Understanding Silica

Silica, or silicon dioxide, is found in materials like sand, stone, and quartz. Engineered stones often have high silica content, sometimes over 90%. The health risk arises during manufacturing when cutting, grinding, or polishing releases fine silica dust. Inhaling this dust can cause serious health issues, including silicosis, a lung disease. However, it’s important to note that once installed, benchtops pose no silica-related health risks in your home.

Natural Stone: A Safe and Elegant Choice

Natural stones, such as marble and granite, are inherently safer due to their lower silica content.

Innovations in Low Silica Engineered Stone

Leading brands have responded to silica concerns by developing low silica and silica-free engineered stones. These innovations ensure that while the materials are safe for workers during manufacturing, they also meet the high standards of beauty and durability expected by homeowners.

Zenith Surfaces by Stone Ambassador

We are excited to introduce Zenith Surfaces by Stone Ambassador, a revolutionary zero crystalline silica product. Available now at Beyond Stone, Zenith Surfaces represent a major advancement in creating safer, healthier environments without sacrificing style or performance.

Caesarstone: Crystalline Silica-Free

Caesarstone continues to lead with its next generation of Mineral Crystalline Silica-Free surfaces. These premium, sustainable surfaces are formulated with a unique blend of materials, ensuring top-notch quality and aesthetics. With over 35 years of leadership, Caesarstone’s latest innovation highlights their dedication to customer well-being and sustainability.

Choosing the Right Benchtop for Your Home

When selecting a benchtop, consider silica content, design, maintenance, and budget. Opting for natural stones like quartzite or low silica engineered stones from brands like Caesarstone and Stone Ambassador ensures a beautiful, durable, and safe addition to your home.

At Beyond Stone, we are committed to offering safe and stunning benchtop solutions. Visit our showroom or contact us today to explore our extensive range and make a choice that ensures both style and safety for your home.

The post Silica in Stone: Understanding the changes appeared first on Beyondstone.

Blue Bahia Granite

A rare find, Blue Bahia Granite from Brazil, is exceptionally unique. Its radiant blue hues, interwoven with an intricate pattern, make it a stunning choice for kitchen countertops and bathroom vanities.

Verde Alpi Marble

With its vivid green shades and distinctive veining, the Verde Alpi Marble makes a bold statement. Whether it’s for a kitchen countertop or a bathroom, this marble brings in a touch of nature indoors.

Rosso Levanto Marble

Dare to be different with the Rosso Levanto Marble. Its deep red hues offer a dramatic accent in any space, creating a sense of luxury and grandeur that’s hard to match.

Black Galaxy Granite

Imagine a starry night encapsulated within your floor or countertop – that’s what the Black Galaxy Granite offers. Its black base speckled with small gold or white flecks creates an impressive effect that never fails to wow.

Pink Onyx

Pink Onyx is elegance personified. Often backlit for maximum impact, this beautiful and translucent stone can create a striking effect in bathrooms or on feature walls.

Rainforest Brown Marble

Bring the feeling of the great outdoors into your home with Rainforest Brown Marble. Its unique veining, reminiscent of tree branches, makes it a popular choice for a statement wall or countertop.

Golden Lightning Granite

The striking Golden Lightning Granite, with its black base and golden veins, creates a visual impact that can elevate any kitchen countertop or bathroom vanity to a piece of art.

Azul Macaubas Quartzite

This vibrant blue quartzite from Brazil, known as Azul Macaubas, is a showstopper with its bold colour and linear veining, perfect for a kitchen island or a stunning bathroom countertop.

At Beyond Stone, we understand that your home deserves the best. Our mission is to help you discover and procure the most striking, unique stones that bring your interior design dreams to life. While we might not stock every stone mentioned here, we commit to working tirelessly with your designer and our trusted suppliers to find a stone solution that’s as unique and individual as you are. Contact us today and let’s create something extraordinary together.

The post Unique Stone From Around The World appeared first on Beyondstone.

1. Material Type

2. Stone Thickness

3. Edge Profile

4. Fabrication and Installation

5. Transportation

Final tips

1. Compare different stone materials: Research the various stone options available, considering both natural and engineered stones, and compare their prices. This will help you find a material that fits your budget without compromising on quality or aesthetics.
2. Opt for a simpler edge profile: Choosing a more basic edge profile can help reduce the cost of your stone benchtop. Eased or beveled edges, for example, require less labor and are typically more affordable than intricate designs.
3. Consider offcuts: Sometimes we have leftover pieces of stone from previous projects, known as offcuts. If available, these may be purchased at a better price but may only be suitable for very small projects or bathroom vanities.

The post Understanding the Cost of Benchtops: Factors That Influence Pricing appeared first on Beyondstone.

1. Design Aesthetic: Consider the overall design aesthetic of your kitchen or bathroom. Choose an edge profile that complements and enhances the existing design elements.
2. Material: Some edge profiles may work better with specific materials. Consult with us to determine which options are most suitable for your chosen stone.
3. Safety: If you have young children or elderly family members, opt for rounded edge profiles like bullnose or eased edges to reduce the risk of injury from sharp corners.
4. Maintenance: Certain edge profiles may require more maintenance than others. For example, intricate edge designs like ogee edges may be more challenging to clean and maintain.

The post Innovative Edge Profiles: How to Choose the Perfect Edge appeared first on Beyondstone.

But why will these statement pieces continue to become more popular?

First and foremost, stone is a timeless and classic material that has never gone out of style. It has been used for centuries in the construction of beautiful buildings and homes, and is still highly sought after today for its durability, versatility, and natural beauty. Natural and engineered stone is also a practical choice for kitchen and bathroom surfaces because it can be resistant to heat, stains, and scratches, making it easy to maintain and care for.

In addition to its practical benefits, it is also highly versatile and can be cut and shaped into a variety of designs, including bold,statement pieces. This means that you can truly customize your benchtops and splashbacks to fit your personal style and the overall design of your home. Whether you opt for a sleek and modern look or a more traditional and ornate design, there is a design to suit your needs.

Another reason why these statement-type stone pieces will continue to be popular is because they add value to your home. Marble is a high-end material that is associated with luxury and quality, and having it in your home can significantly increase its value. This is especially true if you choose a unique and eye-catching design for your benchtops, as it will make your home stand out and be more desirable to potential buyers.

Some of the most popular striking pieces of stone include:

• Calacatta Viola
• Super White
• Arabescato Vagli
• Calacatta Oro
• Pink Travertine
• Amazon Green Marble

Statement pieces of stone works are a trend that will continue to be popular due to their timeless and classic appeal, versatility, practicality, and ability to add value to a home. If you’re considering updating your kitchen or bathroom with new benchtops and splashbacks, now is the perfect time to make the investment and add a touch of luxury to your home.

The post Trend Alert for 2023: Statement Stone appeared first on Beyondstone.

Keep it Simple

Having lots of creative pieces in your kitchen can make it look funky and eclectic, but it certainly creates more work.  Our advice: keep the benchtop accessories to a minimum.  The more things you have, the more places for dust to harbour and it just encourages even more things to be placed there – a vicious cycle.  No one has ever complained about a beautiful, clean benchtop.

Cleaning Products

There are so many cleaning products on the market today – each with a particular use case.  Depending on the stone benchtop you have, you’ll need to choose a cleaning product that won’t compromise the material.  Generally, for daily use, you’ll be hard pressed to go past some warm soapy water though.

Be sure to check with your stonemason or manufacturer exactly what products to use and to avoid.

Stay Organised

As we touched on above, kitchen benchtops become this really attractive place to just throw your things onto.  Keys, phone, wallets all just end up sitting on their and make it look messy.  We highly recommend placing organisers or containers into your storage areas so you can keep everything neat and tidy.  This way, you’ll always know where your things are and the kitchen continues to look fabulous.

Routine cleaning

The best kind of cleaning is one that you can do consistently.  Switching into autopilot where you clean up after each meal, clean out the fridge each week, take out the bins and a quick, regular vacuum will really ease the load up and make sure everything looks great all the time.  Cleaning little bits regularly is much easier than trying to do a deep, thorough clean once a month.  Knowing exactly what you need to do will save you time and increase the lifespan of your kitchen so get into a routine and stick to it.

We’re sure you put a huge amount of effort and love into the renovation of your kitchen so keep it up with some regular cleaning.  Maintaining that level of effort will keep it looking as beautiful as the day it was renovated.

If you’re looking to undertake a kitchen renovation, get in touch with us at Beyond Stone.  We’d love to hear from you so call us on (08) 9201 0926.

The post How to: Maintaining your new kitchen appeared first on Beyondstone.

Calacatta marble is synonymous with luxury and elegance across the world.  It is a timeless natural material that elevates every thing it touches. Calacatta is the most in demand choice of all natural stones.

There are a few key features that define Calacatta marble

1. It is a natural stone
2. It is only available from one quarry in the world, located in Carrara, Italy
3. It is recognised as having a white background with stunning grey veins throughout

Given the beauty of this stone, it should come as no surprise that it is often recreated in engineered stones where people want access to the same style, without the corresponding price.

There are many different kinds of Calacatta too.  There are options with just the iconic grey veining but there are also unique options with gold, cabernet and many more that only mother nature can produce.  Engineered options typically create a ‘flat’ marble look whereas the beauty of Calacatta marble is there is so much depth and complexity to it that you just can’t replicate.

Where to use it

The beauty (and price) of Calacatta means it’s generally reserved for use in high impact and visible areas where it can draw compliments from all those that see it.  Bench tops and splash-backs are the most common areas to find the marble but we’ll also regularly integrate it in high end bathrooms.  Our clients also often go for Calacatta Marble for open fireplace surrounds and hearths as a feature piece in the living area.  In other words, it can look absolutely fantastic anywhere you put it.

What’s the difference between Carrara and Calacatta?

Typically, Carrara features muddy hues and is not pure white. Carrara is also less expensive and more common to find in your everyday marketplace or cut into tiles. On the contrary, Calacatta has very bold veining with a crisp white background. While each natural stone slab is unique, Calacatta marble is much rarer than your typical Carrara.

If you’d like to discuss the marble options for your home or business, get in touch with us at Beyond Stone WA.

The post Our Guide to Calacatta Marble appeared first on Beyondstone.

Featuring:

• Book Stand
• Pamphlet Stand
• Laptop Stand
• Donation Stand

The post Art Gallery of Western Australia – Travertine Series appeared first on Beyondstone.

Keep reading below for Beyond Stone’s 5 top tips to optimise your kitchen island bench.

Storage

Island benchtops are beautiful but they also offer an opportunity for some great functionality.  Rather than covering up your island with ‘false’ cabinetry, consider using the space for extra drawers and storage.  We also see a number of clients installing their appliances such as oven and dishwasher into the into the island so they are hidden from sight.

Seamless

The secret is in the laminated or mitred join – a means of joining two pieces of stone permanently and virtually seamlessly.  The laminated edge, where two pieces are stacked on top of each other, is the strongest join and creates a very bold, robust look.  The mitred edge – where two pieces of quartz are cut on an angle and then joined at a 90-degree corner – produces a virtually seamless result.

Waterfall

Adding a waterfall to your benchtop can elevate your design creating a sleek, minimal look which is ideal for new, modern kitchen designs.

Incorporating a waterfall creates a stunning visual connection as the beauty of the surface flows seamlessly to the floor, hiding cabinetry and appliances, while the thickness of the design can change the aesthetic of the island from thin and sleek to solid and substantial.

You can add a waterfall to one side, both sides and the front of your island for extra impact and easy maintenance, offering plenty of design flexibility.

While deliberating where to add your waterfall feature consider how you want to use your island; you may wish to incorporate extra storage at the ends, add cabinetry at the front, or create a breakfast bar with additional space for leg-room and seating that you can tuck away when not in use.

Profile

The list of options in profiles in your stone benchtop is almost limitless.  You can choose a slim, straight profile or perhaps an elegant lambs tongue or the sleek shark nose profile.  There is many more and you can view them here.

To discuss your kitchen island design, we’re here to help.  Get in touch with us today!

The post Four Considerations To Optimise Your Island Bench appeared first on Beyondstone.

—

If you have a project that you’d like to use a large format or slab tile, then contact us today on 08 9201 0926 or email us at monica@beyondstonewa.com.au

The post Large Format Tiles & Slab Tiles appeared first on Beyondstone.