Go to www.e-counters.com to get a really good rough estimate on silestone. Home Depot/Lowes are about $60-$80 per sq foot depending on the color.

For a while when quartz first appeared, granite was king and quartz was much cheaper. Now it's reversed, granite is ubiquitous and quartz is the high end stuff.

We lucked out 2 years ago in our renovation and got quartz just when it equaled the price of granite. Because of that, we were able to afford using quartz in our kitchen and all of the bathroom vanity tops.

Try checking with your local Costco, many of them carry the various quartz brands and they are much cheaper because of their volume buying power.

When we purchased our countertop mid-2008, quartz & granite were about the same. This is in the mid-Atlantic region (Maryland, to be precise).

Quartz is much cheaper than Granite here in SO CAL right now and I was told it was going up about 15%.. GRanite priced in half of what our estimates are coming in at Quartz . So that's why i want to shop around. I almost considered going to Granite but we were really sold on quartz for various reasons so time to shop around.

My countertop installer guys told me that the reason quartz is so expensive is not because of the cost of material but because of the extra labor required for fabrication and installation. Quartz is harder, more brittle, and heavier than granite. Its more difficult for the fabricator to cut and polish, and it dulls the tools rapidly. At installation, they have to send a three man crew for the same sized countertop that would require a two man crew if it were granite. This is because it is so heavy and its so brittle that its easy to break if they bump it on something.
The majority of the cost of countertops is for labor, so a 15% increase in material costs will not necessarily translate into a full 15% rise in the cost of your counters.
When it was first introduced, fabricators were not aware of the increased labor involved and so they bid based on the cost of granite. Now they know better.

I have been pricing both Quartz and Granite in the Chicago area I have found Quartz to be allot more expensive which surprised me. What poster everyrose said about labor makes allot of sense. I was sold on Cambria but fabricator said I needed a seam in my very small kitchen. Now I know why he did not want to pay the extra crew to carry it. One other thing Cambria is more a square foot but they do not charge extra for edge profiles. I found Silstone to be the most expensive but that was for a D level(newer color) and an ogee edge I have not priced Caesarstone. Zodiac was about the price of Cambria once I added the Ogee edge.

Lowes is having a sale until the end of Jan. 2009 on LG Viatera. The style C I am intersted in is $64.00/sq. ft. Does that seem about the best price for this product? The 2 I am considering are Sapporo and Morobe. Any pictures of these with a light oak or select hickory?

that's a great price since the price category D that I want is $74

I was told that my quartz was pricier than granite because I didn't need a lot and yet you have to buy the whole slab. So if you are using one slab plus a bit you still pay for two slabs.

I'm a kitchen dealer in the Midwest....my fabber stocks certain colors of Zodiaq, Viatera and Hanstone. Stock prices range from $60 to $70 per square foot plus some fabricating costs.

Silestone is not stocked with my company, so it costs more.

Beccamj - Interesting about being charged for the whole slab: I wasn't. I got to inspect my slabs before cutting, and was only charged for the square footage.

I have Cambria, and - around here anyway - they quoted $55 per sq ft, which was based on an eased edge. Other edge finishes were charged additionally. Plus there are upcharges for each cut-out (drop-in cooktop; sink etc), so that in the end it was the same price as a mid-priced granite. But I love my Cambria.

Oh, and it only took two guys to install it too. Although my kitchen isn't that big, so maybe it varied. They claimed it was no harder to do than granite.

Clearly fabricators seem to vary in what they tell people!

I went with The Great Indoors for my Caesarstone quartz. I needed just over one slab and they were the only ones that charged by the sq. ft. and not by the slab.

My cat. "C" quartz ended up being $60.00/sq.ft. installed. That also included the cut outs and the plywood install. Oh, and a free SS sink.

You also want to make sure you know who is doing the fabrication and install. I got to see the installers work in person because they did the kitchens at the Great Indoors.

Here in Minnesota I just had the Cambria quartz quoted at $80 per square foot for the quarry series. It was alot more expensive than granite. My kitchen will have 4 seams with the Cambria. That sure seems like alot. I am wondering how much I will notice all those seams. How many seams do others have?

I went to Lowe's yesterday. The LG started at $61 and went up from there ($72/$80/even more!) The one I loved was $80 sq ft and out of my budget. They aren't having a price sale at my Lowe's, but they do offer free sink and edge upgrade for LG. It includes one cutout and four holes for sink. You have to pay $250 for sink install though.

Silestone starts about $65 and ends at $95. Again, the one I love is $95. Blah.
Bummer, I really, really, really love quartz!

Lowes sale on LG ends Jan. 31 and on Group C which is 69./sq. ft. it is 64./sq. ft. Plus there are some Lowes coupons out there which will take another 10% off up to 500.00. I plan to cement mine on Friday. You are right about the sink installation cost for undermount 199/or 299---drop in is no extra charge. I just called there again and this sale is still on. The cost includes installation.
Hope this helps.

I wonder if it's a regional sale bc I asked if there was a sale price-wise and the salesperson told me 'no'! I'm not ready yet anyway, so hopefully that sale will come my way when I am!

Just curious, but has the cost of granite come down compared to 3-5 years ago? I assumed, based on comments that Quartz is much more expensive than granite meant that the price of quartz had gone up, but going by the per sq. ft. prices I'm seeing, these prices are a LOT lower than the $98 per sq. ft. for a square edge (forgetting the edge names now) that I paid in 2005. It was a black granite and a more expensive granite to be sure, but certainly not one of the near-precious-stone grade of granite at the time.
The cheapest granite at the time was a speckled grey and white one and that was $65.00 per sq. ft. for eased edges.

Curious.