Quartz (Engineered)
A manufactured surface — roughly 90% ground quartz bound in polymer resin. Specified when a job needs repeatability rather than uniqueness.
View quartz (engineered) in the catalog →Engineered quartz is a manufactured slab: approximately 90% ground natural quartz by weight, bound with polymer resin and pigment, pressed and cured. It is not a quarried stone and it is not sold as one.
That distinction matters commercially. Engineered quartz is bought precisely because it is consistent — a specifier ordering forty vanity tops for a tower gets forty vanity tops that match. Natural stone cannot promise that, and does not try to.
Where it performs
- Multi-unit residential and hospitality, where repeatability across units is the requirement
- Commercial washrooms and back-of-house
- Kitchen countertops where a client wants low maintenance and no surprises
- Any job specified from a sample, sight-unseen
What to watch
- Not heat-proof. The resin binder scorches. It needs trivets, and it is the wrong surface directly beside a commercial range.
- UV will discolour most engineered quartz over time. Do not specify it outdoors or in a fully glazed south-facing run.
- Repairs are harder than in natural stone — a chip cannot be polished out the same way.
What it is not
Engineered quartz is frequently confused with quartzite, which is a natural metamorphic stone quarried in blocks. They are different products with different price, different fabrication and different behaviour under heat. See the Quartzite page.
Colour range
Whites, off-whites and greys dominate the category, with marble-look veined patterns now the majority of what is specified. Beiges, blacks, blues and greens are all produced. Because the pattern is manufactured, colour is consistent slab to slab within a batch — confirm the batch on large orders.
Thickness
2cm and 3cm. 3cm is standard for countertops; 2cm is used for vertical applications and cladding.