Quartz Worktop Query

tazman007

Hi All

Having now made a decision on where I'm purchasing my new kitchen units and appliances from, I'm now looking into the worktops. I want a quartz worktop and was pretty much settled on the silestone blanco Zeus (white) worktop. I need 2 pieces, one piece 2500mm x 600mm with an undermount sink cut-out with drainer grooves and the second 1700mm x 600mm with an induction hob cut out. I've had quotes online which comes to ~£2000.

However, I'm hearing that silestone is a branded quartz product and is more expensive than other quartz products??

So my questions are:

1. What other brands should I be looking at that has the same or similar non-porousness (is that even a word??) as silestone and what is the name of the colour in these other brands that would be equivalent to the blanco zeus i.e. a pure white?

2. Where is a reputable place I can procure said stones from (I'm in Coventry in the midlands if that's any help)?

3. Is £2000 a reasonable price for the silestone with the measurements above?

Tell you what, this kitchen renovating process don't half boggle the mind

Any comments from experts, experiences from people with quartz worktops and others are all gratefully received.

Cheers

Alan_M_2

With quartz you are limited to some extent in that the basic material is produced in set sizes. Most commonly 3050mm x 1400mm x 30mm.

So no matter what size your kitchen, the supplier is limited to buying sheets at the size above.....sometimes this is pretty uneconomical. In your case you'll be paying for 4.27 sq/m of material to cover 2.52 sq/m of worktop....lots of wastage.

Pure white is the most expensive colour to produce in quartz by a country mile.It is extremely difficult for these manufacturers to get an absolutely pure colour even Silestone.

Before you decide on this colour I suggest you insist on viewing the slab of material as I have yet to see a sheet from any manufacturer that doesn't contain some form of imperfection. In pure white these stand out like a sore thumb.

The most common imperfection is a tiny black fleck that looks like Vanilla pods.

I visited 5 factories on my travels last month looking for a supplier of this material (pure white) and came away deciding not to bother with it as it's going to be more trouble than it's worth. We're sticking to the White Mirror fleck and Black Mirror fleck which I'll have in stock from June this year...

The only other UK supplier holding anything close to Pure white is Compac, but even theirs has imperfections as described above.

So in summary, you've picked the most difficult to produce material from the most expensive manufacturer, £2,000 is about spot on and it's not going to get any cheaper and make absolutely sure you know what you're getting.

tazman007

Thanks for the reply, Alan M - very informative. I think the mirror fleck idea is a good one - what are the brands I should be looking at? I do have mirror flecked quartz tiles in the bathroom and know how good they look so can imagine that they'd look good as worktops too.

Thansk again

Alan_M_2

Mirror fleck in either colour gives you a wide variety of choice, don't get hung up on a particular brand of this material, get some quotes, view some slabs and make your choice based on that and how you feel about the company. I used to be keen to stick to a brand name, but having visited a few manufacturing plants of this stuff I'm completely non plussed by "Brands", this really is pretty much the same whoever makes it.

Do make the effort to see a large piece of this product, a small sample can be quite misleading as these mirror quartz stones appear different in large format than a small sample. Pick a product that you're happy with and remember that double the price does not necessarily mean twice as good.

Mirror Black and Mirror white are the top two sellers in Quartz, you'll be spoilt for choice and should get some more competitve quotes.