I plan on posting pictures towards the end of the week. I used Basaltina on my perimeter countertops (quartzite that looks like marble on my island). I have sealed mine twice with 511 enhance and sealer in 8 months. It is absorbant when not sealed. It's a great choice at withstanding kitchen elements. It's commonly used in Italy and paired with Marble. We used our remnants for a bar area that had red wine, lime juice, lemon juice etc. left overnight (new Year's Eve Party) and it just wiped off with no marks in the morning.

I hadn't heard of this stone. isletoisle, are the "specks" shiny pieces of mica by any chance?

Basalt (basaltina) is a volcanic rock. The little specs are airholes created by molten lava which has been filled with resin, I believe..... You may want to check with someone more knowledgible.

Basalt is extremly porous. I brought some samples home and played with them and they were no go for me due to their porosity. It however, does not seem to etch.

I did not want to seal my stone. I do not want to use chemicals where the chemicals can come in contact with my food. This is not most people's criteria for stone, but this was mine.

Basaltina's color is very even and very beautiful. If you want a dark grey that is even, another option is quarzite. They may not need to be sealed. (I am not sure of this.)

Elba1 - I'm not a geologist, but most of the shinier specks that you see could be mica (or quartz). Either way, they're definitely a solid part of the stone, embedded during the volcanic process.

Some of the lighter spots in Basaltina are as Kaismom says, a filler that is used at the quarry (in Italy), because of the porosity of the stone. Basaltina is "filled and honed" before it comes to the US. IMO you don't notice that it's filler unless you're looking for it. It just looks like part of the stone.

We love Basaltina, and are so pleased we went for it.

Thank you. Kaiasmom, I have a sample of a white quartzite I want to use on a pantry/buffet piece - it is beautiful. On the perimeter cabs, I want to use a darker neutral with some shiny flecks. My fabricator said they can get anything, so I will ask where I can see a sample of basaltina. Thanks isletoisle glad to hear those are shiny flecks I was seeing - I'm still learning new things everyday on here - I will check it out!

The basalt rock I have seen doesn't look anything like the Isle2isle's basaltina, which I love, but more like soapstone...Dark with veining...sometimes white, sometimes colored red or green by minerals. I saw it in a sculpture park, where one stone in particular was round and cut flat, like a table. A very smooth and beautiful surface. I could see it as my dream, if-price-was-no-object island. :-)

Wow rhome, I would really like that, as I was hoping for something with movement like soapstone! Hope there is some to be had (and afforded) around here!

I tried to find on-line pics of the sculptures I was talking about, but no luck. His other basalt sculptures seem to range from light gray to striped black and gray to solid looking black. So it must be one of those things that doesn't have one sure look to it.

Thanks for asking this question remodel mama...

Can anyone comment-does basalt scratch like soapstone, or is it harder like granite?

isle2isle...thank you for posting your photos and telling us about your counters. I'm scratching my head over both sealing and oiling, though as I had thought one would do one or the other? I'm curious whether you are oiling for the look or perhaps to help mask scratches? How often were you advised to seal/oil?

In case this helps someone else--in addition to basalt someone at the stoneyeard suggested Pietro de Cardosa (schist) to us as an alternative to soapstone. He maintained the reason PdC gets a bad rap for etching is that people try to treat it like a soapstone (oil/wax maintenance) but that if sealed like a granite it would perform like a granite. I was excited about PdC until I realized I could still scratch it (not as soft as some of our soapstone samples, but the scratches still showed/made the PdC look kind of beat up.) Now I'm wondering if the guy meant that we were supposed to seal it AND oil it, not seal it instead of oil it...

PS Kaismom, you raise a point about chemical sealers that concerns me too. Have you decided on your countertop material? Thanks

Littlesmokie, we've not had any scratches on the Basaltina. It's been in our kitchen for about 10 months, and we don't baby it (but we also don't cut on it and we're not careless, like sliding boxes with staples across it, for example). We only sealed/enhanced our Basaltina, no oil. (The final pass on our sequence of sealing was Mineral Spirits, which is a mild solvent, but not oil. The directions on the 511 products said to wipe off the excess sealer and enhancer with Mineral Spirits.) Upon installation our fabricator suggested we should just use mineral oil on the Basaltina, period. No chemical sealers. Like kaismom we had a preference to go with something more natural, if possible, but we tried the mineral oil on a sample of leftover stone and most things stained (ie olive oil and red wine). So we decided to use the 511 products, figuring we prepare food on cutting boards, and serve it on plates/platters, so our food doesn't sit on the counters and absorb the sealer or anything. I like to think that the STONE absorbed the sealer, and what the stone didn't need we took off with the mineral spirits. As for ongoing maintenance, we haven't resealed it yet and I'm not sure when we'd need to.

Rhome, there's a lot of basalt in Eastern Washington that you've likely seen (driving along I-90 even), and in fact my DH really wanted to use that but no one cuts it it seems (or maybe it just wouldn't work for counters). Those "columns" are used a lot in landscaping in E. Wa especially and I did once see one cut flat and polished and it was quite beautiful, as you describe. But VERY different than Basaltina. Even though both are volcanic, the basalt in E. Wa can be either the brownish/red of the columns, OR the dark gray more porous stone like Basaltina. Maybe someone here on GW is a volcano expert and could explain this??! Stone from different states of the eruption/different temps or something?

When looking on-line, I noticed that some of this particular artist's pieces look like the columns, but the ones I saw were definitely cut pieces and were all-over dark. Maybe the sides were sand-blasted or something to expose the color. It seems like when I researched the sculpture park pieces when we first saw them that the Basalt was native to Washington. Anyway, if they cut it for landscaping and sculpture, I wonder why it can't be cut for kitchens. Maybe it is cut in a different method that's too pricey for cabinets, or maybe it can't go thin?

You're right, we can ask all day, but need to find someone who knows the answers... We know a man who brings in the columns for his landscaping materials business. Maybe he knows some of this.

I did see a few slabs of Pietra del Cardosa - they looked slate-like, or like soapstone without much movement - didn't interest me for countertops, but was thinking a piece would be nice as a base and/or mantle for a fireplace (we're adding a gas one). It is also from Italy, but now sounds like Basalt is from Washington?

"Basaltina" is the name of the stone from Italy; apparently there's a massive seam near Rome where the majority of "Classic Basaltina" is cut. "Pietra del Cardoso" is also from Italy.

"Basalt" is the generic term for the stone -- in it's natural state, resulting from volcanic eruptions -- and can be found in rock formations all over the world as just plain old basalt. (There happens to be a lot of basalt in Washington state, and since Rhome and I are both located here I mentioned that...sorry to add more confusion!)

Elba, if you've seen Pietra del Cordoso, well that's a lot like Basaltina. It was the only stone that was remotely close. So if you passed that up already for your counters, you may not find that Basaltina will work for you either.

I was also interested in Pietra de Cardosa (there are a few different variations to the spelling, but same stone). Do a search and you will find a kitchen on here if I remember correctly. You can find slabs with a great deal of movement and mica, very pretty. I checked out a kitchen in town that has it and it does scratch and dent. Basaltina does not have movement, which I wanted to contrast the movement of the quartzite on my island.

Thanks once again isletoisle and tanem - thinking maybe I should focus more on some of the leathered granites, and thanks to remodel mama for starting this very interesting and informative thread!

Coming in late to this discussion. Would love to know if Balsatina can handle a hot pan. Also - are there any natural/non-toxic sealers out there that anyone knows of? Thanks so much.

And if any of you who have had the basaltina could comment on how it has held up over time (and what you have done for treatment over that period) I would really appreciate it.

freeoscar - our Basaltina counters are now 6 years in, and have held up wonderfully! We've resealed 2 times (every 3 yrs at first, but from now on we're planning on every 2 yrs ...I think that as the years go by, more often is better). My process is in the original posts above. (Diane Cook I don't know of any non-toxic sealers...as mentioned in one of my early posts, we tried mineral oil on a sample but it wasn't enough protection for red wine, lemons, etc.)

We have one section where the majority of work happens (between cooktop and sink), and that's the only place I notice some minor scratches. Cutting boards sometimes slide around and another culprit I find is heavy jars (my hubby is always opening these and turning the jar on the counter and it drives me nuts! Just put a towel under it, would you?! BUT, he does ALL our cooking, so I don't say anything :), and truly our counters are overall still as stunning as day 1).

I've concluded that dogs and kids are easier to train than husbands :)

Thank you so much for the feedback.

And we don't even clean up the food scraps from the floor! Thanks for the feedback - I'd never even heard of these before and they could be an option. Am I correct to assume that they are priced in the soapstone range/nicer granite range (i.e. around $100/sq foot)?

i haven't been tracking costs these days but I just looked at the Pental site (we purchased in Seattle) and yes it's in the "high" price category, along with soapstone.

Hi @isletwoisle. thanks so much for your information about Basaltina. I have been stuck on using this for my kitchen and my contractor/fabricator are willing but hesitant. Still going strong about 9 years at your house? No issues with discoloration? When they seal the little holes, what does that look like? Let me know if it ok to contact you directly. Thanks so much!

Hi Wahoowa - we moved from that home (sadly!) 3.5 years ago, so I can't say now. I can only attest to the 6.5 years of success and enjoyment we had. I would put it in again in a heartbeat!! Just that one section my hubby used for all meal prep ever seemed to wear. Way up the thread in my first comment, first photo, is a close-up of the surface, but I'll look for a better photo of the fill in the next day or so (I THINK I still have some!) . You can contact me directly and maybe via email the photos will be better quality.

Thanks so much! I am not sure how to find your email. Mine is lhenkin@wakehealth.edu

Hello! I know this is an old thread but I am needing a little advice as to what to put on my Balsatina counters now that its been 11 years since we installed them. I too, like @isletwoisle above, saw it in the Pental showroom in Seattle and the hunt was over, I knew this was what we'd use in our kitchen. It's been great, love everything about it, we also get lots of compliments on it. I now need to know how and what to use on the area by the sink that has a little lightness from lots of use. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Hi Christina - "Miracle Sealants 511 Seal & Enhance" would likely bring back some of the darker color; it's available in quarts at Home Depot. The Pental showroom stone was "enhanced" (at the time we installed ours), and it was def a couple shades darker than no enhancement. We used the 511 product to achieve the darker color. This is the website for the Basaltina company in Italy - maybe they have some info....good luck! https://basaltina.com/

@isletwoisle I have the same issue with my basalt counter top. Installed about 10 years ago it's patchy and needs refinishing. It also chips easy being of a volcanic substance. I'll try the 511 sealant you suggest.

Thank you

HI all! Well, I got talked out of Basaltina (although I loved it) and we went with soapstone instead. I haven't sealed the soapstone because I want to keep the lighter color (like the basaltina). So, I am wondering, does the Basaltina discolor with oil? That is my biggest complaint about the soapstone, It is easy to wipe clean, but we do a lot of wiping. Just wondering how the Basaltina compares on that front. Thanks all. And who knows, maybe I will get basaltina for my next kitchen (haha).