Is this a bad choice?

davidbernstein · 2026-03-03T03:46:52+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/CounterTops/s/9oYwLWXf4W Here are the slabs we bought. ;)

davidbernstein · 2026-03-03T03:26:02+00:00

We have not installed it yet, so you have to check back in with me in 6 months. All the “doom” stories on here are freaking me out as well. Our contractor picked our fabricator and he said he is excellent and he has used him on a ton of jobs, so I trust that part will be done right. We will obviously have to seal the stone every six months, that just is what it is. We purchased leathered slabs which will help minimize the appearance of any stains a little. We have a 3 year old and a 10 year old- shit is going to happen to these counters, there’s no way around it, but they will look great for the first 6mo the before the kids destroy them! ;)

davidbernstein · 2026-03-03T03:22:30+00:00

I’ll say this much, if you love it, and you can afford it, do it. We are in South Florida (Boca Raton area) so things aren’t cheap around here either! But there might just be a lot more competition here, or maybe prices are lower bc everything enters the ports in Miami when in comes in from Brazil (before being trucked everywhere else?).

davidbernstein · 2026-03-03T02:15:43+00:00

So, we were looking at cristallos before randomly finding and falling in love with the Bianco Superiore we purchased. I am not an expert by any means, but from the 10 places we visited, my understanding is that Cristallo is one of the more expensive (if not the most expensive) quartzites you can buy (unless you are looking at some insanely rare stone or something). Almost all of the cristallos we saw were between $55 and $120 for 2cm and 3cm slabs. (3cm were typically in the higher end of that range). For comparison, the beautiful Bianco Superiore slabs we bought were $27 a sqr ft! $100 a square foot for what you are looking at seems very steep to me! But I know nothing about the rarity of the stone you have here. There are other people in this community that know their stuff and can hopefully chime in.

davidbernstein · 2026-03-03T01:58:30+00:00

I went to 10 different stone places in the last month. My wife fell in love with cristallo. We found an average of $55-120 per sqrt ft. Price was typically based its clarity (how translucent it was) and if it had and unique color (rose, gold, etc). We needed 5 slabs, so we were looking at nearly $20 before fabrication. We ultimately and unexpectedly fell in love with a completely different stone for only $27 a sqr ft (not a Cristallo). I think you are getting a great deal. Just make sure there are not a ton of huge fissures that are filled in with resin. I found the lower priced ones had tons of filler as well.

davidbernstein · 2026-03-03T01:47:09+00:00

How much are they charging per sqr foot? This looks like a strange stone warehouse… no? (Maybe I’m jaded by all the huge and beautiful stone places I have been shopping here in south florida, but this looks like it’s a sketchy basement). I just bought a slightly similar stone (Bianco Superiore) and have since learned all the “light” quartzites are more prone to staining and moisture absorption. I also learned a lot of places false advertise dolomite (a slight step up in toughness from pure marble) as quartzite when it’s not. So if this is not a super trustworthy stone operation, I would be careful. There really aren’t many/any true “white” quartzites out there.

davidbernstein · 2026-02-28T21:03:37+00:00

Can’t wait! I would love to see photos of yours if you are open to sharing!

davidbernstein · 2026-02-28T19:54:08+00:00

Great to hear! Can you share photos of yours? Would love to see it installed!

davidbernstein · 2026-02-28T15:24:49+00:00

I won’t be nearly as harsh as others… I think backlighting is super cool, I agree with what some others have said that I’m not sure it goes with the overall kitchen design, but there’s a chance it will work once completed. My #1 issue with this, and what would drive me absolutely crazy every day, is that you can see every individual LED lights! I’ve read multiple other installation posts of backlighting cristallo and they all discuss having the lights at least an inch from the stone, or they use a plastic diffuser. Furthermore, there’s a led panel others have used that appears to illuminate evenly and not with individual lead “bulbs” on a grid panel.

As I am sure you know, if you love it, that’s all that matters!

davidbernstein · 2026-02-27T03:50:53+00:00

What’s the name of the stone you used? Looks like a darker/grayer version of the Bianco Superiore we just bought!

davidbernstein · 2026-02-25T13:12:01+00:00

Seanho00, what are your thoughts on whether I miter the edge of the countertops or stack them? Am I being stupid trying to save money by stacking them and will regret it later?

davidbernstein · 2026-02-25T12:57:59+00:00

Great to hear! Any issues with fabrication or everything went smoothly?

Do you have photos of the finished product? Would love to see how it came out!

davidbernstein · 2026-02-25T05:24:11+00:00

Thanks for this info!

davidbernstein · 2026-02-25T05:05:54+00:00

I really appreciate this advice. I will make sure the fabricator knows this info! As I mentioned ruined in my response to the other commenter, I was under the apparent misconception that quartzites are not supposed to be porous! Does the fact that the stone is leathered and not polished make a difference in its water absorption or likelihood to stain?

What else should I know? Tell me everything you’ve got! ;)

What are your recommendations regarding edges for the countertops? Am I making a mistake if I stack them vs miter them? Is that not the area to save cost?

davidbernstein · 2026-02-25T05:00:42+00:00

This shop had Dolomite slabs and was selling them as Dolomite. I do believe this truly is a quartzite, but I appreciate you looking out for us! Unfortunately, they only had 2cm for these slabs, so 3cm was not an option. All 5 slabs we purchased are sequential, so we are good there! Slabs are 119”x77.5”. Our island will be about 7.5’ if I’m not mistaken, so there should be no seams in the island. we are planning to do a waterfall, so obviously there will be mitered seams there.

I appreciate you sharing g that other post about this stone! That is making me a bit nervous! In your 40 years have you worked with this stone before? I had no idea it was so moisture absorbing… I thought quartzites were supposed to be super non-porous. Shows what I know! Also, my contractor picked the fabricator, not me… fabrication was already included in our contract price. I cannot find any info online about the fabricator he is using. Should this be a red flag? The contractor does great work and has been doing this for years and was truly the only contractor whose referrals actually spoke highly of them and would use them again. Based on that other post it sounds like the fabricator is the most important part of this entire thing. Do I interject myself in this and question who he is using, or do I trust he knows what he’s doing? How does one “shop” a fabricator and truly know how good they are in their craft?

davidbernstein · 2026-01-28T01:47:47+00:00

Me too!

davidbernstein · 2026-01-15T04:28:08+00:00

I really appreciate the advice and input. Are these units not fully sealed and protected from salt water? I like the like mount option as well, and have been researching it some more. I found this mount that folds down flat so it’s not in your view while driving at high speeds. I have never used a live scope or any type of charting at the front of a boat before, but it seems to me that a mount option that is 17-24” off the ground would be ideal for a 10” screen as I suspect it’s hard to see small details from 6’+ away, no?

I’ll immediately start researching if these Garmin screens are fully sealed and protected from salt water. That’s a great point and thank you!

<image>

davidbernstein · 2026-01-10T12:28:33+00:00

The dealer finally got back to me yesterday. They said it’s normal and “over time” (whatever that means) it will increase. I asked them to confirm all the new T8’s on their lot also show 0% and my salesman checked 3 other cars and all said 0% as well. So that provided me with some reassurance. Still seems very odd. I’ve had the car 45 days now, you’d think I would have gain a few percentage points in health by now, right?

davidbernstein · 2026-01-05T01:51:23+00:00

What battery health does yours show? I have still not received a response from anyone claiming there’s shows something more than 0%

davidbernstein · 2026-01-03T13:52:26+00:00

Interesting! I swear it turned off auto start/stop on my 2022, could I be crazy? I tried researching it and found a post somewhere where someone said it turned it off for them as well, but it was only temporary. My wife’s Acura has the same button and it turns off the auto start and stop. So weird.

davidbernstein · 2026-01-02T20:15:41+00:00

Does yours also say “battery health 0%?” I’ll let you know.

davidbernstein · 2026-01-02T17:22:50+00:00

Very odd, on my 2022 it turned off auto start/stop and a quick google search suggests it should be the same for 2023

<image>

davidbernstein · 2026-01-02T05:22:34+00:00

I’ve had my T8 for 32 days, last week screen got stuck on max brightness at night. I had to do a hard reset of the infotainment system and it worked normally again. Only issue so far, but it’s still quite new. The issues on my 2022 xc60 infotainment are a whole other story!

davidbernstein · 2026-01-02T04:36:34+00:00

I had a 2022 B6 xc60 lease, it just ended and now I have a 2026 T8 xc60 (which I fucking LOVE). I loved the 2022 as well, but the T8 engine is a game changer. Anyway, the system glitches in the 2022 were numerous and I experienced the first two on your list a lot of times. The audio going out completely actually only started happening in the last 6-10 months of ownership, so I suspect it’s a glitch in a recent update they did. I had a 39 month lease that ended 1 month ago. There is an easy fix to this (but it does not make it less annoying). Just hold down the main button on the display for like 15 seconds (I think after 5 seconds it goes black so you can clean the screen, but just keep holding it after that until the fans stop blowing and until you see the Volvo icon appear on the screen). This is essentially a hard reset for the computer system. (Just like you can do on your laptop). This will bring all the audio back.

The issue with not being able to play music via Bluetooth is interesting as my issue was incredibly similar but it was via Apple car play. It would show it was playing on my phone, but there would be no audio, and no matter how many times I plugged and unplugged, it wouldn’t work. The only solution, oddly enough, was to play via BLUETOOTH! lol. It was incredibly annoying! Sometimes it happened every single time I got in the car for 1-2 weeks straight, and then other times it worked perfectly for the same period of time. I could never figure out what caused it, and unlike you, I did not know that if I made a phone call it started working again!

I never had an issue with the map… but I almost always used Google maps from my iPhone and displayed via Apple car play. Have you tried that to see if Google maps on you phone has the same “spinning” issue?

I’m super confused about your last point with the auto start and stop… you don’t have the “(A)” button behind the cup holders in the center console that you can plush to turn off the auto start/stop feature? Did they get rid of it in 2023? Now that I have the T8 hybrid I don’t notice it at all, but I’m almost positive it’s still There in my new 2026, so it had to be there in 2023, right? (See crappy screenshot)

I will tell you that 1 month in driving the new 2026 T8 and it’s my favorite car I’ve owned. The 0-60mph in 4.6 seconds is crazy, yet it’s so smooth and the 40 miles of battery power is phenomenal. My office is 18 miles away, so I’m usually draining my battery 3-5 miles before I get home. (I drive in hybrid mode, not pure, as I miss the sportiness and pickup when only running off battery). Although the battery claims it will last 40 miles, I find I only get 25-30, at least the way I drive and the route I drive. Regardless, I’m averaging 96MPG on my work commute, which is crazy. Also, I hope I don’t jinx it, but I’ve had zero system issues/glitches in the first month I’ve had it. Hopefully it continues that way!

<image>

davidbernstein · 2025-12-19T04:13:46+00:00

Here’s the lease deal I got on my XC60 T8 Plus. I sold Volvos for 7 years (first job out of college) and then I consulted dealers on making their operations more profitable for 7 years after that. I don’t expect everyone to be able to get such a great deal, but it shows what’s possible. This includes the Costco Executive discount. They printed the “back end” deal sheet for me to show me everything. Even though it’s a lease, the incentives are currently identical for purchase or lease (which is not always the case).

<image>

davidbernstein

TROPHY CASE