Quartz vs Quartzite

I love the look of granite, but it doesn't come in white. Enter marble, quartz, or quartzite. Yes, there's a difference!

Granite: natural
Marble: natural
Quartzite: natural
Quartz: man-made

According to this article, quartz is stronger, comes in more colors, and is maintenance free.

We also looked at Dekton Ultracompact (loved the Glacier color), but were concerned about a Consumer Reports article that mentioned cracking.

So here's our pick: LG Viatera - Muse. Made in the USA and comes in jumbo size.

http://www.lgviaterausa.com/products/289/223

I learned the following things along the way:

Go look at the whole slab. It makes a huge difference. You have to see the veining patterns, in the closest possible way to how your countertops will look.
I learned this from our GC: take a few steps back and spend a minute just regarding your choices. Don't forget to breathe deeply!
Take the biggest sample you can find, and pick a matching backsplash. Do not pick a backsplash without a counter sample. There were things I initially thought would work that, once side by side, absolutely did not work.
Take your samples home and spend some time with them. Look at them at different times of day under different light conditions. We were pleased that our selections looked good even at night!
Round the edges. After all this time and money, if the edges chip, I will promptly kill myself. So we'll go with a bullnose or small round edge, on both the top and the bottom.

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