I trusted my fabricator (he was very experienced) - i didnt really listen to anyone in the showrooms. If you are unsure, you could ask yours for their thoughts/ opinions - they have usually seen a LOT - good and bad

FWIW I’ve had madre perla for 10+ yrs and have had zero problems

I have dolce vita. love it.

https://usenaturalstone.org/properties-of-quartzite/
The article is precisely from a geologist.
Crystallo, cristallo, cristalice, I have seen multiple names, that is a quartzite, and a great one, robust and won’t etch, but very expensive.

I have not seen any Dolce vitas, I wonder what other names that has. I love to hear happy customers with not stained quartzites, keep them coming thank you so much!

There are quartzites that are hard, but are still porous and those need to be sealed or they will stain. Karin_mt showed some tests in her Geology threads from a few years back.

I've had Taj Mahal quartzite in 2 kitchens with no issues.

There are definitely problematic quartzites that are prone to staining but not etching, like White Macaubus or similar. I try to avoid those when specifying. I have not had any issues with Iceberg (expensive!), Taj Mahal or Madre Perla. Cristallo is another name for Iceberg and it is a quartzite.

It's quartzite. Or it's not. It's marble. Or it's not. Vendors make up names, often without consistency between yards. You need to do your own due diligence and test the slabs yourself. Don't rely on information from random strangers on the internet. Just look at the above posts from two "pros":

"Taj Majal is quartzite. Cristallo is not. "

" Cristallo is another name for Iceberg and it is a quartzite. "

Which one to trust? Neither. Do your own testing on the slab you are interested in.

My sister got Iceberg and was told it was quartzite. Nope. Chipping and etching. Like catbuilder said, do your own due diligence.

You don't need to destroy a slab to test it inconspicuously. Do it please.

OP thank you for sharing this question. I want quartzite for my upcoming kitchen remodel and I have read all the Houzz threads about Blue Ijen and Tempest Blue quartzite but it is difficult to know what you are looking at at stone yards when they use different names. My family is simply not designed to have a kitchen with marble or anything that is hard to maintain and after so many threads on Houzz where people throught they were getting something stain or etch resistant and then it turns out not to be the case, it is disturbing!

To clarify, the industry does use 'Calacatta' as the cross-cut version of Macaubus White quartzite. To OP: Calacatta/Macaubus is actually a very light grey, not white. One could lighten it up by opting for a honed (vs polished) finish, which is what we did years ago.

Thank you everyone for your insightful comments.

Yes, there is so much confusion out there, and that's what is frustrating to me, why so confusing.

I did do testing on 3 of the slabs and so far intact: lemon, ketchup, oil, wine, vinegar and raspberries (one post here had a problem with some raspberries!! ak!) and also scratching them with glass, so far zero effect. I will be getting a sample on the Calacatta/Macaubas Quartzite that is stunning but let's see how it holds up to all the testing. If it passes the tests, I will still probably not place it in the kitchen but maybe for the master bathroom, that should be safe?.

Hope the fabricator will have to do a good job sealing the holes, and that's another topic and I won't get there so we don't get too heated :D

rosee_bv:

It is possible to get a quartzite that passes all your tests, yet after fabrication still gets darkening edges. The stone industry refuses to regulate this or even acknowledge the problem.

Rosee_bv did you get the Macaubus quartzite? I’m considering Calacatta extra suede quartzite but I’m leery. I told fabricator if they think it’s a problem I’ll chose something else. I do like it a lot but I’m not asking for problems at my age. Thanks for any input.

Javiwa- wondering if you got Calacatta quartzite - cross cut Macaubus? How is it holding up for you? Thanks for any input.

Hello, no my fabricator talked me out of the Macaubas, we ended up with Taj Mahal and Cristallo, total of 12 slabs so I didn’t want to risk stains then having to rip it all out. Calacattas and Macaubas look so gorgeous but after reading all the nightmare stories and seeing all these stain around sinks and edges I couldn’t take the risk.

Thanks Rosee_bv. Sounds like a wise decision.

12 slabs? Wow! Very happy with my 2 slabs of Taj.... awesome countertops!

Here is our kitchen with the Taj Mahal slabs.
I couldn’t be happier with it. When I see raspberry “stains” wiped cleaned in an instant I always remember oh good thing I didn’t go with a soft quartzite as the initial slabs we had selected (Calacatta Montreal and Macaubas), absorbed tons of water right before fabrication during a storm, they were horribly stained just by water so i thought if water goes in that easily everything will too.
So we decided against it and switched to Taj Mahal, very very grateful for the switch. I love it, and I never have to worry about it. We cook a lot, and we treat it nicely but without having to worry about about it.

On the playroom and pool bathroom we went with Blue Louis and also seems extremely robust and we LOVE the colors. So fun! Really happy with my choices, I spent months researching but definitely worth it.