Quartz Worktops: Unistone, UniQ and BQS from UK Stock

Quartz is a strong choice for indoor worktops: it is easy to maintain, resists everyday wear and is available in polished and matt finishes. It is less heat resistant than porcelain and not UV stable, so it is not suitable for outdoor kitchens. Quartz excels in bright, uniform colours, especially polished whites, which are harder to achieve in porcelain. Porcelain is more scratch and heat resistant and suits outdoor use, although a trivet is still recommended for very hot pans, as with any worktop.

Despite the similar name, quartzite is a completely different material: it's a natural stone formed from sandstone under heat and pressure, while quartz worktops are an engineered composite made from crushed quartz bound with resin.

Both are scratch resistant, stain resistant and resistant to mould, but quartzite tolerates high temperatures better than quartz. Quartzite sits in a higher price bracket. Because it is a natural stone, each quartzite slab has its own pattern; quartz offers a more consistent colour and pattern, which is useful when matching worktops and splashbacks across a larger kitchen.

Unistone and BQS quartz withstand temperatures of around 160 to 180 °C. That covers most everyday use, such as setting down a pot of boiling water. A pan used for frying or a dish straight from the oven can be considerably hotter. In addition, any hard, cold worktop, including natural stone and ceramic, can crack from thermal shock when a very hot object is placed on it suddenly. We therefore recommend always using a trivet or heat mat, whatever the material.

The price of a quartz slab depends mainly on the colour and design, not on the brand. Plain, uniform colours are the most accessible option, while marble-look and veined designs sit at the higher end. This applies across Unistone®, Unistone UniQ® and BQS® alike. The final price of a worktop also depends on thickness, cut-outs, edge profiles, fabrication and installation, and is quoted by your fabricator or kitchen studio.

Quartz composite is not porous. Grease and prints therefore sometimes remain visible, especially on dark colours. You can remove these stains periodically with Lithofin MN Power-Clean. You can then use Lithofin MN Easy-Clean for daily maintenance.

Put some Lithofin KF Ceramic-Clean on a kitchen sponge and keep rubbing gently until the limescale rings disappear. Never use abrasive materials to achieve the desired result faster, as they may damage the worktop.

These are often superficial stains or a superficial layer of a used maintenance product. Normally all you need to do is clean the entire surface thoroughly with Lithofin MN Power-Clean and rinse.