Porcelain and sintered stone worktops
The technical answer. Takes a hot pan without flinching, holds its colour in sunlight, and works outdoors as well as in.
Porcelain worktops, also sold as sintered stone, are made from natural minerals fired at around 1,200 degrees under enormous pressure, with no resin binder at all. That absence of resin is the whole story: nothing in the slab can scorch, fade or react, which is why it behaves differently from quartz in exactly the places quartz struggles.
- Composition
- Fired natural minerals, no resin binder
- Heat
- Excellent, hot pans directly on the surface
- Outdoors
- Yes, UV stable and frost resistant
- Porosity
- Non-porous, never needs sealing
- Watch for
- Edge chipping, it is hard but brittle
- Silica
- Not silica free, published data suggests roughly 15 to 25%
Cost: Made to order and priced against your plans, not from a calculator
What porcelain solves
Three things, and they are the three limitations of engineered quartz. Heat: you can put a pan straight off the hob onto porcelain and nothing happens, because there is no resin to scorch. Sunlight: it is UV stable, so a south facing garden room or an outdoor kitchen will not fade it. Weather: it is frost resistant, so it can live outside all year. If you have been told your kitchen cannot have stone because of a run of glazing or a barbecue island, this is the material that changes the answer.
How we work with it
Made to order. Porcelain is cut on a waterjet rather than a saw, the slabs come from a much shorter list of suppliers than quartz, and the thin edges are mitred by hand so a 12mm slab reads as solid stone. That is real work and it varies job to job, so we do not put porcelain through the calculator. Send us your plans, or a photograph of the colour you are after, and we will come back with a proper figure.
The honest limits
Porcelain is harder than quartz but more brittle, which means the risk is chipping at an exposed edge rather than scratching across the face. That risk mostly sits with the people cutting and carrying it rather than with you, and it is why porcelain wants a workshop that knows the material. It also comes in fewer colours than quartz, and it costs more. And one myth worth killing: porcelain is not silica free. Published data for porcelain slabs puts crystalline silica somewhere around 15 to 25 per cent, which is higher than several low silica quartzes. It is an excellent material, but not for that reason.
Where it goes in a real kitchen
Plenty of kitchens do not need porcelain everywhere. A very common and sensible specification is porcelain on the hob run and the island, where heat and wear land, with quartz on the rest, chosen to match. You get the practical benefit exactly where it matters without paying for it across the whole room. Outdoor kitchens are the other obvious case, where porcelain is really the only correct answer.
Brands and looks
Dekton and Neolith are the two names most people arrive with, and we work with both. The range covers convincing marble patterns, concretes, metals and stone effects, in matt and satin finishes that suit the material better than high gloss does. Thin slabs from 6mm to 12mm also make porcelain the material of choice for cladding an island end or a full height splashback without adding bulk.
Not only kitchens
Kitchens are most of what we do, but they are not all of it. If it is stone and it needs templating and fitting, it is worth asking us about.
Kitchen worktops
Runs, peninsulas and full replacements, in any of the five materials.
Kitchen islands
Including mitred waterfall ends and bookmatched slabs.
Bathrooms
Shower surrounds, thresholds, window sills and bath panels cut from one stone.
Vanity tops
Cut for undermount or countertop basins, with the tap holes where you want them.
Splashbacks and upstands
Cut from the same slab as the worktop so the veining runs on unbroken.
Outdoor kitchens
Porcelain or hard granite, both of which take weather and sunlight.
Commercial surfaces
Reception desks, bar tops, office kitchens and hospitality fit-outs.
Fireplaces
Hearths, surrounds and mantel shelves cut to your opening and finished by hand.
Dining tables
Table and console tops cut to your shape, on your base or one being made for you.
What is included as standard
- Every cut-out free of charge, for the sink, hob, taps and sockets, however many
- Pencil edges as standard, so corners are kind to small hands
- Drainer grooves as standard
- Free home visit with samples, we come to you
- Your actual slab approved from photographs before anything is cut
- 10 year guarantee, in writing
Cut-outs, drainer grooves and pencil edges are commonly itemised as extras elsewhere. They are not extras here, which is worth checking when you compare two quotes that look similar at the headline.
How it works
Free home visit
We come to you with samples, look at the actual room and talk through the stone, the edges and the layout. No showroom trip, and no obligation.
One itemised price
Templating, stone, fabrication, all cut-outs, fitting and VAT, in one figure agreed before anything is cut. What you approve is what you pay.
Template
Once your units are level we template the room by hand, to a fraction of a millimetre, and agree joint positions and veining direction with you in the room.
Your slab, approved
You see photographs of your actual slab and approve it before it is cut, so there are no surprises when it arrives.
Fitted and sealed
Our own fitters install it, usually within three to five working days of templating, and we take the packaging away with us.
Aftercare inside 72 hours
If anything needs adjusting afterwards we come back, free of charge, and we have never taken more than 72 hours to get there.
Frequently asked questions
Is porcelain better than quartz?
Do you offer porcelain worktops?
Is porcelain silica free?
Can porcelain be used outdoors?
Get a price for porcelain
A free home visit, samples in your own light, and one itemised price with nothing hidden.
Free home visit with samples. Every cut-out included. Ten year guarantee.