Before I get to the main point of this column, let me first state that I have historically considered myself a “stone purist.” I have continually hassled friends for putting DuPont Corian in their kitchens. “Oh, cool. It looks just like Formica!” I have mocked designs of engineered stone that include actual U.S. currency in the matrix — I believe they used pennies and nickels. And I have generally adhered to the notion that if a material has to be cooked in an oven, then it is a “fake.”
Over the past few years, this line of thinking has changed — particularly when it comes to quartz surfacing. This change in attitude is not only in my view, but in the view of many long-time stone fabricators. I can think of many shops that said, “You won’t catch me processing that stuff,” only five years ago, and now quartz surfacing makes up a large percentage of their business.