because people aren't mass produced, neither are our kitchens
Our Buyers Guide to Sintered Porcelain Kitchen Benchtops and Splashbacks
Slabs made of high-density, low-porosity ceramic porcelain.
Sintered Porcelain benchtops (also known as ultra compact, sintered compact surface sheet material, or Sintered Stone) are made of high-density, low-porosity ceramic porcelain. These special Large Format Porcelain Sheets for benchtops are made differently to Porcelain Tile; made of powdered clay and pigments which are bonded together and pressed under high pressure and extremely high temperature. The fine particles used enable the surface to be formed into different finishes, from smooth, to gloss, to realistic textures. Some manufacturers also add glass and quartz into their powdered clay. Designs are also printed onto the surface so to mimic a range of materials including Slate, Wood, Concrete, Marble and Limestone but these printed designs are just skin deep.
Large format sheet Porcelain for benchtops and splashbacks is made by brands such as Neolith, Vasari, Maximum, Dekton and QuantumSix+, where each have their own unique range of patterns, finishes and styles.
This Porcelain benchtop material with its high density and low porosity make it ideal for the use in Kitchens, Laundries and Bathrooms. The material is highly resistant to foods and liquids absorbing into the surface, where in other low density materials stains and bacteria can develop such as red wine rings on Marble, making this material a great alternative. Porcelain’s hardness also makes it excellent around cutting surfaces as it has exceptional scratching and abrasion resistance.
This Sintered Porcelain sheet is also heat and fire resistant, which makes this an excellent benchtop and splashback surface for around gas cooktops. Likewise Porcelain sheet is also UV resistant thus they will not fade in direct sunlight, making porcelain benchtops a great decorative material for outdoor Kitchens.
At the moment most Porcelain Sintered Stone manufacturers are producing their slabs at 3200mm long and some up to 3600mm long with widths varying between different makers at 1200mm wide, 1440mm wide, 1500mm wide and 1600mm wide. Some of these manufacturers are producing a range a thicknesses; with 30mm, 20mm, 12mm, and 8mm in their range, with some manufacturers also making special 3mm & 4mm thick slabs, which also enables this material to be used as facings on Doors, Drawers, other cabinet panels, for feature walls as well as for Splashbacks.
As for drawbacks, apart from this being a very difficult material to work with; those designs that have patterns on the porcelain are just skin deep; being a printed pattern or imbossed texture on the surface, where when these slabs are cut or have a groove routed into them, the un-printed porcelain core underneath is revealed. This is not a problem with all the porcelain designs though because some just have a solid colour surface without a printed pattern; for an example the Nero, Basalt Black, Zimbabwe River and Arctic White by Neolith are made with a face colour and matching clay colour core where these together minimize the colour differences to cut edges or routed grooves, and do match in well when these are honed & or polished.
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Compass Kitchens
Specializing in Kitchen Renovations here in South Australia we service all suburbs ranging from the Inner Adelaide districts and radiating out to the Eastern, Western and Southern suburbs and those extending throughout the Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu Peninsula including Goolwa to Victor Harbor to Normanville & Yankalilla.
Come home to a beautiful functional new kitchen renovation by Compass Kitchens.
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Saturday: 08h00 - 12h00, Sunday off work
