Quartzite Countertops
in Seattle

Quartzite installed in Seattle typically runs $95 to $200 per square foot. Sea Pearl and Super White sit at the lower end. Taj Mahal lands in the middle around $130 to $170. Harder-to-source slabs like Macaubas Fantasy and Patagonia can push past $200 depending on what supplier yards have in stock that month. Slab cost is usually a smaller line on the invoice than people expect; edges, cutouts (sink, faucet, cooktop), and seam count drive the final number more than the variety choice does. The calculator above gives a ballpark. For an exact quote, send us your kitchen dimensions.

Quartzite is a natural rock, not a manufactured product. It starts as sandstone and gets metamorphosed by heat and pressure deep underground over millions of years, until the quartz grains fuse into one dense, crystalline stone. Quarries in Brazil, India, and Italy cut the blocks into slabs and polish them. The slab in your kitchen is essentially the same material that came out of the ground. Engineered quartz is the opposite story: it gets made in a factory by combining roughly 90 percent ground quartz with polymer resins and pigments, then pressing and curing it. Both make excellent countertops. Quartzite is harder, has the genuine veining of natural stone, and varies slab to slab. Engineered quartz is more uniform, non-porous out of the box, and usually less expensive. People mix the names up because they sound alike, but they’re completely different materials.

Quartzite has some natural porosity, so yes, it needs sealing. We seal every installation at install and recommend resealing once a year. If you cook with a lot of citrus or red wine, twice a year is safer. The 15-year impregnating sealer we use comes at no extra cost on every quartzite job. Resealing yourself is straightforward when the time comes: wipe on, wait the time on the can, buff off. About 20 minutes for an average Kirkland kitchen. Daily cleaning is soap and water. The one thing to actually avoid is letting acidic liquids sit in a puddle on lighter varieties; lemon juice or red wine left overnight can dull the polish slightly.

Quartzite is one of the more bulletproof natural-stone options for kitchens. Mohs hardness comes in at 7 to 8, harder than granite (which is usually 6 to 7). A hot cast-iron pan from the stove can sit directly on it without a trivet. It resists scratching better than marble and doesn’t etch from common kitchen acids the way marble does. The trade-off versus engineered quartz: there’s more variation slab to slab, so the piece you approve at the showroom is the exact piece that gets installed. Homeowners who pick quartzite over marble usually want the marble look without marble’s etching and scratching headaches.

The varieties that move most through our Kirkland showroom: Taj Mahal (warm beige with subtle veining), Super White (bright white with gray drift), Sea Pearl (gray-green with movement), Macaubas Fantasy (cool whites with dramatic blue/gold veining), White Macaubas (soft whites), Fantasy Brown (warm browns and grays), and Patagonia (bold dark with lightning-strike veining). Every quartzite slab is one of a kind. Even within the same variety the patterns can shift dramatically, so we always have clients pick out the actual slab in person before fabrication. Showroom visits are by appointment if you want to walk the inventory.

Quartzite works well outdoors in our climate. It’s UV-stable (won’t fade in sun) and tolerates freeze-thaw cycles, so we use it for outdoor kitchens, BBQ surrounds, fire-pit caps, and the occasional patio bar top. For outdoor installs, AbsoluteGM recommends sealing more frequently (twice yearly) due to rain exposure and uses outdoor-rated stone sealer. Lighter varieties may show water spotting; darker quartzites handle outdoor exposure best. We’ve installed quartzite outdoors throughout Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, and Mercer Island.