Countertops

Oct 25 2026

Quartzite vs Quartz: How to Know Which One You Are Actually Buying

The two names are almost identical, and the materials are not. They are also chasing the same buyers. In the 2026 U.S. Houzz Kitchen Trends Study, engineered quartz led slab backsplash choices at 39%, with quartzite close behind at 33%. When homeowners want a continuous surface running up the wall, these are the two finalists.

We already cover the basics in our quartz vs quartzite comparative guide. This piece is about what happens after you pick a direction: how to confirm what you are looking at, and how each material behaves in our shop and in your kitchen.

The Short Version

Quartzite is a natural stone, formed when sandstone is put under heat and pressure over millions of years. Each slab is cut from a quarry block, so no two are alike. Quartz is engineered: ground quartz bound with resin and pigment, made in a factory to a consistent pattern.

That one difference drives everything else on this page, from how the slab is labeled to how it handles a hot pan.

Not Every “Quartzite” Is Quartzite

Stone names in the trade are not regulated, and mislabeling happens. Some slabs sold as quartzite are actually marble or dolomite, which are softer and etch from acids. A Use Natural Stone article published by the Natural Stone Institute puts it plainly: there is really no such thing as “soft quartzite,” and in most cases that term means the stone is marble.

The same article describes two simple checks. True quartzite will scratch glass, and a metal tool will not mark it much. Marble will not scratch glass. Second, a few drops of lemon juice or vinegar left for several minutes will dull a calcite-based stone but leave real quartzite unchanged.

Pro Tip: Ask for an offcut or remnant from the same lot before you commit, and run the tests on that piece, never on your installed top. We are glad to set aside a sample from the slab you are considering when you visit our showroom.

Quartz does not have this problem. What the brand sheet says is what you get, which is one reason builders like it for multi-unit projects.

Best Countertop Professionals

Comparing Quartzite vs Quartz for Your Milwaukee Kitchen? Talk to K.G. Stevens Today

Quartzite vs quartz comes down to more than looks. Learn how to verify a slab, what changes in fabrication, and which fits your kitchen.

What Changes in Fabrication and Installation

Quartzite is one of the hardest stones we cut. That density is great on your countertop and slower on our saws, so detailed edge profiles and mitered waterfall edges take more time on quartzite than on quartz. It is also heavy, and some cabinet runs need added support.

Veining is the other big fabrication factor. With quartzite, we lay out templates on the actual slab so seams and vein direction line up across an island or up a backsplash. Quartz patterns are consistent from slab to slab, which makes matching simpler for long runs and large kitchens.

Pro Tip: Pick your exact quartzite slabs in person, not from a photo or a color name. Two slabs of the same stone can differ enough that a seam between them looks wrong. Browse our live slab inventory first, then come see the slabs you shortlisted.

Living With Each Surface

Day-to-day care is close for both. Use mild soap and warm water, avoid abrasive powders, and dry the surface. Our care and maintenance page covers each material.

The differences show up at the edges of normal use:

Sealing: Quartzite is porous and should be sealed as needed. Cambria, for one, states its quartz never requires sealing and tells owners not to apply sealers at all.
Heat: Cambria also states its quartz is not heat proof and calls for a hot pad or trivet. Quartzite tolerates heat better, though we still recommend trivets for any stone.
Knives: Cutting directly on quartzite will dull your knives before it marks the stone. Use a board on either surface.

Which One Fits Your Project

Choose quartzite if you want one-of-a-kind natural veining and are comfortable with occasional sealing. It also handles bathrooms and outdoor spaces well, as our quartzite countertops guide explains.

Choose quartz if you want a predictable pattern, no sealing, and easier matching across a large kitchen or several rooms. Many Milwaukee homeowners end up with both, using quartzite on a feature island and quartz on the perimeter.

See Both Side by Side at K.G. Stevens

Photos and samples only go so far with these two materials. Visit our 8,000 sq. ft. showroom to see full slabs of quartzite and quartz in the same light, and bring your cabinet door or flooring sample. Schedule a showroom or in-home consultation or contact K.G. Stevens to get started.

Oct 12 2026

How to Clean Marble Surfaces Without Dulling the Finish

Countertops are the one kitchen surface almost everyone replaces. The 2026 U.S. Houzz Kitchen Trends Study found that 91% of renovating homeowners upgrade their countertops. If you put marble in that spot, how you clean it decides whether it still looks right in ten years.

Marble is not fragile, but it is chemically different from granite or quartzite. Most of the damage we get called about comes from cleaning products, not from cooking. Here is how we tell our own customers to care for marble kitchens, vanities, and backsplashes.

Why Marble Reacts Differently Than Other Stone

The Natural Stone Institute groups stone into two families. Calcareous stones like marble are mostly calcium carbonate, which reacts with acid. Siliceous stones like granite and quartzite are mostly silicate minerals and shrug off most kitchen acids.

That reaction is called etching. It is not a stain sitting on the surface. It is a dull, slightly rough spot where acid actually ate into the polish. Lemon juice, vinegar, tomato sauce, wine, and many “natural” spray cleaners can all do it.

The Everyday Cleaning Routine That Works

Keep the routine simple. The Natural Stone Institute recommends a neutral cleaner, stone soap, or a few drops of mild dish soap in warm water. That matches the guidance on our care and maintenance page.

Wipe with a soft cloth or microfiber, not a scrub pad.
Rinse with clean water so soap does not build into a film.
Dry completely to prevent streaks and water marks.
Skip scouring powders and creams, which can scratch the surface.

More soap is not better. Overly strong solutions leave a haze that people mistake for a dull finish, then they scrub harder and make it worse.

Pro Tip: Read the back label of any spray before it touches marble. Words like citrus, vinegar, or descaler mean acid. Also keep rust removers and some toilet bowl cleaners far away: the Natural Stone Institute warns that products containing hydrofluoric acid attack every type of stone, not just marble.

Best Countertop Professionals

Wondering How to Maintain Marble Surfaces in Your Milwaukee Home? Ask K.G. Stevens

Learn how to clean marble countertops and vanities the right way, tell an etch from a stain, and know when to call a pro. Advice from K.G. Stevens in Milwaukee.

Spills: Blot First, Then Clean

How you handle a spill in the first minute matters more than the product you grab. Blot with a paper towel instead of wiping, since wiping spreads the liquid across more stone. Then flush the area with water and mild soap, rinse a few times, and dry.

Coasters belong under every glass, especially anything with citrus or alcohol. In Wisconsin that includes the brandy old fashioned with its orange slice. A ring from one drink left overnight is one of the most common etch marks we see on island tops.

Etch or Stain? How to Tell the Difference

Stand low and look across the surface toward a window. An etch shows up as a dull patch that changes the shine but not the color. A stain is a color change, usually darker, and it often looks the same from any angle.

Stains come out with the right method. The Natural Stone Institute describes a poultice: a paste of absorbent powder and cleaner spread over the stain, covered, and left to dry so it pulls the stain out of the stone. Oil stains and organic stains like coffee each call for a different cleaning agent.

Light etching on polished marble can sometimes be buffed with marble polishing powder. Deeper etching needs a professional to refinish the area.

Pro Tip: If you are still choosing a finish, look at honed marble. Etching shows far less on a honed surface than on a high polish because there is no mirror shine to interrupt. It is the same stone with fewer visible marks.

Marble Vanities and Bathroom Surfaces

Bathrooms add soap scum and hard water to the mix. Do not reach for a tub-and-tile cleaner, since many are acidic. The Natural Stone Institute suggests a non-acidic soap scum remover instead. A squeegee or towel after each use prevents most buildup from forming at all.

What About Sealing?

Sealing helps, but it is often misunderstood. The Natural Stone Institute notes that sealers make stone more stain resistant, not stain proof, and they do nothing to stop etching. Marble should be sealed as needed based on the specific stone, and we can tell you what your slab calls for. You can see the marble, granite, quartzite, and soapstone we carry on our natural stone page.

For a quick checklist to post near the sink, our earlier roundup of marble cleaning hacks pairs well with this guide.

Get Marble Advice From a Local Fabricator

We have fabricated and installed marble for homeowners across Milwaukee and the surrounding area, and we would rather help you avoid damage than fix it later. If you are choosing marble or have a spot you cannot identify, book a showroom or in-home consultation or contact K.G. Stevens today.

Sep 24 2026

Best Edge for Granite Countertops: A Milwaukee Guide to Eased, Straight, Beveled, Bullnose, Ogee, and Waterfall

Granite was the pick of 19% of renovating homeowners in the 2025 U.S. Houzz Kitchen Trends Study, second only to engineered quartz. It is still the stone Wisconsin homeowners ask for by name. And once the slab is chosen, the very next question is almost always the edge.

The Edge Is a Structural Decision, Not Just a Style One

Every profile removes material from the top or bottom of the slab. How much comes off, and from where, changes how the stone takes an impact, how it reads against your cabinet doors, and how easily you can sweep crumbs into your hand.

Start with the stone. A heavily veined slab and a deep decorative profile fight each other, because the cutter travels down through the pattern and exposes the interior of the stone. Look at our natural stone slabs first, then choose the edge that serves what you picked.

Eased and Straight: The Modern Default

A straight edge is a flat vertical face. An eased edge is that same face with the top and bottom corners softened to a small radius, typically around a sixteenth of an inch.

These two account for most of what leaves our shop. They suit shaker and slab-front cabinets, they carry the least labor, and they let the granite do the talking.

Pro Tip: Do not ask for a truly square, unbroken edge on granite. That sharp corner will chip on the truck, on the stair turn, or the first time a cast iron pan swings into it. The slight ease is not a style preference, it is chip insurance, and a fabricator who skips it is setting up a service call.

Beveled: A Crisp Line Without Curves

A bevel cuts a flat angle across the top edge, most often a quarter inch at 45 degrees. It catches light in a way a flat face does not and adds a little formality without going ornate.

It reads well in transitional kitchens and in powder rooms where you want the top to feel finished but restrained.

Best Countertop Professionals

Not sure which edge for granite countertops belongs in your kitchen?

We shape every profile in our own Milwaukee fabrication facility and can show you each one on real stone. Request a quote or call (262) 432-1060.

Bullnose and Half Bullnose: Soft and Practical

A full bullnose rounds the entire face into a half circle. A half bullnose rounds only the top portion and leaves a flat section below it.

Both are kind to hips and elbows, simple to wipe down, and forgiving in homes with small kids. The tradeoff is visual: a full bullnose reads thinner than the stone actually is, because no flat face is left to show the thickness you paid for. The half bullnose keeps that weight.

Ogee: The Showpiece Profile

The ogee is an S curve, convex over concave. It is the profile people picture when they picture a formal granite kitchen, and it belongs on furniture-style islands, raised bars, and traditional cabinetry.

Pro Tip: Think hard before running an ogee all the way around a sink cutout. The profile leaves a thin overhanging lip at the top of the stone, and at a cutout corner that lip has very little material behind it. On a busy granite you also lose pattern legibility, because the concave section throws its own shadow. We often run the ogee on the island and a simpler profile on the sink run.

Waterfall: A Build, Not a Profile

A waterfall is not an edge treatment at all. It is a mitered vertical panel that carries the stone from the counter down to the floor, and it has to be planned before the slab is ever cut.

For the vein to continue around that corner, the leg has to come from the material directly adjacent to the deck, which uses more slab than a standard island. See finished examples on our waterfall countertops page.

Pro Tip: A mitered waterfall joint has zero adjustability. If the floor under the leg is out by three eighths of an inch, that error shows up as an open miter at eye level. Have the finish floor down and flat before we template, and tell us up front if the island is being set before flooring rather than after. That one sequencing detail causes more waterfall problems than anything else we see.

What Actually Moves the Number

Edge work is a labor line, not a material line. Eased, straight, and beveled are the most economical. Bullnose, ogee, and other multi-pass profiles take more machine time and more hand polishing.

For the bigger picture, the 2026 Cost vs. Value Report puts the national average minor kitchen remodel at $28,458 with $32,141 in resale value added, roughly 112.9% recouped. Counters are a meaningful share of that scope.

Let Us Help You Pick the Right Edge

The honest answer to “what is the best edge for granite countertops” is the one that matches your cabinets, your slab, and how your family actually uses the kitchen. We would rather show you than describe it.

Read our full guide to countertop edge profiles, then call (262) 432-1060 or schedule a showroom consultation and run your hand over every profile on real granite before you commit.

Sep 13 2026

What Is Solid Surface Countertops? A Milwaukee Buyer’s Guide to Corian and Hi-Macs

In the 2025 U.S. Houzz Kitchen Trends Study, 39% of renovating homeowners chose engineered quartz and 19% chose granite. Solid surface does not dominate those headlines, and yet it keeps winning very specific jobs in our shop: long runs without a visible joint, curved bar tops, and bathrooms where the homeowner wants the sink to disappear into the deck.

What Solid Surface Actually Is

Solid surface is a manufactured sheet of acrylic or polyester resin blended with natural mineral fillers. The color runs all the way through the thickness of the sheet.

That last part matters more than anything else on this page. Because the material is homogeneous, a scratch, a scorch ring, or a chipped corner can be sanded out and re-polished right in your kitchen. Stone cannot be repaired that way.

Sheets arrive thinner than a stone slab and get built up at the edge to look thicker. Most of what you see as a heavy solid surface edge is two layers laminated together and shaped.

Pro Tip: Acrylic sheet is made in batches, and whites and light solids drift slightly from lot to lot. If you think you may add an island, a bar return, or a matching vanity later, buy that material now and store it. A color ordered eighteen months from now will seam in cleanly but read a shade off under LED lighting.

Corian, Hi-Macs, and the Brand Question

Corian has been around since the 1960s and the name became shorthand for the entire category, the way people say Kleenex for tissue. Hi-Macs is the other brand name Milwaukee homeowners bring up most often.

The solid surface colors on display in our showroom come from Corian and Wilsonart. If you are cross-shopping a Hi-Macs color you saw at a design center, bring the color name to your appointment and we will show you where it lands against what we carry. Performance differences between the major acrylic brands are small. The color and pattern differences are not.