What should I know about having quartz countertops installed?

[dennis thompson]

What should I know about having quartz countertops installed?
The one thing I do know is that they're very expensive.:eek:

Thanks

[Jim Becker]

It's an interesting product...kinda an amalgamation of solid surface and rocks. :) Just pay attention to the specifications about what you can set down on them, such as hot things, etc., and you'll be fine. (I don't know the specifics on that)

[Paul F Franklin]

Cabinet tops carefully aligned flush, and ideally, level. Cabinets solidly screwed to studs. Add blocking against the wall at the back of any openings, for example the dishwasher opening, or against the wall behind a corner cabinet that doesn't go all the way to the walls. Top of blocking should be flush with tops of cabinets. Know where any seams will be and add blocking (from back of cabinets to the front) near both sides of the seam(s) if the seams aren't near or over where two cabinets meet. If you have an island or peninsula with an overhang more than 12", add supports. I like the flat steel bars that mount to the front of the cabinets, run across the back (backs have to be notched) and extend to within 4" of the edge of the overhang. But you can use other types of supports as well; I just like to avoid knee-busters.

Avoid fancy edge treatments, they are prone to chipping. Full or half bullnose is generally the most durable.

Sinks may need extra supports (especially farmhouse type).

Heat is the biggest enemy of quartz. Never set hot pans on it without protection, and use a big trivet or the like under heat producing appliances, like a toaster over or slow cooker.

Enjoy! I love our quartz ct's.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

If you are fortunate to get a good company find a comfortable chair and enjoy the show. The crew that I use is very professional and points out any insufficiencies at the time of making the digital template. It is a nice product. I think you will like it.
Tiling the backsplash after is a bit of a tedious undertaking.

[Brian Elfert]

I spent $2006 on Quartz countertops for my smallish kitchen in Oct 2017. I found the work order and they charged me for 32 square feet of countertop so it cost $55 per square foot not including $250 to cut out for the undermount sink and mount the sink. (I bought my own sink, but they took the template to cut the hole properly.) I picked a color from the cheapest color group. I was thinking I paid less than that, but it was worth it. The old laminate countertop was so rotten from the previous owners that the sink was going to fall through eventually. (I had replaced cabinets when I bought the house in 2014, but I didn't have time to order new countertops so I put old ones back on.)

I bought Silestone through Home Depot. They sent someone out to measure digitally. When the installers installed the countertop there was a 1/4" gap from the wall along one section. They offered to either cut a new countertop and install it in a few weeks, or give me a free backsplash. Backsplashes are pretty much out of style, but I went with the backsplashes anyhow. Make sure the installers remove any excess silicone before it sets!

The installation crew installed blocking to support the countertop where required.

[Bill Dufour]

Our house has quarzite counters. It has two outside corners at the end of a peninsula. Unfortunately the corners are square and very little rounding off. They should have been radiused more then 1/4" so they will not break off it hit. Also save the heads of little ones.
Speckled lightly so impossible to tell if there is a crumb or spot of dirt, or not.
Bill D

[Brian Elfert]

Speckled lightly so impossible to tell if there is a crumb or spot of dirt, or not.


To me that would be an advantage if you can't see dirt due to the colors of the countertop.

[Bill Dufour]

To me that would be an advantage if you can't see dirt due to the colors of the countertop.
Yes and no. Dirt does not show but they always look a little dirty. Same with our solid vinyl floor that looks like wood. Is that grain or dirt?
Bill D.
I should not say they look dirty just they do not look 100% clean, ever.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

When we remodeled our kitchen 8 years ago, we had a granite countertop installed. It was interesting to watch the subcontractor make the measurements after the cabinets were installed. They set up a laptop and a laser and moved a marker from on point to another point on the frame for the countertops. Of course, they took the information back to their shop and fed that into a sorta CNC machine and it cut made the cuts. What was really interesting was to watch the guy manipulate the design for the cuts to set up the cuts to match the grain flow within the stone. It turned out incredibly well! Hire a professional!

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Who knew that resedential counter tops would evolve into a digital science for cutting, polishing, delivering, and installing stone and man made stone right in your home.

[Ronald Blue]

Check on granite as well. I don't recall what our granite cost us now but it's awesome. Definitely a buy once cry once thing. Sometimes they can be competitive with other types depending on the area,

[George Bokros]

We chose the quartz we liked for our vanity top at a price of approx $3,900. We got lucky and a remnant of the material we wanted turned up and our cost changed to just under $1,700. When they have to order a slab for your top you pay for the whole slab regardless of how much is used for your top. Ask to look through their remnants for something you like, it will save you considerably.

[Stan Calow]

They're the best choice. Granite is to fussy. For a long time, I used a cutout piece of the counter for scary sharp sharpening.

[Ole Anderson]

We installed quartz, not quartzite, about 10 years ago. Bullet proof. Doesn't need sealing like natural materials. Toaster and toaster oven sits directly on top, no issues. We used Cambria.

[Ronald Blue]

They're the best choice. Granite is to fussy. For a long time, I used a cutout piece of the counter for scary sharp sharpening.

What's fussy about it? Wipe it off with soap and water and walk away. As I recall they told us to seal it every 10 years or so. We are half way through our 5th year and wouldn't hesitate to put granite in again. It's more scratch resistant and it won't discolor if something to hot is inadvertently sat on it. Either can be damaged if someone is determined to do stupid things though. In the end it's personal preference because depending on where you are quartz may be just as expensive. They both have pro's and con's.

[Jim Becker]

Ron, we have granite (the shiny version) here in our downsize house and honestly, I dislike it a whole bunch compared to the honed granite we had in the baths and wet bar at our old house and even the soapstone we had in the kitchen there. Some of that has to do with the color which is a very busy light brown pattern which makes seeing any spills and dirt very difficult. I also just don't like the shine...it can be glaring at times. On the upside, heat isn't an issue if I miss a silicone mat with a pan which could be a serious issue for many manufactured materials. If we replaced it (and we're not going to do that in this lifetime), I'd do the honed/antiqued granite in a heartbeat as it's not shiny and has a wonderful feel to it. Of course, this is pretty subjective.

[Stan Calow]

when shopping for our kitchen remodel, I was told that granite is sensitive to certain common cleaning chemicals, and needed to be sealed periodically to protect against damage from them. No such maintenance issues with our quartz counters. And seams are hard to detect.

[Jim Becker]

Granite is indeed porous. We can see the water absorption under things like our silicone drying mat, etc., if water got under it. So yea...periodic sealing is a good idea. Other materials will have their own particular maintenance requirements so whatever one chooses or has, check out what's supposed to be done to preserve it over time.

[Patty Hann]

We installed quartz, not quartzite, about 10 years ago. Bullet proof. Doesn't need sealing like natural materials. Toaster and toaster oven sits directly on top, no issues. We used Cambria.

That is a very beautiful color. Do you some close-up pics of just the counter top?

[Brian Elfert]

Yes and no. Dirt does not show but they always look a little dirty. Same with our solid vinyl floor that looks like wood. Is that grain or dirt?
Bill D.
I should not say they look dirty just they do not look 100% clean, ever.

I have the same issue with my bathroom floor tiles. I chose a color not thinking about the gray streaks looking dirty all the time. My mother didn't like the white sheet vinyl in the kitchen because it never came clean. My father told her they would replace it, but it took him five years to follow through. My mother chose a color of floor that is white with gray streaks in it that look dirty!

[Jonathan Pace]

Quartz is resistant to heat. The binders used in around 10% of a quartz countertop slab aren't. As a result, if you leave hot cookware directly on a quartz surface, it may result in ugly stains.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I remember the first kitchen project that had stone counters. The client had a party to celebrate her new kitchen. She made a big lasagna in a Pyrex baking dish. To show off her granite she took it straight out of the oven and set it directly on the stone. The stone sucked the heat out of the Pyrex and it shattered into hundreds of razor sharp shards. The menu changed to take out pizza.

[Brian Gouldman]

If you live near an IKEA, and one of the colors/patterns they offer is what you want, then you can get a pretty good deal on Ceasarstone through them due to the volume they move through their stores. You can buy just the counter if that is all you want. As you can imagine, the company they actually contract for the work is likely the largest Ceasarstone dealer in whatever region the store is in. The main catch is you can’t make any substitutes to a color that IKEA doesn’t offer that is in the Ceasarstone catalog.