Silestone quartz is created with strength, beauty and a distribution network that goes unmatched in today’s countertop material industry. Siletones countertops can offer you very sophisticated beauty and elegance that has a timeless and long-lasting quality. The quartz in silestone is natural in it’s depth, clarity a cool radiance that gives it a unique feel compared to other natural stones.
It has many uses, besides countertops, silestone is also perfect for flooring, vanities, tubs, showers, walls, bars, fireplaces, and virtually any other surface area that you can think of.
Silestone quartz is very easy to aquire simply because a huge network of distributors has been setup who can deliver it through-out most of North America, most cities in the United States, as well as parts of Canada, Mexico and they are adding new areas constantly. Chances are, if you are interested in getting silestone countertops, you will be able to with ease.
You can buy it directly from major outlets such as Home Depot, or online delivery sites as well as local retailers that sell tile/flooring, or other building material shops.
Silestone has many great qualities, some of which we will list here.
Silestone countertops are great because they are scratch resistant. The quartz that silestone is made with gives it this natural ability. There are actually only three materials that are harder than quartz and those are diamonds, sapphires and topaz. On the scale used to judge hardness, the Mohs Hardness scale, Quartz is a 7, whereas Diamond is a 10.
So if you do have silestone installed as your kitchen countertop, and you happen to be cutting something, you slip at the knife hits your countertop, if you were using other materials commonly used for kitchen countertops, such as laminates or tiles, you won’t scratch it. One important thing to note is that scratch-resistant doesn’t mean scratch-proof. It’s recommended that when you are cutting on a silestone counter you still use a cutting board as to avoid any minor damage that could happen.
Silestone quartz also has a natural stain-restistance which is another reason it makes for a perfect candidate for your kitchen countertops. Siletones is non-porous and that is why it has a natural ability to resist stains, even from some of the worst stain culripts like coffee, wines and juices. One major difference between using granite for your countertops and silestone, is that silestone does not need to be sealed. It’s also important to note that it can resist cleaning products well that might be left overnight or on accident. This can provide comfort in knowing that not everything you forget to clean up, or if you have children who might make a mess, you don’t have to watch your countertops like a hawk to make sure everything is cleaned up constantly.
Heat-resistance is also another great and important attribute for silestone. Many solid surface materials are not resistant to heat, so that can cause major problems when you do your cooking and forget to put down a trivet or pad to protect it. If you are cooking with a crock pot or electric skillet and you put them down on a hard surface it can cause warping or discoloring. While quartz has as natural ability to resist this type of damage, it’s still recommended that you don’t put hot surfaces down, simply because while it’s resistant, it is not heat-proof. Always use caution when dealin with hot materials for yourself, and your countertops, regardless of the style.
Silestone has over 4 times the amount of strength of granite, which makes it much less likely to get any sort of cracking, chipping or damage during the installation process. There is a major distress caused when you get your new countertop installed just to realize that there was damage done during the installation process.