The hero material of the CADENCE palette is a fascinatingly dynamic quartzite and the questions have been pouring in from our community. A frozen swirl of glittering crystals, smoke clouds and mossy scatters, this quartzite has captivated its audience and so we would like to take a moment on our Journal to celebrate its wonderful properties.
Quartzite is a durable natural stone and scores 7 out of 10 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, putting it ahead of granite. It will not get scratched if you use a knife without a chopping board or get scorched if you place a hot pan on its surface.
As for staining, quartzite has a lower porosity than marble and so is less vulnerable to spillages. Different quartzites have different porosities depending on how much pressure they were exposed to in their underground creation, so some slabs will benefit from a seal.
Sometimes quartzite is confused with man-milled ‘quartz’. Quartzite is a natural stone made up almost entirely of the mineral quartz. The ‘quartz’ spoken about in kitchens usually means a man-milled composite stone that is also made from the mineral quartz. The difference is that quartzite is quarried in blocks, and its patterning is natural and unique.
Quartzite is a stunning natural material and has a lot to offer both the aesthetics and functionality of your kitchen. As a worthy alternative to marble, quartzite uniquely features a crystalline structure that adds depth and dynamism to its surface: it’s like looking at a perfectly frozen lake. You can find a vast array of colours, swirls and sparkles all telling the story of seismic pressure and underground metamorphosis. We love that it stands up to the performance demands of a functional family kitchen without losing an inch of style.
