Why Stone Worktops are Great for Summer

The sun has arrived, Wimbledon’s been great and school’s nearly out. Summer fever is here, and with it the way you use your kitchen will change. Maybe in just the most minuscule of ways, but it will. You’ll find that a focus on fresh food, cool drinks and entertaining tends to dominate this season. Not only this, but July is National Picnic Month. So it’s time to set your kitchen surfaces to work as you create a glorious picnic. So, why are stone worktops the absolute best for this season?

Cool to the Touch

When you’re preparing fresh food and delicate bites, the cool temperature of stone is an ideal surface. Whether you’re laying out chocolate dipped strawberries or making a pomegranate seed salad, food will retain freshness through its preparation. The last thing you want is your fantastic picnic wilting before you have a chance to get it in the basket or cool box! So from quartz to marble to granite, make the most of this coolness when you chose your menu.

Easy to Maintain

If your kitchen is already a hectic family space, you’ll find that the traffic is exponentially increased over the Summer! To combat this, a stone worktop is fantastically easy to maintain. Granite and marble, as natural stones, are sealed to protect their porosity, and this means that a simple wipe down with a damp cloth will keep them clean. Quartz is engineered so that it is not only super strong, but super durable too. Those constant snacks and spilt juice won’t feel like such a drama on your stone worktop!

A Great Impression

The Summer season is a great time to entertain. With longer days and light, balmy evenings you may find that spontaneous social gatherings are more commonplace. So as you welcome guests through your kitchen, your natural marble worktop complements the garden beyond. And when the midges start to bite and you come inside, a marble or granite worktop makes a great impression as a casual inside social area.

Diffusion of Light

Summer days are long, and the evening light is a picturesque part of this. A sparkling quartz worktop will reflect the evening light beautifully. And if you’re up early with the sunrise, the bright diffusion of morning light will set you up for the day. You may even find that you feel more productive in this bright, crisp environment! 

Outdoor Worktops

Perhaps your kitchen refit includes large bifold doors that blur the boundaries between outside and in. In the Summer, this feature comes into its own. But what about dedicated outside dining areas? If you have the space to install this type of outside dining, stone is the perfect material for your outside worktops. From snacks to drinks to barbecues, a granite or quartz worktop will withstand the weather to remain functional and attractive throughout the year.

The Best Summer Bite

So, what do you fancy making to best showcase the properties of your stone worktop? Well, as a baker’s dream, stone worktops are the ideal surface to make summery scones from scratch:

• • Rub 225g self-raising flour (mixed with a pinch of salt) with 55g of butter 
  • Stir in 25g caster sugar and 150ml milk
  • Kneed lightly on your stone worktop
  • Cut into round shapes, brush with egg and bake for 15 minutes. 

This perfect Summer treat is served best with clotted cream and jam (the order of which remains open to debate!). And you’ll find that cleaning up is quick and easy on a stone worktop!

The cool, low maintenance properties of stone make it a wonderful surface for all your Summer culinary and entertainment needs. So go forth and make your picnics as elaborate as you dare!