There are various kinds of common products on the market, and the mainstream is artificial stone. Some families who pursue economic benefits prefer to use floor tiles to directly make countertops. Natural stone, stainless steel, etc. are not mainstream, and more scientific composite materials have not been promoted in the country due to technological limitations. We will explain these materials one by one today.

▼ Artificial stone: the history of whoever has the ability and who is the boss
Artificial stone is a very broad concept. To put it plainly, all artificial stone can be called artificial stone. Because of the different fillers, the texture and performance are different. The acrylic, quartz stone, and marble we have seen on the market are all artificial stones. A sort of. But on the countertop, the current artificial stone basically refers to calcium powder the artificial stone, and aluminum powder artificial stone. Acrylic, which is a little more advanced, is usually brought out separately. There are more advanced quartz stones that are eager to stay away from this camp, because of the price relationship, the general merchants will also distinguish the two from artificial stones.

kasker quartz

Kasker quartz stone kitchen countertops

Traditional artificial stone countertops are usually made of acrylic resin and aluminum hydroxide (aluminum powder artificial stone), which has a certain degree of toughness and hardness, but it is afraid of knife scratches. This kind of material is corrosion-resistant and light-resistant and can be made into various shapes under high-temperature conditions. The aging process is very slow, the product life is very long, and it has the advantages of being non-toxic, harmless, and non-discoloring.

Later, after the countertop market became popular, in order to pursue high profits, some factories started to use their heads. It should have been adding aluminum hydroxide to the resin. Because of the high cost of aluminum hydroxide, they added calcium powder, that is, calcium carbonate, to the countertop. This is the calcium powder artificial stone, the price is naturally reduced a lot, and it has seized a lot of markets for a while.

However, because calcium carbonate is not stable enough, it is very prone to chemical reactions when encountering hot acid. After adding calcium powder, the artificial stone plate becomes fragile and easy to crack and deform. If the light is too much, it is easy to turn yellow, and it is easy to eat. Soy sauce or something will seep in. The life of this adulterated countertop is generally one year. Later, acrylic with high resin content and low cost stopped playing with artificial stone.

Acrylic, which has broken away from the artificial stone camp, has gained a new life. In addition to the advantages of traditional artificial stone, acrylic also has: compression and wear resistance, good toughness, compact structure and no water absorption, and small color difference and is not easy to fade. Also catching up with the American masses and also fashionable acrylic, DuPont’s Corian entered the domestic market and became very popular. Acrylic was very popular for a while, except for DuPont at the time, as well as Monterey from Guangdong and Diamond. But later, Monterey did a good job and was acquired by DuPont. After all, DuPont specializes in chemical engineering, and Diamond is nothing but a high-end route. Acrylic, which broke through the siege, returned to the artificial stone camp, and DuPont Corian became a representative of high-end artificial stone. Until now, DuPont has been the handle of traditional artificial stone.

Then the opportunity came, Diamond found a new opportunity, a new material became popular in high-end kitchens in Europe, this is artificial quartz stone. However, the price of entering the quartz stone is too high, and it is difficult to open the Chinese market. Later, Diamond cooperated with Spain’s Desais to launch a new brand, Saikailong.

▼ Quartz stone: Compared with traditional artificial stone, the biggest feature is a beauty!
After all, what we pursue in our culture is “clear water comes out of hibiscus and natural carvings”, “moss marks and high-level green grass color into curtains”, natural textures, simple and natural things are often big sellers. To be precise, quartz stone is also a kind of artificial stone, a new type of stone artificially synthesized by more than 90% of quartz crystals plus resin and other trace elements.

It also has the advantages that other traditional artificial stone does not have: natural stone texture and beautiful luster, richer colors, high abrasion resistance, not afraid of scratches, and never deformed. High-temperature resistance, food-grade, no mold, no fading, constant color. Quartz stone has been very popular once it appeared, and it has a strong impact on the traditional artificial stone represented by DuPont Corian. Today, it has occupied an absolute market advantage.

Of course, the pursuit of the masses of the people is limitless, and there are new nobles in the new artificial stone field, that is, ultra-thin rock slabs, and Desais is still the representative in the market.

quartz stone kitchen top price

China quartz stone kitchen top price

This kind of rock slab can be as thin as 3mm and has excellent toughness. It can even be used for modeling and has a high hardness. It can be directly used as a cutting board to process food materials. The water absorption rate is almost 0 and it is easy to handle.

◤The curved decorative board above is an ultra-thin rock board
The disadvantage is that it is expensive and the degree is very high. The price in Boloni is around 5K-6K/Yanni.

▼Feature summary
After talking about the domestic development history of artificial stone, we can easily summarize the basic characteristics of these materials.

Traditional artificial stone: representative of aluminum powder artificial stone and calcium powder artificial stone
Advantages: meet certain toughness and hardness, economical and practical;
Disadvantages: easy to scratch and crack, not resistant to high-temperature acid and alkali, unstable color, easy to penetrate, strong plastic feeling.
Taller artificial stone: represented by DuPont Corian
Advantages: better anti-fouling ability, stronger stability, stronger toughness;
Disadvantages: The strength is lower than that of quartz stone, which is not resistant to high temperature and easy to scratch. The higher the price, the higher the price.

Quartz:
Advantages: natural and beautiful texture, wear resistance, penetration resistance, low maintenance, high-temperature resistance, no mold, and no fading. A good quartz stone can be completely scratched with a knife, will not be deformed after long-term use, can reach food-grade health, and has a rich texture;

Disadvantages: The quality is uneven, divided into six or nine grades, depending on the processing technology.

Ultra-thin rock slab:
Advantages: 100% natural materials, non-toxic, non-radiation, inhibit the growth of bacteria, can directly contact with food when making cabinet countertops, environmental protection and health, the water absorption rate is almost zero, the thinnest can reach 3mm, excellent toughness, bendable shape, can Compound with different materials.

Disadvantages: extremely expensive, a length of rice between 5K-6K, processing technology, and construction technology requirements are extremely high.

cambria quartz price per square foot

China OEM Cambria quartz price per square foot

▼Natural stone: No matter how green and natural it is, people’s love for oil, salt, sauce, and vinegar
After talking about artificial stone, let’s talk about Ranchi again. The advantages of natural stone are natural texture, simple and nature.

◤ Polished stone, now some artificial stones can also show this effect. But the natural stone is not suitable for home kitchen countertops for two reasons:

One is the material itself. Natural marble has poor toughness and is easy to break and break. Low density, loose material, easy to bleed;

Second, natural stone cannot be directly used for cabinet countertops. It requires processing procedures such as mining, transportation, cutting, polishing, surface treatment, etc., as well as installation procedures such as grooving. The price of a complete set is not low. Some people say that natural stone has radiation. This is not a concern. Our country has a vast mountainous area, and we have never heard of strange alien races.

▼Summary:
Composite materials are the most suitable, but they have higher requirements for construction, so they are not easy to do in China.

The second choice is quartz stone, which is also the most cost-effective choice in the current market