Quartz worktops, often called engineered stone, are made by combining around 93% quartz with resins, polymers and pigments. The process makes a worktop that is extremely durable, non-porous and available in a wide range of colours.

1. How Quartz Worktops are made
Quartz worktops, often called engineered stone, are made by combining around 93% quartz with resins, polymers and pigments. The process makes a worktop that is extremely durable, non- porous and available in a wide range of colours.
The manufacturing process:
Using a vacuum vibro-compression system, quartz crystal and other aggregates are bonded together with mineral fillers such as micronized silica and feldspar in an organic resin. The strength and durability of the engineered stone largely depends on this mixture being drawn together in the correct ratio. If too much bonding agent is used the slabs can be brittle and difficult to work with.
These mixes can be coloured using metal oxide pigments which means you can have a myriad of choices in the colour and appearance of quartz worktops.
The compacted quartz is cured in a kiln and then cut and trimmed to specification.

2. The end product is a hard, granite-like worktop that can be cut to fit any kitchen. Slab sizes can range from 125 x 306 cm to 165 x 330 cm with thicknesses of 7-30 mm.
The patent for manufacturing Quartz slabs is owned by an Italian company Breton and there are a number of major brands which use the patent to produce their own worktops, the most well- known being Silestone, Zodiaq, Caesarstone, Avaziza and Technistone.
The Breton process uses environmentally friendly processes and 94% of content comes from crushed waste stone in quarries or from natural stone beds.
Engineered stone is not just used in quartz worktops but has a variety of applications including cladding for houses, shops, office buildings and airports.