Why We Chose Quartz Countertops • Robyn's Southern Nest

Today I wanted to share with y’all why we chose quartz countertops for our kitchen update. It has been almost a year since we updated our kitchen, so I thought it was due time to share my thoughts and review of our quartz counters. I knew straight away that I wanted quartz countertops when we were designing our space. I had done loads of research on granite versus quartz. One of the best selling features of quartz is its durability and that it does not have to be sealed. Quartz is a man-made material that is essentially a crushed stone that has been bound together by a resin or adhesive. I love the look of marble so I wanted to choose a quartz that looked very similar to Carrera marble, without the price tag or upkeep of marble.

The contractor that we worked with had a countertop company here locally in Georgia that he recommended. There are many varieties of quartz companies/suppliers to choose from but ultimately we chose a company called Titan Quartz. I believe that they are out of Hollywood, CA. They were definitely in our budget and had some beautiful slabs to choose from. Our salesman was very frank with us and said that you’re honestly paying for the brand-name with most of the quartz companies. Because they didn’t have any large slabs for us to see there, we drove out to Titan Quartz’s warehouse/showroom in Norcross, GA on a Saturday morning. Keep in mind before we went in, we noticed that their parking lot shared an alley with the Haunted House called Netherworld. As we got closer we saw a giant Frankenstein statue, a herse and gargoyles strewn about their alley. It definitely gave me the creeps since the parking lot was so desolate. It was like the start to a horror movie. When we entered the showroom, we were thinking that it would be more of a display showroom in the front room, however we didn’t see any slabs in sight. The nice gentleman who didn’t speak much English showed us the brochure and I pointed to the ones I liked. My husband and I were both looking at each other like, did we just drive an hour all the way over here just to look at a brochure that we had already seen? I then asked if they had the slabs anywhere, to which the gentleman waved us back down a long weird very white hallway with lots of doors that had rooms with no furniture or signage. Looking back on it, it was like I was in a bad dream. We finally went through a door to the back of their warehouse and loading dock with loads of slabs to choose from, we were both so relieved!!! Now we’re in business!!! Whew!!

We narrowed it down to three that we liked, but ultimately chose the one called Carrera White. It had the least amount of repetitive pattern and really resembled Carrera marble. The background also was more of a gray tone instead of pure white which I thought would be a nice contrast with our cabinets and backsplash to break up the pure white. I highly recommend choosing your counters based on the slab because the ones that I thought I liked on the sample tiles were completely different when I saw them in slab form. I’m so glad we made the semi-creepy trek to Norcross to pick it!

The quartz has been an absolute dream! It does not settle in any stains or watermarks. It’s very easy to care for. The only thing that the salesman told us to be careful of was high heat with cast iron pots. That they could transfer if you set one down on it. Not that I would ever put a hot cast-iron pot on them! They do very well with heat, but again I’m not one to put a scorching hot pot right on them. I clean them with a granite cleaner that I purchased from Grove Collaborative. You can use my code here to get 5 free products when you sign up! It’s the only cleaner that does not leave streaks and they end up looking sparkly fresh! So typically I will use a antibacterial cleaner after cooking and then go back in once a week with this granite cleaner. For the most part I just use water and a damp cloth like these. I try and stay away from any harsh chemicals, so no bleach or ammonia or anything like that!

We only have one slab piece in our kitchen that had to be sealed together because our back counter is so long. As you can see, you can barely notice where they are sealed together below. I am careful not to spill around this area just so it doesn’t stain the sealant.

Overall I highly recommend Titan Quartz. They have really beautiful slabs to choose from. Here is their website. I have included four different areas of our slabs so you can see that none of the patterns are repetitive in nature. Because quartz is a man-made material, some of the patterns do tend to have a repetitive look. However, I think that this Carrera White pattern is such a beautiful option because it does look so natural.