Commercial & Retail Stone Benchtops

The most vital factor when choosing the ideal commercial and retail stone benchtop is the location and purpose of the benchtop.

For starters, in customer-facing spaces such as meeting rooms, foyers, retail store displays and cafe benchtops, a natural stone is popularly used. As the natural stones are considered more luxurious and high-end, ensuring clients and customers are getting an elegant experience and are dealing with formal businesses.

Particularly, marble and granite natural stone benchtops are the most popular selections as these surfaces require low maintenance, and yet they offer a highly timeless aesthetic.

Natural stones can also be found in industrial kitchens and hospitality venues since natural stones release zero exposure to harmful chemicals during production and disposal. Making natural stones reasonably environmentally friendly and extremely safe for food applications. You can always inquire with your catering equipment supplier about the types of appropriate materials for your requirements.

However, most commonly engineered stones are more popular for commercial and retail stone benchtops since they are generally cheaper and are more durable. Engineered stones are carefully tailored to ensure the material can withstand the intense everyday use a commercial and retail space receives.

Most types of engineered stones offer high durability and great hygienic qualities, such as water, heat and stain-resistance, as well as being an easy to clean surface that does not require much ongoing maintenance or re-sealing.

Quartz benchtops are a type of engineered stone that contains 90-93% natural forming quartz, which is the hardest material on earth! At Made in Stone, the Quartz benchtops we sell include Caesarstone, YDL Quartz, Silestone and Smartstone. Quartz stone is a tough, non-porous, long-lasting, and visually attractive benchtop that requires little upkeep.

Porcelain benchtops are the other popular type of engineered stone, which is constructed from powdered clay and coloured pigment. It is a denser, less porous and more durable stone than quartz. At Made in Stone, we sell Dekton, which is the most popular type of porcelain stone in the industry, and it is very resistant to heat, stains, UV, scratches, abrasion and freezing.

Depending on the demand of your industry, rest assured with Made in Stone as we guarantee to find the best type of stone for your commercial application!

In comparison, outdoor commercial and retail stone benchtops are more limited since outdoor benchtops must endure the harsh outdoor elements even if the area is undercover.

Typically, natural stone is the go-to for outdoor commercial benchtops since natural stone is constructed by nature. Particularly, granite and marble are the most popular choices as they are highly resilient and durable under general outdoor use, and therefore can often last decades with very little maintenance.

Uniquely, natural stone benchtops hold ultraviolet (UV) resistance, which minimises the risk of these benchtops breaking down over time due to prolonged sun exposure.

In comparison, engineered stone is not a recommended benchtop material for outdoor commercial applications because manufactured stone does not hold well when in direct contact with the weather. But this largely depends on your property location, specific weather conditions and structural elements.

For example, if your outdoor area is fully enclosed and not in direct sunlight, engineered stone can be an okay option as an outdoor commercial benchtop.

Although Dekton porcelain benchtops defy all odds when it comes to choosing an outdoor stone benchtop. Dekton porcelain can adapt to any environment, withstanding even the harshest weather conditions making it perfect for outdoor commercial applications. Porcelain is great for wet places since it is compact and non-porous, with an absorption rate of 0.5%, making it ideal for demanding, high-usage, and damp surfaces, allowing you to use it in areas that aren’t covered.

The cost of a commercial or retail stone benchtop varies widely depending on the stone itself and the intensity of the installation.

The cost of a stone slab is mostly determined by the procedure involved in preparing it for installation. For example, the size of the benchtop and the number of cut-outs needed – for a sink, tap, drainage, etc. – will add to the overall cost.

Generally, for initial stone prices, there are 4-5 distinct cost levels within any stone brand, ranging from a “regular” collection to a “deluxe” or “exclusive” collection. But in addition, the stone’s rarity, thickness, colour, popularity, manufacturing methods and shipping costs are all variables that make some final commercial or retail stone benchtops more costly than others.

Plus, despite popular belief, some varieties of natural stone can be less expensive than engineered stones! So, it pays to shop around before making your final commercial or retail stone benchtop decision. At Made in Stone, we offer many stone products to suit all budgets!

Finally, stone installations themselves can vary greatly, which results in widely different final costs. Considerations such as room size, access to the site and site location affect final costs.

To find out precisely how much a commercial or retail stone benchtop will cost, get an online quote from the Made in Stone experts today!