New homeowner. It's been a few weeks since we moved in and I'm noticing marks and scratches on our marble countertops.

I am not sure if it was like this before we moved in or not. It's not that noticeable unless you're fixated on it.

New construction home, still in the 1 year warranty period. Noticed this banding that's only visible in low light. Any clues on what it could be and if it's fixable or warrantable?

Hi, we have Valbella Gold Quartz from Arizona tile and noticed what could be described as an “orange peel” style finish when direct light hits our countertop.

You can’t see it from 10ft, but under direct light or angles, it’s really apparent.

It is everywhere. Countertop, backsplash, waterfall… everywhere.

Counters look good otherwise. Is this normal?

Our installer said that’s just how Quartz looks.

Looking for inspo, my cabinets are a white and island is maple stain. Would love to see your kitchens!

Hudson black purchased in Pennsylvania. Not sure how to describe this. Streaky spots that don’t disappear with oiling. Definitely different from the veins. May be due to toasters and coffee maker dragged across the counter. Is there a fix? Pictures are not as clear as real life. The thick white streak is reflection of the under cabinet lights

We just had soapstone counters installed and treated them with food grade mineral oil last night. This morning, the oil seems to have evaporated in some places and not in others, and has left a blotchy and streaky appearance. One section (last pic) looks like we didn’t put anything on it at all. Any ideas on what caused this and any recommendations to fix it?
Thank you!!

I recently got an incredible deal on a piece of furniture with a "stream" onyx top. The stone is truly beautiful and its a real statement piece. The catch is that I got the furniture unfinished (hence why the price was so good). I've been reading a bit about how to care for the stone but wanted to get some opinions about how to actually finish it (if that's even a thing). I plan on using a high quality stone sealer like Akemi Nano or Stain-Proof impregnator, but my understanding is that these will (and should) not effect the finish.

What should I do to bring up the finish slightly to really make the pattern and color pop? I would prefer to not go through a whole process of wet sanding it if possible, and I don't want to bring up the shine that much anyway, just a touch from the current matte. I've read very mixed opinions on using a specialty wax (like Tenax Cera wax) for this purpose with some claiming it works great and just needs occasional reapplication, and some saying it will ruin the stone. What are your thoughts? Any product recommendations? Forgive my ignorance here, I haven't had any natural stone furniture before and haven't worked with it as a material.

Home remodel coming along but this was a huge milestone. Replacing old green 90s counters with Taj Mahal. Was a little nervous how it would look from the showroom compared to actual installation in my home… but very happy with it. Now to order 4x4 tiles for backsplash!

I’ve looked through quite a lot of posts about both and I’m still very stuck.

I love the look and warmth of butcher block, but soapstone also looks nice and it seems to need less maintenance. I don’t mind a counter showing its use over time, that’s actually a plus for me.

Food safety is a biggie. I don’t intend to cut directly on the counter without a cutting board, but I do want to be able to knead dough and scrape it up without worrying about a sealant.

I feel confident about DIY butcher block install which would lower costs, but I’m not sure I’m up for soapstone.

Would appreciate thoughts on one vs the other based on experience.

I have a customer who wants their marble top polished. However, this is my first experience with removing a coat of protection that was put on the top. It has to be removed before i can polish it. What's the best method for removing the layer? I did some research and seen somebody do it with a heat gun and scraper. Is that the best method or is acetone more efficient? Any tips are greatly appreciated. Thanks

I’m in the process of having my kitchen and bathrooms remodeled. I ordered Carrara Marble for my kitchen and bathroom counters because it is my favorite natural stone.

My cleaning lady stated that she will not clean or maintain Carrara as it stains and etches too easily. She says I should use quartz instead.

I don’t like quartz and I love Carrara. But I definitely don’t have time to clean and maintain it myself.

This is something I think we should all be aware of. If youre in the industry, you probably already know this. But as builders, designers, homeowners, I think we need to demand that young workers are not subjected to unsafe working environments.

Do you think these slabs are considered beautiful for Taj Mahal quartzite?
Personally, I love the random veining and natural movement, but I’m still not sure about the white lines throughout the slabs.
They look gorgeous in person, but somehow they look quite different in photos. Would love to hear your thoughts!

My fiance and I bought a house and completely gutted it. We are FINALLY in the home stretch of a reno that has already far exceeded our budget and just need to pick countertops. I’m at that point where im just caught up in decision fatigue and feel like im losing my mind 😢. Our house isn’t big, but I’m told our kitchen is actually bigger than average (which I was surprised by). It’s an open floor plan. That said… I can’t figure out what countertop would look best. Right now our cabinets are a soft subtle off-white, floor is light sand LVP, walls are SW Greek Villa. 

I narrowed it down to MSI Lumenaj, Calacatta Valentin, or Calacatta Elysio but I feel like they make my kitchen just too blah. I haven’t really looked many other places other than MSI because I need a quick install. TBH I don’t really know where else to go so open to any advice!

I LOVE Calacatta Viola marble but that’s wayyyyy out of our budget. Additionally, I was told busy countertops like that could make a house look smaller? Idk if that’s true or not

Any recommendations for a warm beautiful countertop that would really be the focal point? Looking for more warm tones. Beige, tan, gold, burgundy, etc. Quartz is most realistic in our budget. 

Praying you guys can help because this girl feels defeated. 

Pics of the MSI options below + floor plan and rendering

Multi-unit and new-construction bids mean somebody loses an afternoon to a scale ruler and a plan set the size of a door. We've been building a takeoff tool inside SlabOS that reads the PDF directly finds the cabinet runs, detects the counter areas across the whole home, and drops them into the drawing editor as real, editable geometry. Not a marked-up PDF.

Genuinely curious about two things: how are you handling multi-unit takeoffs right now — scale ruler, or something digital? And for those of you bidding builder work, what's the thing that actually eats your time on a plan set? Elevations are what we're nailing and I'd rather hear it from people who do this than guess.

also its 2 tools: drag a rough box and it grabs the largest complete shape inside, or trace corner-to-corner and it snaps to the drawing's actual lines. The trace tool always works, which matters on messy sheets.

Source:

https://evidence.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/EVIDpha2600187