Carrara Gioia Quartz
Thoughts about our quartz countertops keep coming up in questions about the kitchen remodel, so I wanted to share more details about why we chose them and how they’ve performed. Countertop decisions can feel overwhelming, so I hope walking through our process helps you decide or sparks new ideas.
Early in the design phase we weighed every option: wood, marble, quartz, concrete, and combinations of materials. Because our kitchen gets intense sunlight at times, we excluded wood due to potential fading and cracking. Concrete was eliminated after we chose floors with a concrete look, and we rejected mixed materials because the kitchen is small and needed a simple, cohesive appearance.
I love marble for its beauty and patina, and I’ve used it in bathrooms before. It’s elegant, but it is also sensitive to stains and etching. We once had a child set a red popsicle on a marble surface and it left a pink stain that remained as the stone aged. I don’t mind the lived-in look, but my husband was concerned about practical wear from cooking—beets and acidic foods can etch marble—so we decided to avoid it in this kitchen.
We’d had quartz in our previous home and appreciated its durability and low maintenance. Quartz is an engineered stone that resists staining and etching better than marble, which felt like a practical choice for a busy cook. Still, I wanted a marble-like aesthetic as an alternative—something softer and more nuanced than pure white quartz.
Finding the right quartz wasn’t simple. Many slabs looked too artificial, with heavy, obvious veining or the wrong tones. Our goal was a grayer, subtle, and slightly muted marble look—not too shiny, not too stark, and not yellow. We also needed 2cm slabs to fit neatly under the windows without lowering cabinet heights, which narrowed our options.
Although I’d preferred thicker countertops in the past, the 2cm profile ultimately seemed right for our layout. It allowed the counters to tuck under the windows for a seamless, uninterrupted run of surface that visually enlarges the small kitchen and improves functionality.
We almost gave up until our contractor suggested Carrara Gioia Quartz from Daltile. I hadn’t realized Daltile offered quartz, but when we visited their warehouse we instantly liked the look. The slab had the right subtle veining and grayed tones I wanted, and, importantly, a 2cm option was in stock so we could pick specific slabs without long lead times.
Our vision was a long expanse of uninterrupted counter that wraps around the corner—small kitchens benefit from continuous surfaces because they read as larger and are more useful. The 2cm Carrara Gioia gave us that clean, continuous look and the marble-like appearance I wanted without the fragility of real marble.
We’ve lived with these countertops for five months and still love them. They’re easy to clean and maintain; we use a gentle, plant-based cleaner for routine care. The quartz has held up well to everyday use and looks great with our porcelain floors and overall kitchen palette.
Are you considering new countertops?
Have you tried quartz?
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