What is the best natural stone for a kitchen?

Natural stone is a wonderful material to choose for your refitted kitchen worktop. Indeed, this choice of kitchen surface is often top of the list when it comes to clients describing their dream kitchen. The low maintenance, cool, elegant features make natural stones inimitable and exclusive. But how do you decide which natural stone is right for you kitchen? The differences between the likes of granite, marble and limestone may seem subtle at first glance. However, when you are in the process of creating your perfect kitchen, they mean a great deal.

Why natural?

So, why go for natural stone in the first place? It has to be said that the benefits of engineered stones like quartz and dekton are considerable. The surfaces are stylish, cool to the touch and durable almost to indestructibility. Despite this, though, for some designs only natural is right. Only naturally mined stones offer uniqueness of character. These varieties, which are mined all around the globe, mean that a range of natural colours, graining and costs are available.

The Stones

A rundown of the most popular natural stones may help to get an idea of what you prefer:

Granite

This is the most hardwearing of natural stones, although it requires sealing to protect its porosity. As a mined stone, its colour and appearance can be hugely varied and as a consequence, the range of prices that different granites demand is wide.

Marble

Softer and easier to shape than granite, the distinctive and coloured veining of marble means a huge range of natural variety. Geologically speaking, marble is actually a limestone which has been subject to extreme heat and pressure. 

Limestone

Although a much more porous stone than marble, both stones require sealing. Despite the colour range being more limited, limestone offers a warmer and less formal finish than either marble and some granites.

Functionality

Deciding between natural stones may come down to practicalities. A kitchen tends to be a high traffic area with consistent and high impact use. So it’s important to ensure that your surfaces are hard wearing. Although all natural stones are heat and stress resistant, the most durable of them is granite. Limestone, conversely, is the most porous natural stone. However, the sealing process means that you can enhance the natural durability of all natural stones to mean your kitchen worktop can last a lifetime.

Aesthetics

Consider two things when selecting the stone that suits your design concept: how important is colour and how uniform do you want your space to appear? Marble offers a very luxurious and formal aesthetic with exclusivity in its random veining. Plus, it reflects natural light beautifully. If you want colour variety with a lot of features in the stone, then look no further than granite. The depth of detail and sparkle in a granite is a draw for many. Or choose a more subtle, rustic aesthetic with limestone.

Maintenance

Low maintenance goes hand in hand with stone surfaces when compared with other materials such as wood or laminate. These worktops are heat and stain resistant and are able to withstand persistent water contact. Granite, marble and limestone all require sealing to enhance their durability. This should be repeated every year or two. With this in place, you will only need a warm, damp cloth and mild dish soap to clean your kitchen worktop day to day.

Marble, granite and limestone all offer beautiful aesthetics for a kitchen. As natural stones, the features that your worktop will boast are exclusive and unique. With the sealing process, all of these stones are tough and long lasting. So, really, all it comes down to is personal preference. So browse the catalogue and check out the options. At Zenstone we work to guide you in finding the perfect individual stone for your own personal design concept.