Porcelain & Dekton Worktops

Porcelain and ultra-compact surfaces like Dekton are the newest family of premium worktops, and in several ways the most capable. Fired or sintered at extreme temperature and pressure, they are dense, near-zero-porosity sheets that laugh at heat, scratches, UV light and frost.

That last pair matters: porcelain and Dekton are the only worktop surfaces we are happy to fit in a fully exposed outdoor kitchen, because unlike quartz they will not fade or yellow in sunlight, and unlike most natural stone they shrug off freeze-thaw cycles.

Indoors they make superb, ultra-slim kitchen worktops, full-height splashbacks and even shower wall panels. We fabricate porcelain and Dekton with the specialist tooling they demand, supplied from £240 per m² and fitted from £300 per m². Price a project or order free samples.

What is the difference between porcelain and Dekton?

Both belong to the same family of sintered, ultra-compact surfaces. Porcelain worktops are made from refined clays and minerals fired at around 1,200°C into large, thin, extremely dense sheets. Dekton is Cosentino's branded ultra-compact material, sintering a blend of glass, porcelain and quartz raw materials under enormous pressure.

In day-to-day use they behave very similarly — exceptional heat, scratch, stain and UV resistance — and we fabricate both. Dekton is offered in thicker formats (up to 30mm) that suit chunky worktop looks and comes with a long manufacturer warranty; porcelain sheets from various producers excel in slim 12mm profiles, large formats and realistic marble-look decors.

Which to choose usually comes down to the decor you fall for and the thickness you want. We will quote both honestly — and as with everything we supply, we beat any written like-for-like quote.

How much do porcelain and Dekton worktops cost?

As a guide, porcelain starts at £240 per m² supplied only and £300 per m² supplied and fitted in our Essential band. Premium decors run around £380 per m² fitted, and Luxury large-format and Dekton specifications about £480 per m² fitted. Complete kitchens start from £1,150.

Fabrication is a genuine part of the cost here: porcelain demands diamond tooling, slow cutting speeds and experienced handling, because the material is so hard that mistakes cannot be polished out. Mitred edges — the standard way to create a thicker-looking profile from slim sheet — add workshop time and are priced openly.

All figures are guide only; the exact fixed price follows your free laser template. For context against other materials see the worktop costs guide, or get a live number from the instant quote calculator, which prices porcelain alongside quartz, granite and marble for easy comparison.

Are porcelain worktops really heatproof?

Effectively, yes — porcelain and Dekton are the most heat-tolerant worktops you can buy. The material is fired at higher temperatures than your kitchen will ever produce, so a hot pan straight from the hob will not scorch, discolour or crack the surface in normal use.

We still suggest trivets as courteous insurance, mainly to protect against thermal shock at cut edges and to keep habits consistent if you also have quartz elsewhere. But of every surface we fit, this is the one where the trivet is closest to optional.

The same stability applies to cold and sun: porcelain is frost-proof and UV-stable, which is why it dominates our outdoor kitchen work and appears increasingly as external cladding, window surrounds and thresholds on contemporary builds.

What do porcelain and Dekton look like?

Remarkably convincing. The best modern decors are printed and textured from scans of real stone, so marble-look porcelain carries vein structure through surface texture as well as image — Calacatta looks without Calacatta maintenance. Concrete, rusted-metal and pure matt colours round out a very contemporary palette.

Finishes range from silk-matt (the most popular — soft, fingerprint-forgiving and very current) through honed to polished. Large formats up to roughly 3.2m by 1.6m allow almost joint-free runs and dramatic full-height splashbacks where a single sheet becomes the wall.

One honest caveat: on some decors the pattern is printed on the surface rather than running through the body, so a chipped edge can reveal a plain core. We mitigate this with mitred edges, careful decor choice, and by telling you before you buy which decors are full-body. Order free samples and we will talk you through the differences.

Why is porcelain the right choice for outdoor kitchens?

Because everything an English garden throws at a surface, porcelain ignores. UV light fades and yellows resin-bound quartz; porcelain is colour-fast for decades. Frost cracks porous natural stone; porcelain absorbs practically no water, so freeze-thaw cycles pass harmlessly. Barbecue heat, spilt marinades, bird mess — none of it marks a sintered surface.

That is why our outdoor kitchens page leads with porcelain and Dekton for worktops, with granite as the natural-stone alternative in covered positions. We template and fit outdoor runs exactly as we do indoors, with stainless or masonry support frames and falls planned so water drains.

The same logic extends across the garden: porcelain paving laid alongside granite steps, copings and setts gives a continuous indoor-outdoor floor line that has become the signature of Surrey garden renovations.

Is porcelain hard to fabricate — and does that matter to me?

Yes, and yes. Porcelain is the least forgiving material in any stone workshop: it is extremely hard, comparatively thin, and holds internal tension from firing, so it must be cut slowly with specialist diamond tooling, handled on vacuum lifters and mitred with real skill. A fabricator who rushes porcelain cracks porcelain.

This matters because the market has filled with firms quoting porcelain cheaply and learning on customers' kitchens. We invested in the tooling and the training years ago; our CNC machinery in West Molesey runs dedicated porcelain programmes, and our fitters install sintered surfaces weekly.

It is also why buying direct from the fabricator pays double here: you get a price without a showroom margin, and you get the people who actually cut the material standing behind the install — established 2011, one firm responsible from template to fitted, in 7 to 10 days. Get your estimate.

Where else can sintered surfaces be used?

Almost anywhere a hard, thin, waterproof panel wins. In bathrooms, porcelain makes stunning vanity tops and near-seamless shower and wet-room walls — one decorated sheet where tiling would need a grid of grout lines. Fireplace chambers and hearths for gas and media-wall fires suit its heat tolerance.

Furniture-makers love 12mm porcelain for tables, counters and bespoke pieces: huge spans, minimal weight, zero maintenance. We cut dining tables, desks, retail counters and shelving from sheet stock and remnants.

Outside, beyond kitchens and paving, porcelain appears as cladding, window surrounds, sills and thresholds and balcony flooring. If your project involves a thin, tough, weatherproof surface, it is probably a porcelain conversation — tell us what you are planning.

How do I clean and care for a porcelain worktop?

This is the shortest care section we write: warm water, a little washing-up liquid, a soft cloth. Porcelain and Dekton never need sealing, do not harbour bacteria, and tolerate the household chemicals that damage other surfaces — even strong degreasers and most limescale removers pass without incident.

The few sensible cautions: avoid hydrofluoric-acid products (rare, but found in some industrial rust removers), do not use the worktop as a chopping board at edges where a heavy blow could chip the arris, and lift rather than drag very heavy cast iron across a textured finish.

Marks that look like stains on matt porcelain are usually metal transfer from pans sliding — they polish off with a non-abrasive cream cleaner. For the rare genuinely stubborn mark, our stain removal guide has a porcelain section, and our workshop is on the end of the phone.

What does the template-to-fitting process look like for porcelain?

The same five steps as every material we fit — estimate, confirm, laser template, fabricate, install — with extra care baked into fabrication. Porcelain is templated once base units or the outdoor frame are fixed; for outdoor kitchens we template the masonry or steel carcass exactly as we would indoor cabinetry.

In the workshop, sheets are cut on slow diamond programmes, mitres bonded and clamped overnight, and edges finished to the decor. Because the material holds firing tension, internal corners are radiused and cut-outs relieved — invisible details that stop cracks years later. This is where fabricator experience quietly earns its fee.

Installation uses vacuum lifters and full-length supports; slim sheets are bonded to a substrate or frame where the design calls for it. Template to fitted is normally 7 to 10 days, indoors or out, anywhere across Surrey and SW London.

Porcelain, quartz or granite — a quick decision guide

Choose porcelain or Dekton if: the kitchen is outdoors or sun-drenched, you want absolute heat and scratch tolerance, you love silk-matt contemporary finishes, or you want marble looks with zero maintenance anxiety. It is the engineer’s answer to the worktop question.

Choose quartz if you want the widest colour choice, thicker solid-feeling slabs at gentler prices, and a decades-proven surface for a family kitchen. Choose granite if natural uniqueness matters and you like your stone with a geology lesson included. Choose marble with eyes open, for beauty first.

There is no single right answer, which is why our comparison guide exists and why the instant calculator prices all four materials side by side. Order free samples of your shortlist — the decision usually makes itself on your own worktop, in your own light, within a week.

Which porcelain and ultra-compact brands do you work with?

Dekton by Cosentino is the best-known ultra-compact name in the UK and a staple of our workshop, particularly for outdoor projects and 30mm looks. Alongside it we fabricate large-format porcelain from the major European sheet producers, chosen decor by decor rather than by label loyalty.

Several quartz houses now run porcelain lines too, so if you have fallen for a decor in a Silestone or Caesarstone brochure, ask — the same group may make it in sintered form. Our brand pages give honest profiles of each manufacturer we supply.

The practical advice is to choose the decor first and let us source it. Because we buy from multiple importers and fabricate in-house, we can usually quote the identical sheet two or three ways — and, as everywhere on this site, we beat any written like-for-like quote. Request samples of up to three decors free of charge.