Black Quartz kitchen worktop - yay or nay?

[ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba]

We are in the process of choosing a hardwearing kitchen worktop and pretty much settled on quartz (I fell in love with the black with mirror flecks)

If you have or had quartz please tell me if you are happy with it or not, whether you had any problems plus any advice & tips that would be useful.

Also what's the best/most reliable UK supplier

Black can be a bit domineering and can make a kichen look dark. Maybe not a problem if your kitchen is flooded with light though.

I have cream quartz with flecks in and it's fab. It will stain very slightly if you leave something like beetroot or curry on it for a while so wipe up spills.

Agree black might be a bit domineering, but wouldn't stain at all I'd guess

I'm not in UK so can't help there I'm afraid

I am planning on getting one too but just as a replacement as I hate the brown one we have in our new house

We have white cupboard doors etc and South west facing window

So keeping the cupboard doors etc just changing the counter tops

We have very pale grey. Hasn't stained at all (and I'm not that careful). I would have quartz, but I wouldn't have black. I think it would be too dark but have often heard people say black (certainly with granite, but as sure its the same for quartz) is hard to keep smear free / looking polished.

Thanks for replies.

We are going with black, it was whether we should have quartz or not

We'll have a large open plan kitchen/dining room/living room and the living room so black worktop is no problem as the walls will be white and kitchen units cream with just a bit of red for splashback.

I meant *and the living room is south facing so plenty of light coming through

I have black granite with flecks, although I don't know if it's called quartz. We have had it a few years and love it. Smudges show up so you have to keep on top with cleaning --but I'm not overly house proud. I don't know how to upload a picture or I would show you it

wombat

To upload photo you just need to go below the "add your message here" box, where it says "choose file".
Then you just choose documents or camera - it's quite easy. Then post.
Do try!

If yours have mirror or very shiny glittery flecks its more likely to be quartz, granite is matt in comparison - i don't mean the polished finished, but what's in it (if that makes sense)

Hope it works

Hope that helps Zing Thanks for the tip

We had a shiny black work top in a rental house. It looked amazing for the first 30 seconds after you had cleaned it. It showed every spec of dust that landed on it, regardless of how often I wiped it over.

It is very sparkly in sunlight

I haven't had actual quartz but our shiny laminate fake black quartz was my favourite of all our worktops. Yes you have to keep it wiped down and I tended to dry it with a teatowel to keep the shine, but it never felt like high maintenance.

wombat

Nice one! 👍
I'm pretty sure it's the same, we saw it in a show kitchen and it is so sparkly and the mirror bits act like mini prisms so you can see the colours of the rainbow and it was so very pretty. Itmade me feel happy, I think wiping it down would be a joy - and I hate housework!

almost

Do you know what yours was made of?
I have lived in a fair few houses with very different surfaces and in all honesty unless freshly cleaned all materials from stainless steel to wood to laminate to tiles will show dirt or crumbs. I'm not that worried about that aspect.

It's the durability I want to know - quartz and granite are both supposed to be very hardwearing, scratch resistant and heat resistant to a certain degree (not heat proof!!!)
But granite is natural so porous and therefore either easily stains or it has to be resealed - can't possibly be be bothered. Plus it is way more likely to chip.
Quartz has a bit of elasticity due to its resin content, plus it's man made under high pressure so won't have weaknesses that could cause cracks if banged by a heavy pot.

We looked at corian but it looks shit. So plasticky.

Anyway, thanks for replies, we have samples that arrived now, so I'll be testing them tomorrow!

I have it and do like it. The rest of my kitchen is cream.

Oh had it 7 years in a very lively kitchen, lots of cooking, parties, kids etc and there's no wear or tear whatsoever.

Well, I think this quartz journey might be over.
I've just cut a piece of baguette up on the samples (from Mayfair something and Silestones) and they have scratched horribly.

We have 7 children and there's no way they will be always careful. One accident or carelessness and that's it. Damn.

I don't know how visible the scratches will be on this photo, they are bad in real life

But would you really expect to chop directly onto your worktop? You wouldn't do that on any other worksurface (wood, marble, even laminate). You would always use a chopping board surely?

A close up (looks grey because of sun, but it's the Black Starlight)

Fuck. DH doesn't want wood, neither of us wants laminate or corian or bamboo or stainless steel or granite.
What else is there???

Concrete?

Well I would use a chopping board, but the kids, unsupervised? I cannot see they will listen and always follow The Rule.
You need one slip, one "sorry I forgot"
No way. I can't do that.

I have black granite in my kitchen. It was here when we moved in 7 years ago and was fitted about 5 years before that. I cut directly onto it, put pans on it, get beetroot all over it. We have never had any problems with it at all. We are going to be moving our kitchen to another room as part of a whole refurbishment project and I will most definitely be having black granite again (though I might consider with added sparkly bits after reading this thread!). We will have white gloss units and it is a fairly light room.

concrete?

Ahahaha! No thank you!

What's wrong with granite? It's super hard and you can get it with sparkly mica bits naturally in it. Mines black with grey and red bits in so it looks clean even when it's not