There are a lot of choices when it comes to building a great worktop for your kitchen, but, when it comes to affordability and practicality, no material category really works quite as well as the classic natural or engineered stone surface. Why? That’s what this article is for.
The worktop is one of the biggest workhorses in your kitchen. The only thing that is put through as much as your worktop is your cabinet and kitchen units collection – from the drawers to the weight the plywood has to handle, cabinets have to be very resilient. Besides these, worktops are subjected to food, water, cleaning solutions, sponges, knives, scratches, hot pots and pans, heavy kitchen appliances, and the vibrations of coffee grinders, blenders and juicers.
If you want to invest in anything within your kitchen, your smartest choice is the worktop. And many people do – as shown in the national newspaper The Independent, the kitchen has become the most expensive room in a home. And making a smart shopping decision when it comes to worktop materials is vital. And amongst all the available choices, stone works wonderfully.
Kitchen worktops in Caesarstone 500 London Grey quartz
The Pros of Natural Stone Surfaces
Right off the bat, the simplest pro to natural stone surfaces is that they are extremely heat resilient. Surfaces like marble and granite are made deep within the Earth, from some of the hottest molten rock there is – they’re very hard to scorch.
Additionally, natural stone surfaces like marble and granite are also very durable, as stated in Geology.com, one of the prime sites that provides accurate geology news and information. Despite potentially staining, it’s fairly easy to polish a stain out of natural stone.
The Cons of Natural Stone Surfaces
Natural stone is porous. That means, if you want it to keep from staining permanently, you need to have it sealed. That, and natural stone – while physically durable – does not stand up very well to chemical damage, from acids or very powerful bases.
Finally, natural stone is that: natural. It won’t ever look like other natural stone surfaces – some marble isn’t white, and not all granite comes with that perfect shade of grey. You have to consider these aesthetic differences when designing with natural stone surfaces.
The Pros of Engineered Stone Surfaces
Engineered stone is different from natural stone by the merit of one detail – it’s man-made. In the past, the reason for this was mostly economics. Engineered stone surfaces were basically different minerals left over during stone processing, mixed with a specialized resin to create a hard, workable stone.
Today, however, engineered stone is professionally designed to be light, resilient, capable of withstanding all type of damages, economically feasible and aesthetically pleasing.
The Cons of Engineered Stone Surfaces
That being said, it’s not exactly cheap. And similarly, most engineered stone is basically made with quartz (one of the most common minerals on the planet, as stated on Minerals.net) and resins.
The actual final choice you make depends entirely on what you can afford, whose services you have available to you, and, ultimately, what looks best in your kitchen. But knowing more about your potential materials prior to the point of sale can help save you a lot of trouble down the road.