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Answers / Decisions

Why is this stone not a good choice for a kitchen worktop?

Because it is marble and it etches. Citrus, wine, tomato and vinegar attack the calcite surface, and the mark is a loss of polish rather than a stain, which means it has to be re-polished rather than cleaned off. It works in a kitchen if the client accepts that.
Three polished stone slabs standing upright in timber frames, wrapped in clear plastic, side by side in a workshop. The faces are a flat grey-brown with fine straight parallel lines running across them, and the overhead lights reflect in long streaks along the polish.
Three slabs standing side by side. The straight parallel figure is what separates this stone from the dramatic veined marbles.
Application image, a design render rather than a photograph. A reception floor with a full-height stone backdrop behind the desk, the counter itself in the same stone, and concealed lighting washing down the wall from above.
The reception at the Qingyi River Hotel, where this stone is the wall behind the desk.

Reference photographs. They show the material and the finish; they are not photographs of goods we made, and the colour on screen is not a colour-match.

The figures, and where each one comes from

What it does in a kitchen What that means
Acids etch the surface A dull mark that cannot be wiped off
Knives scratch a Mohs 3 stone A cut is permanent
Heat shocks it Thermal movement opens the resin bond at an edge

Why it behaves the way it does

Etching is a chemical reaction, not a stain. A stain is something that soaked in and can be drawn out; an etch is a layer of calcite dissolved away, and no poultice or cleaner brings it back. That is the difference between a mark you can treat and a mark you can only polish.

What these figures are, and what they are not

We supply slabs, cut-to-size and panels. We do not supply kitchen worktop fabrication, and the care regime for a worktop is not the same as for a floor.

Measured data sheets and test reports

If you are specifying this

We have not published products against this question yet. Send us the process, thickness and quantity and we will quote it against what we can actually form, rather than against a catalogue.

Send a specification Ask for a sample

Because it is marble and it etches. Citrus, wine, tomato and vinegar attack the calcite surface, and the mark is a loss of polish rather than a stain, which means it has to be re-polished rather than cleaned off. It works in a kitchen if the client accepts that.

The figures

What it does in a kitchen What that means
Acids etch the surface A dull mark that cannot be wiped off
Knives scratch a Mohs 3 stone A cut is permanent
Heat shocks it Thermal movement opens the resin bond at an edge

Why

Etching is a chemical reaction, not a stain. A stain is something that soaked in and can be drawn out; an etch is a layer of calcite dissolved away, and no poultice or cleaner brings it back. That is the difference between a mark you can treat and a mark you can only polish.

What these figures are, and what they are not

We supply slabs, cut-to-size and panels. We do not supply kitchen worktop fabrication, and the care regime for a worktop is not the same as for a floor.

Where this applies on this site