Materials
There is a bewildering choice of stone, colours, edges. The best thing you can do is come and talk to us!
Come and see the stone itself, get a sample and discuss your requirements so we can help you make the best selection.
Quartz
“Quartz” worktops/countertops are created using Man-Made engineered stone formed by combining 90%+ ground quartz (one of the hardest minerals found on Earth) with 8 -10% resins, polymers, pigments, with small amounts of glass and metallic flecks added to create variety.
This forms a very hard and resilient granite like surface.
Quartz is a non-porous material, its texture does not allow bacteria to to grow and it is resistant to stains. For this reason, quartz worktops never need to be sealed.
It is its non-porous surface which makes quartz highly resistant to stains from coffee, wine, lemon juice, olive oil, vinegar, makeup and many other everyday products.
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock that forms when sedimentary limestone (carbonate rocks mostly) are subjected to heat and pressure inside the Earth’s surface. This change occurs over thousands of years.
Marble is made of tiny minerals primarily Calcite or Dolomite, sometimes other minerals like Quartz and Mica are found in Marble. The characteristic swirls and veins of many coloured marbles are usually due to various mineral impurities such as clay, silt, sand, iron oxides, which were originally present as grains or layers in the limestone. These impurities have been mobilized and recrystallized by the intense pressure and heat of the metamorphism.
Marble is not normally suitable for “Kitchen” worktops and therefore is typically used in bathrooms for vanity tops, bath surrounds, shower room panelling as well as flooring. This is because marble is much softer than Granite and Quartz with the surface being easily damaged by acidic substances.
Quartzite
Quartzite is a hard non foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone. Sandstone is converted into Quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts.
Pure Quartzite is usually white to grey, though Quartzites often occur in various shades of pink and red due to varying amounts of hematite.
Other colours, such as yellow, green, blue and orange are due to the presence of other minerals.
Granite
Granite is an igneous rock composed mostly of two minerals; Quartz and Fespar, with minor amounts of Mica, Amphiboles and other minerals.
It forms from the slow cooling/ crystallization of magma below the Earth’s surface, making it one of the hardest substances known to man.
Granite is easy to look after and will look beautiful for years.