I have Pental and am extremely happy with it. I have Coastal Grey which is slightly darker than your color.

I think Pental is less well-known because they only serve certain markets currently, and because they changed their name a couple years ago.

I don't think you'll find any quality difference. I would make your decision based on finding the pattern you like.

The only other thing I would say is to, regardless of provider, inspect each slab before buying it. Any reputable dealer would accept a return if you find any imperfection, but if you inspect first it would save you the transportation hassle in the unlikely event of either an imperfection or crack.

This post was edited by calumin on Fri, Aug 23, 13 at 10:49

Pentalquartz (formerly Chroma) is Vicostone, made in Vietnam, which may account for the lower price. Vicostone sells to other granite companies as well as Pental.

I started with Caesarstone in my remodel last year, but it was damaged on install. My Buttermilk slabs had resin pooling, so I switched to Pentalquartz Botticino because I could view my slabs at their Portland warehouse.

The Pental slabs looked fine in the warehouse and at the fabricators. On install, we saw faint circles of all sizes in the countertop, as if it had etched. It took months for the Portland warehouse manager to come out and look at the problem. By then, all gradually disappeared except for a 5 gallon sized circle near the sink. He tried cleaning and buffing, but I can still see it in certain light. He said he'd talk to the owner of Pental about some kind of compensation and get back to me. He never did. That was last spring.

I don't know if the marks came in the manufacturing process or from the fabricators. The Pental guy could not think of anything that would cause such marks. He talked about how the Chinese cut corners by curing their quartz at lower temperatures, and it spends less time in the curing ovens, so the resins don't achieve the same hardness and durability. But Vicostone does cure properly, and they also use the Breton equipment to manufacture their quartz. China just steals the technology.

In the end, it's beautiful and we're happy with it, despite a faint can mark. Not so happy with the customer service of Pental.

Mayflowers, are you still in the same house with your Pental quartz? How is it holding up? Any follow through on the circles? Who was your fabricator? Thanks! Looking to buy quartz for my kitchen in Portland...

There aren't any more circles. As for the 5 gallon can circle, I'm sure my fabricator set a can of acetone on it and etched it. I should have followed through with them instead of Pental. I didn't because you have to know it's there to see it and I wasn't going to have the counters replaced again. So I would recommend Pentalquartz. I've had no other problems in the five years that I've had it.

I used Elite Granite in Hillsboro. I'm not sure if they still do counters. The business was originally a granite headstone company and they seem to have expanded that part of the business. They weren't finding much profit in countertops the last time we talked to them.

I just installed in in my kitchen. Looks great.