Stone Surface Guide
Quartzite Surface
How Is Quartzite is formed?
A quartzite surface that is sourced from nature is tough, durable and almost entirely made from quartz crystals.
Quartzite Surfaces are natural metamorphic stone made predominantly from an interlocking mosaic of quartz crystals.
Visit quartzite worktops to learn more and discover colours.
Last updated: 27 August 2026
Durable Natural Kitchens Made from Metamorphic Stone Quartzite
Quartz crystals give natural stone quartzite a beautiful grainy, sugary appearance and glassy lustre.
Metamorphic stone quartzite is very resistant to weathering and often forms ridges, crags and hilltops that are void of anything apart from grass and heather. The most often quarried colouration is opaque white to grey, other colours are a consequence of minerals (often referred as impurities) to an otherwise pure substance.
Kitchen Design
Crystal lustre, striking veins and LED backlighting are elements of a kitchen designers dream.
Luxurious Natural Kitchens in quartzite open up areas in kitchen design that can only be likened with Onyx. Being natural, the colours and veining are vast, ranging from solid pastel shades through to an almost pure crystal white with an opaque translucency similar to onyx. Striking veins, if positioned purposefully during fabrication, will provide features that cannot be achieved with any other stone surface in quite the same way.
Backlighting Quartzite With LED's
The extraordinary high quartz content allows colours and veins to pop out with vibrancy when quartzite is backlit. Whether strategically placing LED lights in locations of preparation, feature walls or mood backlighting the whole worktop and splashback, the design options are endless. Backlighting with LED is simple to achieve, and somewhat understated as yet for natural kitchens. LEDs can be cycled though almost any colour changing a quartzite surface appearance in a moment, allowing different elements in the stone to shine through with brilliance. A good example of under counter lighting can be seen in our showroom based in Harlow, Essex.
Tough and Durable
Without a doubt a quartzite surface is the hardest available stone material for natural kitchens, due to the metamorphic and natural processes in its creation. Quartz crystals can be found in all natural stones in varying amounts and is what makes natural stone so tough and resistant. With a quartz content of over 80% in true quartzite, and harder than steel, the surface can be scratched with a blade without leaving a mark.
What Is Quartzite?
Composed of greater than 80% quartz, metamorphic rock quartzite is the largest and purest concentration of silica in the earths crust
Commonly regarded as metamorphic, quartzite is formed when chert or quartz rich sandstone is exposed to high temperatures and pressures (metamorphism). These conditions fuse the quartz grains together forming a dense, hard, equigranular metamorphic rock that must contain at least 80% quartz by volume to be classified as a quartzite. The process of metamorphism combined with minerals within its environment will determine appearances.
Mineral Quartz - Silica
Quartz is a compound made from silicon and oxygen (SiO2 Silicon Dioxide) and is mostly referred to as Silica. Both man-made quartz and natural quartzite worktop materials have a high concentration of the mineral quartz (silica).
Living Organisms
As one of the most abundant materials on earth, silica can be found naturally in all living organisms including the human body. Plant materials with high silica phytolith content (Rigid microscopic structures made of silica) appear to be of importance to grazing animals. Silica certainly does occur in the biological bodies, although exact reasoning is uncertain, it is thought that it is important to the growth, strength, and management of many connective tissues including bone, tooth and cell structures. Silicification also occurs in bacteria and single-celled organisms such as shells, diatoms, Radiolaria and testate amoebae.
Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous earth is a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous sedimentary rock crumbled into a whitish abrasive textured powder. Oven-dried diatomaceous earth is 80–90% silica, 2–4% alumina, and trace iron oxide and consists of fossilized remains of hard-shelled diatoms. Each deposit of diatomaceous earth differs by the concentrations of other natural clays and minerals. Diatom species may differ and deposit varying amounts of silica depending on the sedimentation conditions.
Silica & Fabrication
Aspects of working with silica can release hazardous levels of crystalline silica dust particles into the air. It is essential during fabrication of all stone worktops including quartzite, that water is used to control the amount of silica dust thrown up into the air. Appropriate breathing aparatus must also be worm to prevent inhaling any escaping dust during fabrication.
Causes of airborne particles of silica during fabrication (even when used with water):
- Cutting Stone
- Polishing Surfaces
- Grinding slabs
- Routing material
In short, all forms of working with a quartzite surface will give rise to airborne particles of silica.
Sediments and Processes
Sediments and chemical processes over expansive periods of time build up and compress in layers to form sedimentary rock.
Diagenesis
Eroded rock, small pebbles, sand and mud settle into sedimentary layers (deposition of sediment), microbial activity and minerals then condensate and precipitate from solution (dissolution). Continued processes of deposition over time will cause compaction of previous layers expelling fluids (lithification) thorugh pressure, gradually forming a solid sedimentary rock. The continuous process of deposition causes the sedimentary rock to be carried deeper into the earth. Increased pressure and temperature transforms the organic content into kerogens and bitumens, or they are replaced by other minerals such as calcite, siderite and pyrite.
Chert - Quartz Rich Sandstone
Chert is a quartz rich sandstone mainly of biological origin from biogenic sediment (mineral fragments secreted by living organisms), but can also occur as a precipitate of chemicals or diagenesis. The boundary between diagenesis and metamorphism is not defined but metamorphism occurs at higher temperatures and pressures. The colour of Chert depends wholly on the trace elements and minerals from the environment it is formed, for example red and green are most often related to traces of iron oxides.
Metamorphic Crystallization
Minerals are incorporated during metamorphism and cementation.
Veins and fissures are created during recrystallisation and metamorphosis, as pockets of melted material are pushed together and then cooled - a process that may happen multiple times.
High temperature and pressure causes metamorphism when applied to natural stone formation of sedimentary rock. Individual quartz grains in combination with cementing minerals and chemicals recrystallize during the cooling of the original sedimentary structures of the sandstone. The recrystallized quartz grains are roughly equal in size, forming what is called a granoblastic texture (course crystals of equal sizes). They interlock so tightly that when broken, the rock will fracture through the grains forming an irregular or conchoidal fracture (fissures seen in many natural stone worktops). The key difference between an orthoquartzite and a metaquartzite is the onset of recrystallization of existing grains.
Metaquartzite
Pure quartz sedimentary sandstone, converted by metamorphism into Metaquartzite through heat and pressure (tectonic compression) into a hard, non-foliated metamorphic stone quartzite, which is sometimes called metaquartzite to emphasize its origins. Metaquartzite contains approximately 90% quartz with the remaining materials being of minerals.
Orthoquartzite
It is likely that the sediments that form Orthoquartzite would of took longer to settle having been purified by ocean currents. Orthoquartzite is a metamorphic stone of sedimentary origin, or pure quartz sandstone, with very low percentage of Chert grains with optical and geometric crystal lattice structures (crystallographic). Contains approximately 99% SiO2, lacks fossils and has scarce amounts of iron oxide and trace resistant minerals such as zircon, tourmaline, rutile and magnetite. Orthoquartzite is so highly cemented that it will fracture across grains, not around them.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The descriptive geological content written here is of regurgitated scientific observations and should be deemed speculative. It is strongly recommended that you carry out your own research & observations and make your own assumptions in the origins of earths minerals.