Introduction
So, you’ve decided it’s time to get some new kitchen benchtops. Or maybe you are now thinking about your new home build and trying to get the best stone vanity tops you can for your money. The hard part to know is just how much will it cost.
“How much should I budget for stone benchtops?” or “How do I know I am getting a fair price for my Caesarstone?” are probably some questions that are rolling around your mind right now. Well, as with most things, pricing up your dream benchtops is rarely as straight forward as it seems.
Article Intent
This article aims to help you:
a) understand how engineered stone benchtops are priced
b) how to get the best price for your engineered stone benchtops
c) what to look out for to know that you are getting a fair deal.
What's Important to You
What is most important when thinking about changing kitchen benchtops will usually vary from person to person. Some people are looking for the best price benchtops they can find, where others are really after a particular look, whilst someone else who may be on a deadline is wants to get affordable stone benchtops that look great but what really matters is that they can get them quickly. No matter your reasons rest assured, that engineered stone benchtops (some may know them as quartz benchtops or even by the brand Caesarstone benchtops) are a fantastic choice no matter the reason.
Engineered Stone, A Quick Overview
Chances are that if you are reading this article, you are familiar with what engineered stone is but in case you aren’t, simply put engineered stone is a composite material made up of crushed stone which is then bound together with pigments and resins to create a durable surface. When used in benchtops, engineered stone is predominantly made up of quartz (usually 90 – 95 %) however with more and more research coming out around the dangers of silicosis, the industry is quickly moving to replace the quartz with substitutes such as glass. Click here if you would like to find out more about engineered stone, its history, its pro’s and con’s, silicosis management in the industry and much more.
Choosing the Right Brand For You
You may have seen previously that some suppliers advertise their engineered stone benchtop price by the square metre (m²). This is done to assist the public in understanding comparative pricing between brands more easily, but is it really that simple? The truth is no, it is not. Many factors go in to pricing a new kitchen benchtop such as the brand and category within that brand the chosen reconstituted stone benchtop (another name for engineered stone) falls into. The market leading brand in the Australian market is Caesarstone and you can find out more information about them by either reading our supply partner page by clicking here or following this link to their homepage.
As the premier brand of engineered stone, Caesarstone have the biggest marketing and advertising presence and spend more on research and development than just about any other brand. These factors coupled with some very effective brand positioning mean that Caesartstone are not always the cheapest stone benchtops you can get for your money, but their quality is undeniable. In fact, Caesarstone are so proud of their product that they actually offer a limited lifetime warranty for their engineered or reconstituted stone benchtops. For some people this is enough for them to say, “I want Caesarstone benchtops and nothing else will do.”
If you are looking for more affordable stone benchtops near you, the good news is that there are several options to choose from and those suppliers also stand behind their products with fantastic warranties. Smartstone benchtops, one of Caesarstone’s biggest competitors who also have a wide array of beautiful engineered stone (their new Ibrido range truly is something to be admired), offer a limited 15 year warranty for their products. Our other partners Stone Ambassador, Trendstone (by Project Stone) and YDL all offer 10 year limited warranties so you can have peace of mind that in the highly unlikely event that your engineered stone benchtops develop a fault, the supplier will be there to assist. Moreover, these brands are typically more affordable than Caesarstone in a “like for like” comparison.
At the time of writing it is the author’s experience that the ranking of most to least expensive for each of our chosen suppliers is:
- Caesarstone
- Smartstone
- Stone Ambassador
- Trendstone
- YDL
With that said however this statement is qualified by the fact that this is for “like of like” products for the material costs only as previously mentioned and does not take into some other key considerations, which we will go into more detail below.
How Is Engineered Stone Made
So, if you don’t purchase engineered stone by the square metre how is it sold? Well, to answer that question it is helpful to understand how engineered stone is manufactured. As mentioned earlier in the article, engineered stone is made up of crushed stone (right now mostly quartz stone) and a mixture of resins. Once combined, the mixture is placed in a moulds, pigments are then added to the mixture either to create a homogeneous colour or in instances like faux-marble, pigments are injected across the surface to create a particular effect. The moulds are then place in large in kiln ovens to harden.
How Is Engineered Stone Sold
Traditionally slabs come in 3000mm x 1400mm slabs (or thereabouts). This is how engineered stone is sold. As a customer you have to purchase engineered stone per slab. The percentage of the slab that you use is known as the yield and what is left over is known as wastage. Obviously the more stone that is used in a project, the greater the yield and therefore better the value of the overall project. Figure 1&2 shows an example you can see two benchtop plans. Whilst benchtop A is considerably smaller than benchtop B (ref Fig. 1), if both benchtops have the identical finish with identical cutouts they will actually be the same price.
Benchtop B will be considerably better value because its yield will be so much higher at 85% versus benchtop A at 49%. Stone suppliers will not generally give clients the wastage for free and it usually kept as offcuts for vanity tops or smaller jobs.
More recently, suppliers have introduced “Jumbo” slabs into the Australian market for their more popular colours. Jumbo slabs are around 3200mm x 1600mm and offer clients with larger projects a chance to really get the best value by maximising their yield from a slab which is already cheaper per m² than its standard sized counterpart, especially when using the standard slab will mean having to go into two slabs, potentially dropping the yield of the job right down and the price up! Example two demonstrates how jumbo slabs can really benefit clients who are wanting get the best bang for their buck when it comes to their engineered stone tops.
When designing your kitchen it is always good practice to consider the slab size of your chosen engineered stone so that you can work out the yield of the project as you go. You may find that by changing a single cabinet, you save thousands by not having to go into another slab or that you have enough stone left over in your slab to add more bench space, extra vanity tops or even a servery without extra cost.
Summary
Engineered stone benchtops have become the go to choice in the Australian market for home builders and renovators alike and it is easy to see why. Engineered stone is sold in slabs and customers need to be aware that they are paying for the entire slab no matter the size of the job. Considering slab size and the yield of the project from early on in the design process is the best way to ensure the greatest value for money when purchasing engineered stone.
Brisbane Stone are your local engineered stone benchtop specialists in Indooroopilly, Jindalee, St Lucia, Graceville and surrounds and we pride ourselves on working with our clients to optimise their benchtops to get the best possible yield and price. Get in touch with us today to see how we can help with your new or replacement stone benchtop today.