Engineered Stone and Quartz
“Engineered quartz” otherwise known as manmade stone is actually nothing of the sort. The process of making these surfaces boils down to crushed quartz rock being set in a special resin that is specifically designed to be durable, heat and stain resistant as well as being very durable and beautiful. Although it is a wonderful product and certainly has its place in the world, especially among designers it does have a few failings of its own. The things that make it better than granite in turn make it worse. Some would say that engineered quartz is better than granite as it is not as brittle which makes it less prone to break or crack on impact. Granite is brittle because of its density. The density of the stone is needed for longevity in applications that see the material undergoing the strains of high traffic like staircases or pool surrounds where granite proves far superior as a loss of sheen will be noticeable on marble or engineered quartz after some time.
CeaserStone ProQuartz CafeQuartz
There are many different brands of engineered quartz for sale these days, the general rule of thumb when choosing one is that you get what you pay for. One brands product may be very similar to another as far as quartz quantity may be concerned or even the colour or look or grain. We have used pretty much any and all of these products and can tell you why they are not the same. It mostly boils down to guarantee and consistency. With a brand like “Caesar Stone” you can be assured that you are getting one of the best engineered quartz surfaces your money can buy, this backed up with a magical guarantee and very consistent colour range means that you can add on or replace a broken piece at any time and know that the material will match. This is something very few people consider when buying tops, when buying granite or marble, you should buy all you need from the same “Block” of slabs as they are natural products, the colour and grain of the next block will be similar but noticeably different where with a good engineered quartz surface you can always find the same colour provided it is still manufactured.
Many quartz suppliers will have you believe their product is far superior and justify the ridiculous pricing that way, the truth is that the way the product is processed and installed has more to do with the longevity and neatness of the job than the material itself. There are many good engineered quartz manufacturers out there, If you do not intend on building onto the same room or do not need consistent colour for a franchise of sorts, It might be wiser using a cheaper engineered quarts. Most of the time we will be able to supply a very similar product at a far cheaper price as the manufacturer doesn’t spend all that much on advertising, which in turn lowers the cost of the product. There are many good quality engineered quartz manufacturers out there like “ProQuartz” and “Café Quartz”, these are both up and coming manufacturers that supply beautiful material at a decent price and are still great quality with very decent guarantees.
