I'm sooo relieved. I thought you were venting your sorrow over what was purchased and installed. Keep looking. :)

We looked at some today in Atlanta. *sigh* So beautiful. Wish it was in our budget and we're still going to get a quote for fun but he said to expect it in the $120-150 sq ft range (as someone warned me on this board, so I was sad they were right, but also glad I had a little knowledge up front).

Good luck! Once you find it, you'll forget this experience. :)

I looked at http://surfaceanddecor.com/ (but for backsplash tile). They seemed to have a lot of different counters on display

Here is a link that might be useful: http://surfaceanddecor.com/

lovetodream - I may decide it's just too much once I get a quote, but I keep telling myself I'll be able to do it since I have a small kitchen.

Can someone explain "a square foot" to me so I can get an idea what my kithen will take? After I measure the linear feet, how would I turn that into square feet?

Rosie - You're right, that would be bad :) It's also a big fear I have.

Kate - That's exactly how I feel...the granites are busier than I want. Which quartzite did you go with?

Karen - Thanks! For some reason I'm having trouble getting the site to come up, but I'll check again later.

This is how I figured it out. Change feet to inches. Say you have 10 feet, so 120. multiply by 25.25 or 25.5, depending on your overhang. So 120x 25.5 = 3060. Then decide by 144. = 21.25. You would need 21.25.

Check out Taj Mahal quartzite too as it is very similar to MP, unfortunately it is just as expensive. We love it and I was told it was very similar to madre Perla and so far just as bullet proof.

I went with Taj Mahal quartzite!!!! It is beautiful & I used it on our bar and perimeter counters. We are using a very distressed walnut for the island

I've seen pictures of Taj Mahal and I can't tell the difference between it and Madre Perla, so I'd definitely go with either one.

Thanks, kitchen_maman!

I am pretty shocked reading the price quotes you are all getting for quartzite. Here in Miami the price range for quartzite is from $30-$80. I think it might be that they come right from Brazil to the port of Miami. They come by the boatloads and the yards are full of them. I have walked so many stone yards in Hialeah and they are chock full of them. Here in Miami wealthy South Americans are buying up cheap (to them) condos and real estate and gutting and renovating so the demand for granite, marble and quartzite is always there. I personally got my quartzite for $27/sq ft thanks to my fabricator. Seriously it would behoove to look in Miami and have it driven to you. If you need 3 slabs like I did that's like a savings of $20,000. I think the average slab is 9x7 ft, x $27/sq ft, x 3 slabs. Do the math. Even if you go with a higher per sq ft price of $75 the savings are still substantial...just short of $10,000. I don't know who you would get to drive it but perhaps the yards themselves know who will do it. I have personally seen some gorgeous slabs of Madre Perola in person here and they were positively dreamy. I almost went with it but my cabinets turned out with more of a yellowish tone and the Gold Macauba went well. I am in Hialeah a few times a week with my my renovation and if anyone wants me to snap a few pics of quartzite slabs and get a few quotes I'd be happy to do so. BTW when factoring your countertop costs, here in Miami you buy the whole slab regardless of how little you need. You buy the whole thing. Not sure if it is done that way all over but find out first before you calculate your costs. Also, the price did vary depending on the "type" of yard you went to. One "designer" stone place called Marbles of the World had quartzite slabs for twice the price of other yards. These types of places are frou-frou beautifully interior decorated showrooms where the sales girls are dressed to the nines and offer coffee and pastries while you wait and all their slabs are kept in an indoor, air conditioned warehouse. If been to both types. The one I eventually bought from was outdoors just north of Miami Airport, dirty, complete with junkyard dogs and hardly anyone spoke English. My fabricator is bilingual and he came in very handy. The slabs there were just as gorgeous and probably came off the same shipping container. Just my 2 cents!

Forgot to mention, the only quartzite I couldn't find is Luce di Luna. That was my favorite and was what sent me off on my quartzite hunt initially. I've read that some quartzite comes from Canada so perhps that is one of them? I couldn't find it anywhere. It's just gorgeous. Someone here on GW has it, can't remember who, but it is nowhere to be found down here.

Sochi has the Luce di Luna....her kitchen is to die for!

Here is Taj Mahal at our local company in CA:

Firsthouse you must live in the Bay Area. I purchased my Taj Mahal (polished) from Da Vinci Marble. My fabricator was able to get about a 15% discount on it. Da Vinci calls it a Granite but it is a Quartzite - and bomb proof. It passes the glass test and has yet to stain or etch. Lemon juice, wine, mustard, even a wet fluorescent pink sticky note left sitting overnight on it has not harmed it.

In DFW the quartzite is hard to come by. I called around and found it at IMC & Walker Zanger. WZ had Luce de Luna, which we used. It was a budget buster!

Have you tried Atlas? That is the one stone yard I didn't visit, but was told by many that they had a huge selection.

IMC had the most of the higher end granites, and Lackstone, across the street I think, had a lot of unique granite too.