sense. I think it’s really cool and you certainly don’t wonder if it’s natural stone of not.

And there I was thinking I’m a “no fault” kind of guy! I’m always under pretty intense pressure though, does that count? ;^)

There's no mistaking that for man made!

DO IT!

Gorgeous!

I think it’s beautiful and would look great on an island.

What about matching seams where needed? I’ve got a very well respected fabricator and I’ve asked him. Fabrication, great, communication, no so much...

@karin_mt does this tell the OP anything about the properties of the stone (as crossbedding does)? For example is it more or less likely to be porous? It certainly is stunning and I love that it tells a story.

That is One Gorgeous Stone. I think it will look amazing on an island. Jealous!

I would want to know though, like Barbara said above, if it is porous or not. Though, shrug, if it is, that is what sealant is for!

I think it is pretty cool.

As for seam matching, I think the fact that the stone has lots of natural offsets would work in your favor. The offsets that invariably come with a seam would fit right in with the characteristics of the stone. You'd be able to tell the seam from a natural fault, but it wouldn't be jarring. I don't see any point at all in bookmatching that stone.

I took the images of your stone, duplicated one and then tiled them. This is what you get with not effort at all to match seams.

"As for seam matching, I think the fact that the stone has lots of natural offsets would work in your favor." Yep, it seems it would IMO too. That was my first thought when I saw it, in fact.

Cut up? Not for me, but I love anything that's unusual : ) That is wonderfully unique.

Did you do the testing recommended on the Geology threads by karin_mt? It could be a hard quartzite, but still be as porous as marble. Buyer beware.

Beautiful stone! Have you considered how you (or the help) will clean the center of a 6' deep island top? Is 3' a comfortable reach? Maybe with a narrower top you won't need a seam.

Yes, Mama Goose. That thing was massive 9 x 7 but thanks to THIS forum, save me from missing that! Waaaaay too big. It was nuts. Now manageable. I’m tall so I guess that’ll be my job!

Good question, Barbara, about porosity. When the faulting/fracturing occurs, it does make a rift in the stone, but that gets filled back in with minerals that are dissolved in groundwater. So the porosity may be just fine. But I would certainly test it. I did a quartzite test with pink dye and you could see it travel along a crack in the stone.

I'll check to see if I can look up which stone that was...

I have a degree in geology and I would be wary. We have a granite with some decent sized quartz inclusions and I am not impressed with the way the bedding (I.e. minerals around them) is holding up in our main work areas. Probably no one but me would notice, but it is starting to erode around the edges of the inclusion. Still looking for the right sealer to address the issue and haven’t found it yet. The area around the inclusions is a disturbed zone like a fault zone. Seems a reasonable possibility you could have a similar issue in the fault zones. But it obviously depends on the particular slab, as metamorphic temperature, pressure and what is filling in are all variable, possibly enough to make a difference even in the same quarry. It is a beautiful stone and I love the geology lesson it shows too!

You will need 2 bookmatched slabs for your size island. Be sure that is available. If the island was more like 60", you possibly could get it into to one. 54", for sure, one slab.

I have to say...I am so impressed with this forum. Never thought I’d have so many instances of great insights. A couple of instances that not only delivered education but save me from some big mistakes (and $$)!

Thank you ALL...

Thank you, cawaps, for taking the time to do that. I think your view is right. The island is 73.5" x 75" and the perimeter is a "U" 144" x 254". I like the discontinuous approach much better than bookmatching in this case.

Cawaps, I agree with you. The bookmatching looks weird. What is so great about Steve’s slabs is the “horst and graben” that Karin_mt referred to at top of this thread (I learned something new!). It’s BETTER than bookmatching - so much more interesting and spontaneous looking; somehow more free and beautiful than the confinements of bookmatching.

Can't wait to see how it turns out. They're moving along well now on the project.

In the even this is interesting to anyone and to the extent I can call any one element more critical than the other, we've got everything selected.

• Flooring - Long length white oak 4" w/ natural stain/finish. Sanded and finished in place. Roughly 2,800 sq ft of floor area. Loft and all bathrooms will be tile.
• Cabinets - Framed clear alder in a shaker style but with flat panel drawers. Color is "Tappenade" so almost black.
• Cabinet hardware - Top Knobs pulls in Honey Bronze.
• Countertops - Infinity white quartzite
• Kitchen Backsplash - TBD after countertops are installed
• Sub Zero 42" w/ French doors
• Bluestar 48" w/ 54" Best hood
• Dark gray fireclay apron front sink

I'll spare you more detail, but that's where we've ended-up as we build the airplane on the runway...

Those slabs are amazing! Great find!

Man, y'all are making me feel pretty darn good about those slabs. maybe I should buy all four that are available? ;^)

wowsers can"t wait to see some photos of the project.

Your selection is to die for! I've never seen anything like it, a real showstopper.

Well, all done! Not sure this will be seen by you excellent folks who offered so much good advice and encouragement but 9 months after our demo began, it’s done!

Quick share of some pics of the kitchen zone...

Just a coupe more shots...

It looks awesome! Congratulations on finishing.

Thank you for posting the after photos. Beautiful result.

Steve looks absolutely stunning! Beautiful job!!

Wow. The whole kitchen is gorgeous. And the countertops are stunning! You must be thrilled how it all came together!

Thank you all. I had 50 people over The weekend after moving back...needless to say, mad scramble to hand done art and whip-up some tasty bits...!

*hang some

Absolutely lovely. Congrats and enjoy!

So nicely done, and that Quartzite makes your kitchen - fantastic choice!

Thanks for kind comments. The stone turned-out incredibly nice. The fabricator was able to have only one seam at the faucet area by the sink. It took forever to find this material. When the fabricator was installing he shared how hard it is and how many blades he went through. Super happy about the outcome for sure.

That’s wowsa beautiful!

Beautiful!