Materials
Which stone suits you
Every stone has one virtue and one drawback. Both are here, so you can choose knowing.
The slabs are here in the workshop in Vilanova. You are welcome to come and mark the one you want before we cut anything, or call and we will send you photos of the stone you have in mind.
The brands we work with
We order from the factory whatever a job needs. If you are after a particular brand, or a reference you have seen somewhere else, tell us and we will say whether we can get it and how long it takes.
Natural stone
It comes out of the quarry and is cut, not manufactured. No two slabs are alike, which is why it is worth coming to see yours before we cut anything. Besides these brands, we work marbles and granites that arrive with no brand behind them.
Quartzites, pegmatites and semi-precious stones. The most striking catalogue we carry, and the one that varies most from slab to slab.
Porcelanosa’s quartzite. Quarried stone, not manufactured, despite coming from the same house as the Xtone porcelain.
Natural granite and quartzite that arrive with a factory stain treatment already applied.
Engineered quartz and mineral composites
It does not come from a quarry: it is made from ground quartz and resin, so the colour repeats exactly from slab to slab. Good where an exact tone has to be matched; it does not take direct heat and does not go outdoors.
The best-known brand in this family, and the one with the widest colour range.
The most recent range from the same maker. It is not engineered quartz but a mineral composite, with a different make-up.
Large-format porcelain and sintered stone
Large, thin slabs. They take direct heat and outdoor use, and allow worktops with no visible joint where natural stone would force one.
The largest format we work with. It goes on worktops, façades and outdoors.
Large-format sintered stone, with marble and stone finishes.
Porcelanosa’s large-format porcelain, with a wide colour range.
Marble
The stone with veining. Every slab is different and never repeats.
Good for
Islands and splashbacks where the veining reads whole, basins carved from the slab itself, staircases and fireplaces.
What to know
It is calcareous: lemon, vinegar and some cleaners leave a dull mark. It does not crack the stone or spoil it, but the mark shows. In exchange it can be re-polished in place years later, which an engineered slab cannot. If yours is a kitchen where a lot of cooking happens fast, tell us and we will suggest something else.
Granite
The workhorse. Hard, undramatic, evenly grained.
Good for
Worktops in daily use, barbecues and outdoor bars, floors that take traffic.
What to know
It takes scratching and heat better than anything else on this list, and lemon does nothing to it. Its limit is aesthetic, not technical: the grain is more uniform than marble veining. Honed or brushed it loses the showroom shine and gains a great deal in a real kitchen.
Quartzite
Marble veining, granite hardness. The stone that settles the argument.
Good for
Kitchens that want marble veining without having to think before using them.
What to know
It is harder than granite to scratch and kitchen acids do nothing to it. You pay for that in the cutting: the machine runs slower and the tooling wears faster, and that is in the price. Watch the name: some stones are sold as quartzite without being one. We always tell you what you are buying.
Travertine
Warm, naturally pitted. The stone that looks like it has always been there on day one.
Good for
Porches, outdoor flooring, bathrooms, barbecue counters and wall cladding.
What to know
The pitting can be left open or filled. Open is more honest and less slippery; filled cleans better in a kitchen. It is softer than granite, so a heavily used worktop will mark. Floors and walls are where it gives its best.
Limestone
Matt, even, without shine. The stone of the pools around the Garraf.
Good for
Pool coping, outdoor steps and paving around water.
What to know
It heats up less in the sun than a dark stone and grips better wet, which is exactly what is asked of it around a pool. It is soft: do not use it as a kitchen worktop. Outdoors, chlorine and hard water ask for normal cleaning, nothing special.
Engineered quartz
Even, repeatable colour. What you choose when the veining must not surprise you.
Good for
Kitchens where today’s piece and one fitted in two years must match, and plain-colour bathrooms.
What to know
It has no pores and never needs sealing. It contains resin, so it does not take direct heat — a pan straight off the hob will mark it — and it does not go outdoors: sunlight fades it. We work the brands on the market but we do not manufacture: the data sheet and the warranty are the manufacturer’s and we hand them over with the quote.
Large-format porcelain
It is not stone and does not pretend to be. A thin, non-porous, very stable slab.
Good for
Slim 6–12 mm worktops, full-wall splashbacks and surfaces that take direct heat.
What to know
Acids and heat do nothing to it and it never needs sealing. The pattern is printed: on a thick edge you can see the core does not follow, which is why it is mitred. It is fragile to handle until it is fitted, and that is workshop work, not the haulier’s.
Not sure which one to choose?
It is the most useful call you can make. Tell us where the stone is going and how it will be used, and in five minutes we will tell you which one suits. Not the one we would rather sell.