The Great Stone Debate (Again): Engineered Quartz Or ...

My philosophy (which is loose because there are exceptions to EVERYTHING) is that I prefer natural stone slabs in more traditional or vintage style homes (cottages, cape cod, bungalows, farmhouses, colonials, Tudors, etc). I also think that real stone is best in homes that were built before 1950 if you are remodeling an older home (pre-mid-century) My rationale is that quartz didn’t exist then so it stays more integral to the house. The real stone patina works with the age of the house, especially if you are trying to add charm. But if you have a midcentury, contemporary, or otherwise clean-lined and modern style home then IMHO you can do either real stone OR the right simple Quartz. Goodness, that sounds nuanced, but I feel really solid about this philosophy and have for years. I have had both in different homes and love them for different reasons. I love our leathered LA kitchen, in a 100-year-old English Tudor and I LOVE our white engineered stone in the kitchen at the mountain house (and so did Ken and Katie – it’s just SO easy to clean, feels fresh, nothing stains, etc.)

So early on, since this is a contemporary style home built in 2024, clearly new construction, we could do either. Due to Katie and Ken’s hesitation about natural stone, we all decided that engineered stone was the way to go for their family. Also, they were coming from a traditional home with a huge polished piece of white carerra on their island that got etched and stained very badly so they were reacting to that and did NOT want to repeat these stains. It drove them nuts and I wanted to reduce that pain point for them. Quartz it is!! But of course there is a twist in this story…

Two years ago I reached out to Caesarstone to partner on their countertops – mostly because I was super attracted to their concrete slabs which look SO GOOD and the movement looks really real. Max had used it before and loved it so we very early on “checked that box” (LOLOLOL b/c the box became unchecked).

At first, we chose based on these smaller samples. We are all attracted to the simpler designs with some movement, but not a lot of faux veining (sometimes that really works but not in this house IMHO). Before fully making the decision, I wanted to be triple sure about these, so we then went to EleMar (Tualatin) to see the slabs in person.

The concrete look still cleans up great and isn’t porous at all, just looks like concrete. We loved this one and the Black Tempal (below). Remember that they would both be horizontal (you won’t be looking at it like this).

We loved them both. They definitely lean contemporary and a little industrial, but the texture is organic, loose, and large in scale in a good way.

We hadn’t fully decided where they were going (a big debate over if you put the darker stone on the perimeter of the cabinets and the lighter stone as the island, or the other way around).

Then as the design of the house evolved I felt nervous about the kitchen. Like couldn’t sleep nervous. You see, we chose a simple white backsplash tile for the kitchen (it’s very pretty but being so neutral it wasn’t going to make a statement). I realized that this kitchen (while meant to be minimal) needed color. Katie is a bit scared of color and when we designed this house (like 3 years ago) the design world was far more neutral than it is now. So our super neutral and warm minimal house was feeling now like there wasn’t enough going on. Was it going to look just like the mountain house kitchen??? I still LOVE that kitchen and it was the original inspiration for this house, but we are in Portland where it’s so gray outside. We needed color! You can’t have a house like this then have an overly simple kitchen!

So we had two options: 1. change the backsplash tile, or 2. change the countertop stone in the kitchen. Again, the stone order hadn’t been placed yet but we had selected six different slabs from Caesarstone that we loved a lot for the entire house. At this point, we thought that the tile couldn’t be changed or it would hold us up due to lead times (LOL again, still not installed so we could have changed the tile) so I begged my brother and SIL to go shopping with me to find a dope natural stone.

They were hesitant to do natural stone, but I convinced them that their house, which they are obviously investing heavily in, can’t have a kitchen without color or a bold design choice. White tile on gray or black stone with white oak wood cabinets just was too neutral. I promised them that we wouldn’t go for a carerra or something light and we wouldn’t go for polished (which is easier to etch). Off to shop!

We went to two stone yards – Bedrosian and EleMar in Tualatin (both non-spon, but local businesses that are great). If you are looking to see Caesarstone slabs in person head to EleMar – they have a great selection so you can choose based on the slab and not a sample.

We went on two different trips and Max and I liked some of the same ones but disagreed on others. So finding three VERY large slabs that we all loved plus would work in the design proved challenging. It just meant a lot to all of us that we completely love whatever we chose.

…And Then We Found These Lovely Ladies

TADA!!!! Three emerald Quartzite slabs. My heart tripped with delight. The wood against them would be soooo incredible. It felt so Oregon to me, so “River House”, so “foresty”. Think wood cabinets as the trunk then the green slab as the tree branches. It would integrate so well into the overall look and feel of the house and the exterior (which is all trees and a river view). I texted the photos to Max and thank god he was enthusiastic, too. We all agreed that while this was our stone. I slept GREAT that night.

They came polished, so we asked our stone guys what would be the best, most durable way to have these slabs and they said to leather them (which is essentially sandblasting them, adding texture, and making them very matte). Then they would need to be sealed. They assured us that they wouldn’t etch or stain. GREAT.

Here is the slab installed (above), but not sealed yet (which is a whole other saga with a huge hiccup that I’m waiting to tell you about once we have a solution). This photo (below) has the seal on it so it became darker which we still LOVE.