Nothing beats an elegant, luxurious-looking stone benchtop for your kitchen or bathroom. With an enormous range of materials, styles, shades, colours, veining, and patterns, there’s a perfect stone benchtop for every home!
However, we also know that at the top of everyone’s mind is how much your stone benchtop is going to cost you? The richness of a marble and onyx benchtop simply can’t be beaten, but not everyone is looking for the most expensive stone tops. It’s also important to remember that the price of a stone benchtop will depend on a number of factors in addition to the material itself, such as where is the stone from? What thickness of slab do you need?
When it comes to benchtops there are more affordable options than stone, like laminate, metal, or wood, but there’s simply nothing that quite compares to the look and feel of stone. With that in mind, we’ve curated 5 of the cheaper stone benchtops that still look great and work like a treat in both the kitchen and bathroom.
Travertine
Travertine is a popular choice for stone benchtops and for very good reason. Formed at the bottom of water beds—such as oceans, rivers or lakes—travertine is composed of a compacted collection of mineral deposits. This gives it a genuine and earthy colour scheme that is a great choice for many houses. There’s a natural beauty to travertine that not many other stone materials can boast.
In terms of price, travertine is definitely one of the cheaper stone benchtops. This affordably priced stone is also hardy enough to withstand years of use without being scratched, stained or chipped. When sealed properly and maintained correctly, travertine benchtops perform way above their price-tag in terms of longevity!
Limestone
Limestone is found in marine waters much like travertine but is formed through a slightly different process involving pressure and heat. This versatile natural stone is used not just for kitchen and bathroom benchtops but for a whole variety of house-related constructions. The warm, neutral tones of limestone make it a wonderful option for inclusion in your home.
Like travertine, limestone is among the cheaper of natural stone options. Again, with a minimal additional investment for regular maintenance, resealing and care, limestone is a savvy choice for anyone looking for a beautiful, long-lasting and durable benchtop.
If you’d like to know more about travertine or limestone, make sure to check out our materials webpages.
Granite
Granite is a very common natural stone building material because of its strength, colour variation and affordability. Stunning to the eye thanks to its granular design, granite comes in a huge range of shades and colours which also allows for a versatility in incorporating it with many types of wood too.
While some of the darker granites can be among the most expensive of natural stone materials, there are plenty of granite options that are cheaper and perfect for the tight budget. Plus, its popularity as an option for kitchen and bathroom benchtops is no coincidence. Highly durable and resistant to wear and tear, granite is definitely worth the money.
For more information about granite and the various colour categories, click here.
Quartzite
Quartzite offers a huge number of appealing benefits as a stone benchtop. Being one of the hardest minerals on Earth, it’s highly resistant to scratches and spills, and due to its low porousness is a very hygienic option for kitchens and bathrooms especially.
That’s not where the appeal ends though. It’s a far more affordable natural stone benchtop option. Additionally, quartzite does not need to be sealed and subsequently resealed because it’s non-porous. This means that not only is the material cheaper but the ongoing maintenance is much cheaper too!
Want to read more about quartzite? Great, just click here.
Engineered Stone
Unlike the other cheap stone benchtops we’ve listed, this last one doesn’t fall under the category of “natural stone”. Engineered-stone is exactly what it sounds like: a man-manufactured stone. Due to the fact that it mainly uses quartzite as one of its components, engineered-stone is very hard and durable.
Engineered stone is a cheaper option than natural stone and like quartzite doesn’t require sealing or intensive ongoing maintenance. So, it’s an affordable stone option in both the short and long term. If you’re after a cheap stone benchtop, engineered-stone should definitely be strongly considered.
Conclusion
The best part about looking for a stone benchtop is that you can’t go wrong! Travertine, limestone, granite, quartzite and engineered-stone are all fantastic choices. There’s so much variation and so many options, there’s definitely a stone benchtop soulmate for everyone.
But we know that there really is a lot to consider when looking for the right benchtop for you. If you’d like to read more about the various kitchen benchtop materials Euro Marble has available, check out our blog page and in particular our article about what makes the best material for your kitchen benchtop!
Of course, our expert and experienced team is always here to lend a hand as well, so get in touch!
