In my area HanStone is almost always cheapest if you pick from their Group I. Caesarstone & Zodiac and would be middle. Cambria and Silestone the most although with 6 pricing levels silestone would have some colors in the mid range.

Note all the quartz brands are made on the same machines so the actual material performance is all identical except for the honed colors which aree hard to clean relative to the polished ones.

At my area Home Depot, Silestone has a base price tier (A) that is lower than the base Viatera (B). And right now they have a sale that knocks an additional 10% off all price levels. I don't know if the same sale is being offered nationwide.

I think that the base colors in Silestone are nice; they aren't completely solid but have little tiny flecks in them. Quite liked it and would be getting the dark gray color if granite weren't available for less cost.

In my searches, this current HD price for quartz was by several dollars the best available from both big box and independents. The independents seemed to favor Hanstone. But, I think that Lowe's has recently brought in Silestone so maybe they are less. Menards advertises a lower price also from time to time for their house brand, but that doesn't include installation.

Oldryder, thank you very much for the info it was very helpful, especially the mention of HanStone possibly being less expensive. Believe it or not I have never heard of this brand and will check into it.

Raee, IâÂÂm going to HD tomorrow and will see if the store in my area is having that 10% sale, while there IâÂÂll give âÂÂAâ another look too.

I am assuming the countertop can be reused if son ever decides to replace cabinetry? There is an L shaped section in one area of countertop. Do they make it all in one piece or are there seams? Sorry for the duh questions, I have never had a quartz top.

This post was edited by jterrilynn on Sun, Sep 29, 13 at 20:39

Remember that with a lot of these quartz brands that you will have to purchase whole slabs instead of just the square footage that you need. HanStone is that way for us. If you need a vanity or have a two slab kitchen (most are) where there is a lot of waste, then Cambria is often a better buy than the HanStone, because our Cambria distributor only charges us for the actual square foot used. You need to compare more than just square foot prices, because that is deceiving. Compare bottom line quotes, with the exact sink you want, and the exact edge that you want. Very often, the low price per square foot place will charge you big for a sink and undermounting it, and charge more for edges, etc. so even if you can find something for $38 a square foot, by the time you buy the whole slab and add up the extras, it ends up being more than the $78 a square foot stone.

I priced out silestone, LG, and Hansstone at an independent fabricator and at big box (orange). The independent fabricator came out with the exact same LG color at about 75% more than big box! and Hansstone lower tier color even more than that. Lowes has a line of Allen and roth quartz that frequently has special pricing for colors, a great deal if they fit what you want. However, we found lowes seemed to have more / higher priced add on costs and some what deceptive sales tactics. Lowes and HD almost always have a free sink promo, but the sizes are limited.

Go to wherever you are considering with accurate measurements and have them price it out.

jterrilynn - In terms of your 2nd question ... I recently got a quote for my master bath vanity counter. I may replace the vanity down the road so I asked the gal who came out for the quote if it was possible to reuse the counter. She thought it would be doable if I were keeping the same size and placement of the sinks/cutouts. My MB vanity is just one long stretch of counter which would likely be more straight forward than a kitchen layout.

In an L-shaped layout, my guess is it would require a seam (all depends on your measurements). My concern would be breaking the seam upon removal and trying to redo it and have it look as good as originally.

If/when you get estimates I would make sure you ask about this.

(I plan to use Caesarstone Organic White in the bathrooms and Raven in the kitchen)

Well it turns out that I know less than I knew I didnâÂÂt know lol. I thought buying quartz would be easier than the exhausting granite and pricing search but I guess not.
Livewireoak, thank you for that, very helpful! I did not know with most brands I had to buy a whole slab. We only need 23sf .
Chrissy and Black Chamois, I think I will start my serious search with the company that did two different granite fabrications for me in the past. They do fine work at a fair price and have a display of several different quartz companies in their office/showroom. I had forgotten about their display until yesterday as I have only used them for granite. From there IâÂÂll compare the big box store bottom line pricing.

P.S. For those who used a light quartz feel free to post pictures and tell me what you like or don't like about it. Also, if you post pictures can you state what cm you have...2cm, 3cm or 4cm.

jterrilynn - Some places I have contacted sell half slab of Caesarstone too. Just fyi.

Oh, also try Ikea. I think the minimum is 25sf but the pricing includes installation.