P Wani: I saw Skara brae today at the Cambria showroom and it is absolutely STUNNING! I can only imagine what your kitchen looks like in person!

I am wondering how you are liking the Inverness Frost? I fell in love with it today, but am a bit concerned about the textured veins. If I had it on my bartop, I wonder if they would make writing on a piece of paper difficult since the surface isn't completely smooth?

A note for everyone else reading this thread: if you can go to a showroom and see the slab, it is absolutely worth it. Inverness Frost, for example, looked completely different in person than it does on Cambria's website. I found the same thing to be true at the MSI showroom when I went to look at Calacatta Arno. Was so happy I was able to see everything in person.

@zoey3344 You haven't found the textured veins to be an issue in the kitchen? It's the only think holding me back from pulling the trigger on it. It was so beautiful in person. The perfect warm white and such lovely veining!

@Jen Gawne I love the textured veins. It looks more real and they are fun to touch. The pieces that have texture are not very frequent on the sheet though (I kind of wish it was more frequent). There are whole sections that have very limited veins. Because of this, I think on a bartop a large portion will be very smooth and should not really impact writing. The longer term concern for me is how they collect dirt since I'm using inverness frost in bathrooms and laundry. So far this hasn't been an issue.

For all those commenting on picking slabs, etc. please remember that Cambria slabs all look the same. This is not a natural stone so there is no variation. What you see in pictures or showroom is what you get.

@zoey3344 - that is correct with Cambria, but other quartz manufacturers do have variation between slabs and I was told to pick from the same lot.

In fact, I ordered sequential slabs from Hanstone.

@zoey3344 My experience was actually different. Yes they are man made slabs but these are made by people. Pattern on each of my Skara brae slabs was different from each other (every one of them). I bought 4 slabs. Color was slightly different too. Of the two Inverness slabs one was definitely warmer / yellower than other too. My fabricator said always order all slabs that go next to each other at the same time to minimize variations. The patterns on each slab are placed manually by people so every pattern is different (which I like).

I'm sorry, but I have never heard of skara brae so I can't comment on it. However, my designer, fabricator, and several of the stone companies I visited in the area would be very surprised about your comment on the variation in the Cambria Inverness. The slabs are not actually handmade; they are "manmade" meaning they are manufactured versus natural. I watched a great video by Cambria on how they make the slabs. I guarantee you that there are not individuals sitting in some back room squiggling designs in huge pieces of quartz. The slabs are made in a factory under strict quality control.

In fact, the uniformity and consistency of the slabs is exactly why Cambria gets such good reviews (as opposed to MSI which gets bad reviews because the samples not always representative of the quartz.

But, I don't know who you are buyi g your Cambria from.

You might want to be sure you aren't

buying a knockoff. That's what it sounds like.

I think there can be variation if the dye lots are diff,etc. Quartz is a man made stone, so it is not at all surprising to see variation between slabs. Again, Cambria is better than most esoecially compared to MsI

Jen, you asked me about cleaning. It's no problem. There aren't a lot of crevices. To the person concerned about writing on her bar: why don't you just use your desk?

@zoey3344. I can only speak to my experience not what I've heard second hand from others. I purchased slabs and they are all slightly different. They are not knock offs.

Here are some pics to show slab to slab variation, this is in an order placed together.

No, it's never a good idea to listen to nonprofessionals about a product. Cambria does not have multiple molds for slabs. A slab is one pattern. You get what you see.

@zoey3344 that's what I thought too- all quart was the same. I'm not suggesting the pattern looks necessarily look different, but it certainly looks different on the slab versus on the sample- which is why I suggested viewing the slab. For example, when I went to MSI, I found out that Calacatta Arno looked VERY different depending on which manufacturer made it as well as different depending on 2cm vs 3cm with the vein colors. The salesperson at the actual MSI warehouse was the one who game me the heads up to the issue. It's why we didn't order the Arno, and have gone a different direction.

I didn't notice differences in patterns at Cambria, but I did notice a big difference in what it looked like in person vs what it looked like online or even in the (fabulous!) magazine they published with their different quartz options. Again, their rep was the one who encouraged me to come visit the showroom to see it in person.

I can only speak from my personal experience, but I am really glad I was able to visit the showroom and see what the slabs looked like in person. I know not everyone has the luxury of living close to giant warehouse showrooms, but I am happy I do as it helped make my decision easier :)

This thread has been so helpful! Thanks so much everyone for sharing your information on Cambria. It makes me feel a lot more comfortable with our choice! :)

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/6271996/inconsistency-w-cambria-britannicca-1st-slab-is-g8-2nd-not-close

Yes. There are minute differences in Cambria because it is manufactured to specs (unlike natural stone). I am.ost selected MSI, but learned through several fabricators that they have a reputation of not having the best quality control because their samples don't always accurately represent the final product.

Good luck! I know you'll love whatever you select.

@zoey3344, are you able to share some images of your kitchen with Inverness Frost installed? i'm about to place an order but would love to see a couple IRL pics in a kitchen! :)

@zoey3344 yes would love to see kitchen photos if you have them. Did you take it up the backsplash or did you do a tile backsplash?

I just saw Cambria Iverbess Frost and I was so impressed with it. I’d live to see it in someones kitchen before I take the plunge. Looking fotward to seeing some pictures. Great informative thread.

tomgreene - good luck with your project- i havent seen a photo of a kitchen but if you scroll up in this thread there are photos of a bathroom which could also help.

zoey3344 - Are you able to provide pictures of the Cambria Inverness Frost and the Cobalt? I would love to see them both.

@zoey3344 I'm about to order inverness frost. Any updates if you still like them. Share a couple photos if possible. There are minimal pictures on the internet.

I'm attaching some pics. Hope they help. This is Inverness Frost. My cabinets are a soft warm white "chalk". Not hard to keep clean at all.... I guess if you are going to roll pastry dough directly on it it would be a problem. Everyone who sees my counters is blown away. They love the debossing. Invent decided on a backsplash yet, but definitely no subway...teminds me of my high school gum dhpwrt room

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Thank you for sharing! Looks fantastic! Curious what hardware you went with?

FWIW, I'm using Silestone Ethereal Dusk (sueded finish) in my own master bath remodel, currently in the works. I find Cambria's patterns to be way too busy, but that's my own personal taste. I'd rather have colorful, decorative tile be the star of the show.

I went with Top Knots, but can't remember the name. I like Inverness because it's just so darned interesting. It's inspired by glaciers. And it doesn't pretend to be something it's not, such as marble. It's just itself. I couldnt capture the tiny sparkles in the debossing, but it's subtle and special.

Looks great! Thanks for sharing the pictures. It is quite the investment to not be sure on my decision. I will get mine in about 6 weeks so I'll have to remember to post some pictures.

Please do post pics! And it's Top Knobs ( not Knots)

Stephanie, it's really prettier than shown in pictures. For some reason, men go nuts over the debossing! You'll see what I mean about the sparkles.

You are going to love it!

@Cagla Pekel Kanier how is the Smithfield holding up? We just received our 10x12 sample last night. Wife and I are concerned it may be too cool of a white. We are leaning honey maple shaker cabinets with white counters, stainless appliances, matte black pulls and stainless sink with matte black faucet. Backsplash is likely to be Montauk Sky Blue (super light gray/blue). Thoughts?

This design is our inspiration:

https://www.houzz.com/photos/a-modern-farmhouse-eagan-mn-white-birch-design-farmhouse-kitchen-minneapolis-phvw-vp~184805045

I just commented this on another thread, still don't think those look natural compared to Calacatta Bellezza quartz. You should look into this stone If you are looking for something subtle and elegant with neutral veins.

@Bruce Mcgaughey its been a year of Smithfield for me and i love it so far. Its easy to take care and its just the bright white that matches my cabinets. I had 2 chips on the edges but all due to us dropping heavy items, and i called Cambria they will take care of them. Its very white, if you want something more creamy i’d suggest you order samples and put it next to your cabinet samples and examine during different times of the day. Its better if you put everything together with the backsplash as well. I went with Smithfield as the backsplash too and i think it makes a huge difference visually and its so easy to take care of. I can send you more photos if you’d like once i’m home. I love your inspiration photo to me this also looks like white not creamy but i cannot be 100% sure as the cabinets are maple. My cabinets are not creamy so when i put creamy stones next to it - it bothered me- i felt like it would look like stained teeth :) hope this helps, and good luck with your choices!

@Cagla Pekel Kanier Thank you! Yes please more pics!

@Bruce McGaughey : here i found some photos from my phone to show you the white next to stainless steel and my hardwood floors.

Here are some more photos- i had guests and i didn’t have a chance to clean so here are some close up photos hope it helps:

@Cagla Pekel Kanier Thank you again for sharing! Love it. The large samples we've seen thus far haven't been very representative of the veining I see with your pictures--they've been mostly white. Really good to see that's not the case with larger pieces. We love it, but are falling victim to self-inflicted scope creep! Smithfield is still top of our list, but are going to have to look at a couple of similar options to get some price comparisons. The tough part has been finding anything we like that IS similar.

We're still hunting for alternatives, but found MSI's Carrara Morro and Calacatta Vicenza. They are similar, but not the same bright white and the veining doesn't look quite as natural to me. We're going to have those bid along with a revised Smithfield once our cabinet drawing is complete this week (we made some changes). Hoping the price difference isn't enough to make it a tough decision as I really want the Smithfield.

If you looked at similar whites and want to point me to something, please do. Thanks again for your time and for sharing.

@Bruce McGaughey : I’m happy to help! I liked one MSI but i found it very hard to work with them as they were out of stock and their slabs were on the smaller side mostly. And there are mixed reviews online so i couldn’t risk it.

Good thing about Cambria their slabs are big so you can have less seams etc. (I only have one in the main kitchen area) Not sure where you are located but I’d suggest to contact Cambria and ask their suggestions on whom to work with. They suggested me a great company and that company had Smithfield already, and they didn’t charge me the whole two slabs and 3rd for the back splash - they charged per the size they use. I didn’t know two fabricators could quote me so differently but it happened.. I also read the fabricators reviews online to ensure they are very good.

Rather than Smithfield i also really like Colton but it was creamer than my cabinets white. Then i leaned forward to Inverness Frost but the white wasn’t as bright as Smithfield and the veins were more dramatic.
I really liked Silestone Ethereal Glow ( i saw it installed at Lowes) the base is the same white but there are more straight veins. I actually made up my mind first time to have it installed but it was out of stock and lead time was horrible as they come from Spain.

Overall i highly suggest you get Fabricators names from Silestone and Cambria and visit them - they might already have some slabs that you might like. Also get quotes from them as you might be surprised how different they are!

I really like Cambria as they are made in USA, reputable and they have a great warranty! I recently found out they come over and fix the little chips on the edges.

I’ll try to find some other threads i opened regarding silestone and tag you so you can see the photos as well.

Hope this helps & happy building your kitchen! Its very hard, and not having a kitchen sucks but it’ll worth it in the end and you’ll forget all about it!

Never mind this is the thread, and there are some photos on this thread that i shared:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5925371/cambria-smithfield-quartz

Smithfield looks white from far but when you get closer you see the sand like veining which is subtle.

Does anyone have photos of Silestone indigo Ethereal or any of the silestone Ethereal counters? Also of these counters with encaustic pattern tiles on floor?

I just installed Cambria Inverness Frost in my kitchen and fireplace surround. So far, I love it. I still have the plastic on the perimeter while my backsplash is getting installed but the island and fireplace look awesome!

@M F
Thank you for sharing looks amazing!

MF: Beautiful!! Great choice.

@M F It looks AMAZING!

We ended up using Inverness Frost in our kitchen and actually ran it up the backsplash as well. It looks beautiful. Cannot recommend it enough. I'll try to upload pictures later if I can find them!

@Jen Gawne

I considered that. Please post some pictures!

Everyone's pics look great! I would love to see more! @Jen Gawne, did you find your pictures of the kitchen with the Iverness Frost running up the back? Would love to see them! Thanks!

Hi Cagla - your finished kitchen is beautiful! Could you possibly share which white you went with for the cabinets to match the Smithfield?

Hi Katie, thank you its the white from St.martin - like the real white version of it let me see if i can find it on the website

@katie adler Mine is bright white.