Countertops are one of the few parts of the house that had to be subcontracted out. Had they been high-pressure laminate, we would have fabricated them ourselves. But in the FHB House, the kitchen countertop and backsplash, and the main and master bath vanity countertops, along with the tub deck, are all surfaced with Caesarstone quartz — a type of engineered stone made from crushed or ground quartz stone (90%-95%) and polymer resin.

I was first introduced to engineered stone in the late 1980s, when my father brought home samples of the product. He was a machine tool mechanical engineer and spec’d engineered stone as a base material for a large precision grinding / surfacing machine. The heat and chemical resistance along with the stable thermal expansion and contraction qualities made engineered stone an ideal material. It was extremely expensive, and I never expected to see engineered stone quartz become a countertop material. I prefer quartz over natural stone for its uniform color and patterning along with high resistance to staining. And though the price is slightly higher than natural stone, the stain resistant performance is a great plus in a rental house.

A small fabricator that I’ve worked with on a number of kitchen and bath remodeling jobs over the past eight years did the work. Jack and his two workers processed the seven slabs at their shop and turned them around in a couple of days. Then they spent a full day installing on site.

Ideally we design kitchens and baths to minimize seams, but unfortunately the main kitchen countertop was 1 in. longer than the slab length, so they needed to install a seam. The color-matched epoxy joint is barely noticeable.

All the sinks are undermounted for a sleek modern appearance. Plus the undermount sinks are easier to keep clean than the self-rimming drop in sinks.

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