From the quarry to your kitchen
Follow one slab of Taj Mahal quartzite from the quarry face to a kitchen island.
Cut from the mountain as one block
250 tons
One block of Brazilian quartzite, pulled down from a quarry face. Quarries cut blocks like it free with diamond wire saws.
Source: Stone World, 2010
For your kitchen
Nothing about the pattern is printed or added. The veins on your island were in the rock before anyone cut it.
Sawn into slabs and polished
78 diamond wires
The most a multi-wire saw strings through one block, sawing the whole of it into slabs 2 cm thick at once.
Source: Breton
4.5 hours
About how long a multi-wire saw takes to turn a whole block into raw slabs.
Source: Stone World, 2007
For your kitchen
Slabs are sawn 2 cm or 3 cm thick. Your fabricator will tell you which your countertop needs.
Crated and loaded for the crossing
47,840 lb
The most a standard 20-foot shipping container may carry, about 21,700 kg.
Source: Ship4wd, 2025
Across the ocean
Quartzite began as sandstone rich in quartz. The heat and pressure of metamorphism, deep underground, turned it into the stone on the ship.
Source: Geology.com
For your kitchen
The crossing changes nothing about the stone. The slab you choose in Dallas is the one that left the quarry.
The last miles by road
20 lb per sq ft
About what a quartzite slab 1¼ inches thick weighs, for every square foot of it.
Source: Country Floors
On the racks at KLZ in Dallas, where you choose it
For your kitchen
Every slab in the showroom carries a tag number. Walk the racks and choose the exact slab for your kitchen, not a sample.
Slabs sawn one after another from the same block share their veins. If your island needs two, ask for neighbors from the same block, and the pattern can meet across the seam.
Source: Slabwise
For your kitchen
KLZ sells to the trade, so you buy through your fabricator. Bring them along, or bring their name.
Cut to fit by your fabricator
For your kitchen
Your fabricator measures your cabinets, makes a template, and cuts the slab to it, sink and cooktop openings included.
Home in your kitchen
7 on the Mohs scale
Quartzite takes its hardness from quartz. Marble rates 3, which is why quartzite resists scratching and etching where marble gives way.
Source: Geology.com
For your kitchen
Seal it when water dripped on the surface darkens the stone instead of beading.
Choose your slab
Every slab comes a long way to your kitchen. See them on the racks at KLZ, and choose yours.
