I see why you are disappointed. I'm also going to disagree with your friend. I love the softness of the first slabs. Are there any other stone yards you can visit to see if they have the Taj Mahal in the pattern you like?

Keep looking until you find the one you love. Don’t just ‘settle’. Many places have websites that show what they have in the warehouse. Find something online; call them then make the trek to view it in person.

Your countertop is too important - and expensive- for you to “settle”. It’s very challenging to choose large slabs of stone that are vertical when you know they’re getting installed horizontally. And your home lighting is completely different from the stone yards. I know you are under pressure to make a decision but I wouldn’t buy a slab I didn’t love. Would you consider another stone or is Taj “the one” for you and your husband? Hang in there!!

Yes, for the last 2 months we have visited every stoneyard within a 2 mile radious multiple times. At this point, I think my husband is just fed up. Lol. Maybe I will just look for a nice backsplash. :)

"Yes, for the last 2 months we have visited every stoneyard within a 2 mile radious multiple times."

I'm really hoping you meant something more like 20 mile or 200 mile....lol.

Oops, yes, I meant within a two hour radius North and South. Lol.

New stones come in so keep searching. Look online as well and maybe find other stones you like and see if they have any coming in. They are usually aware of things soon to come.

which one is which? top one is the one you want?? If you like the bottom one better, and I do, then just wait. Or, get a good discount on the upper one because it doesn't seem to be the best quality.

when they cut the countertop from that, it's only going to be 24" wide, so keep that in mind.

this is Taj from my tile/stone yard. Love the movement in it.

.

I agree you should love it so keep looking until you find a slab you love. There are many new Quartzites being quarried take a look and see if one of those you like better

As others have noted, don't be pressured into purchasing something you are not obsessed about.

When we first started our search our problem was that we would fall in love with TOO many gorgeous stones (all quartzite), but none which worked in our space. We even purchased four slabs (two of each Labradorite Blue and Dolce Vita). Both of which we ended up exchanging, at the last minute, for our now stone (Cristallo)!

I have no doubt both you and your husband must be frustrated, but you might want to let your husband know that it's better for him to be dragged from one stone yard to the next (and the next) until you find the one you (both) love, as opposed to him hearing your disappointment, at what you ended up with, every time you're in the kitchen!

BTW: I LOVE the muteness of the first slab you posted (the one I believe you wanted?), as opposed to the super busy ones below it.

So, I'm assuming you love the 2nd pic, but that is the one with yellow undertones, correct? Did the distributor pull the slab out of the warehouse and close to the loading zone? Meaning, did you see the slab in as close to natural daylight rather than under the ceiling lights? It's possible it will look different in daylight than it does under those awful lights. I do prefer the movement in the 2nd slab more than the first, but I love the first one too... the first one is more muted, but it's elegant and understated. It all depends what the rest of your design is like. That being said, do not feel pressured that you need to decide and settle. That's a lot of money to settle on.

@megs1030, no, the OP loves the first slab which is more muted.

@shead, lol, that's what I get for responding on these threads before my coffee sets in. :)

To the OP, I really love both, they are a little different. But the 2nd one will be beautiful. And when it's on top of your cabinets, it will look different than how you are viewing it standing on its end.

You have to happy with your choice ..then remember it has to be installed properly ...there is a lot that goes in to the placing of the countertop ...so if you are bothered now with anything ...it will only get worse ...and fixing it with backsplash is not a good idea . Perhaps get another type of counter ...one that is perfect in the store ....?

Where's the picture of the kitchen and adjoining spaces ? What "darker counter tops and warmer tones" ? What is the flooring? Post some pictures of ALL the conditions

Maybe you could go to stone yards yourself and then take him when you’ve found something you love?

I thought I wanted Taj Mahal quartzite but (for different reasons other than yours) when I took a chunk home from the stone yard it was all wrong for the project. I looked at lots of slabs, wanted something muted without an obvious pattern but brighter and not too gray or tan, asked for alternatives. So I gave up and started asking for quotes for a white quartz, but wasn’t very excited about it and didn’t want to go back to Corian either.

Finally one stone place said there were other architects like me with the same concerns - unhappy with the natural choices available and didn’t really like quartz or Corian - and have been having success using a hard white marble quarried in Vietnam they keep in stock now for this reason.

I was not interested in marble but loved the slab, sample looked great on site, and I tested it with acids and stains to see how bad it was going to stain. It was surprisingly resilient and we are using it. It’s more translucent than quartz with no pattern, very bright with large clear crystals.

Jan, I think "darker countertops" was supposed to be "darker cabinets." Not sure though. Pics would help.

Oh thanks , yes could be a google mind read typo.

However..... what is the FLOOR ? :)

Its not uncommon for people to be on the wrong path altogether . Thus I ask .... whats the flooring? Pictures.... Yada yada

I have used both of these types of Taj Mahal. I used the lighter creamier one in the kitchen and the darker, more gray and more patterned one to reface a fireplace in a separate room.

I much prefer the softer creamier one and it doesn't look yellow. I have dark stained mahogany cabinets and a tone-on tone off white backsplash. My floors are site finished oak with a medium stain that leans orange. My lighter TM slabs have some darker brown veins and a few rust spot, which brought together the cabinet and floor colors.

The slab yards I went to were happy to bring a slab outside into natural light when I was ready to make a final decision. Did you ask to see them outside?

Adding that it is easier to find the gray-ish slabs than the lighter creamier ones. I went to several slab yards in Los Angeles and only one had the lighter creamier slab. There was a lot of 8 slabs and they were all on hold. I offered to buy 3 of them that day, cash if they wanted. They had to call the person/business that had them on hold and they released 3 and they were mine the next day.

I noticed that a lot of designer and architects will hold a bunch of slabs for future projects that might or might not happen, so don't be afraid to make an offer for them on the spot. The slab yards would rather sell today, than have a whole bunch of inventory on hold for weeks.

I too like the first one, creamy looking. I found alot of taj can look what I call dirty looking.

finding lighter less dirty looking gray slabs is harder, IMO

Just want to throw this out there - what about simple, solid color laminate with square edges for a sleek, modern look? That's what I've got, and I love it.

I know this thread is a few weeks old, but I want to add that I can confirm that much of the Taj Mahal quartzite on the market right now is skewing brown. A sales rep at Triton Stone told me this week that this is due to the slabs being cut from farther back in the quarry now and that the producers are actually processing slabs with bleach to lighten some of the brown tones in the quartzite. The lighter, creamy tones that were more desirable are harder to get now. I've heard that Taj Mahal is one of the more durable quartzites, not having as many impurities in the way of calcite deposits which can lead to etching as with other stones labeled quartzite. If anyone can confirm this information or has more to add, I would appreciate it. I'm also having a hard time with countertop selection. The lighter granites are failing stain, etch and porosity testing, and I'm not caring for the darker, more durable varieties of granite, thus leading to investigating Taj Mahal quartzite.

Dormelles, Taj Mahal is one of the more durable quartzites. This article is very helpful.

https://usenaturalstone.org/properties-of-quartzite/

Years ago I was looking a taj m. at various slab yards and it was a beautiful creamy look. About four years later when looking again and ready to buy it was coming in with a lot a gray making it look dirty to me. A really clean soft pretty creamy look became very hard to find as its popularity grew. Same thing happened to white princess at that same time period. Just the nature of natural stone and where it’s coming from.

I've noticed the same about Taj Mahal slabs that I've looked at over the last few months. Very gray, not at all creamy. @Aglitter, have you looked at White Lux, Chamonix or White Fantasy?

@megs1030 Thanks for the suggestions. We landed on soapstone as a final choice yesterday. Found a hard variety, 4 to 4.5 on Mohs scale, with the physical properties of non-porosity we wanted and coming in less in price than any of the quartzites, which though generally durable can still have flaking and porosity issues according to our fabricator. We might have gone with Taj Mahal had we liked the look, but it would have been low-contrast and bland compared to our other kitchen material selections.