Countertop ceramic, quartz or natural stone

We have Nero Assoluto as window sills. After a short exposure, oily solutions soak in, water takes noticeably longer. Compared to real granites, a impregnation (HMK S234) soaks in quite well, or rather more impregnation is needed. By the way, Nero Assoluto is firstly not a granite and secondly it does not only occur in Zimbabwe.

Recently, I spilled permethrin solution on a window sill that had not yet been impregnated, it soaked in immediately.

By the way, Nero Assoluto is firstly not granite and secondly it is not only found in Zimbabwe.

I really had to check my facts.

The colloquial language (is offered absolutely everywhere as "granite", only rarely followed by a correction later) has completely detached itself here from the technical names of mineralogy. I wasn't aware of that until just now.

The N. A. from Zimbabwe is the one I know for kitchen countertops. Apparently, there is also some from India and Ireland.

The Nero Assoluto Zimbabwe is a gabbro, the Nero Assoluto India a basalt, so there are indeed differences.

LG
Sabine

Well.. hmm.. the difference between basalt and gabbro is the place of formation. Basalt forms on the surface, gabbro in the Earth's mantle. I can't imagine that the N.A. in India was formed after a lava flow. Besides, separating the formation history into India vs. Zimbabwe makes little sense, because geologically it is the same area. Therefore, I guess it is rather "the same" after all.

Have a ceramic countertop from Lechner... I have to say, I am absolutely satisfied. Sure, it costs a small fortune, but the look is (for me) superior to stone. And you can put anything on it, temperature doesn’t matter.
I find all the wooden laminate countertops not so great visually, even though the current ones are of course many times better than those from 10 years ago . The countertop already has a significant impact on the overall look of a kitchen. However, I can also understand everyone here who doesn’t feel like spending several thousand more on the kitchen.

I have to bring this up again, as we now have to make a decision in the coming days. After reading everything again, I wanted to ask if there are any opinions about quartz. There was very little written about that.