Showroom shorthand makes these three sound interchangeable. They are not — one is factory-made, two are quarried, and they fail in different ways. We fabricate and install all three, so we have no horse in this race.

What each one is

Quartz is engineered: ~90% ground quartz mineral bound in polymer resin, pressed into slabs in a factory. Granite is igneous rock, quarried and polished as-is. Quartzite is sandstone that heat and pressure recrystallized into nearly solid quartz — natural stone with the hardness of the engineered product's namesake mineral.

Heat: granite and quartzite win

Quartzite and granite tolerate hot cookware; quartzite in particular is effectively heat-proof in kitchen use. Quartz's resin binder is the weak link — pans in the 300 F range can scorch or discolor it, and manufacturers exclude heat damage from warranties. If your household will never reliably use trivets, that alone should decide it — we would rather lose the quartz sale than field the scorch-mark call.

Stains and upkeep: quartz wins

Quartz is non-porous and never needs sealing; spilled wine is a paper-towel event. Granite needs resealing roughly yearly (more for light, porous colors), quartzite varies slab-to-slab — some need sealing twice a year, others rarely. None of this is hard, but it is a recurring chore quartz simply does not have.

Scratches: effectively a tie

All three sit around 6-8 on the Mohs scale and resist knives in normal use. Cut on a board anyway — you are protecting your knives as much as the counter.

Etching: read this before buying "quartzite"

True quartzite resists lemon juice and vinegar. But a chunk of what sells under the quartzite label — including some stones marketed as "super white" — is dolomitic marble, which etches like marble and behaves nothing like the quartzite you researched. Protect yourself with the lemon test — juice on a sample for 15 minutes; we will run it in front of you. No mark, real quartzite. Dull spot, it is marble and should be priced as marble.

Price, as of July 2026

Our installed ranges: quartz $120-150 per square foot, granite $140-170, quartzite $150-190. As projects, a medium kitchen (60-75 sq ft) runs about $7,200-$11,250 in quartz, $8,400-$12,750 in granite, and $9,000-$14,250 in quartzite. Within quartz, brand tiers exist, but performance across the major brands is structurally similar — the premium mostly buys pattern design, warranty length, and the name. We will tell you when the mid-tier lookalike is the smarter buy.

The decision in three questions

Will hot pans touch the counter? Yes → granite or quartzite.
Is any recurring maintenance a dealbreaker? Yes → quartz.
Do you want one-of-a-kind natural stone and can fund it? Yes → quartzite (verified), or granite to trim $10-20 off every square foot.

There is no wrong answer here — all three outlast the mortgage. There are only wrong matches between a surface's habits and yours — our job is to catch those before the saw starts.

Sources

Heat, Scratch, and Stain Resistance: Which Countertops Perform Best? — Crowley's Granite & Quartz

Quartz vs. Granite vs. Quartzite: What Actually Matters