Want the Luxurious Look of Natural Stone, But in an Easy-Care, High-Performance Material? Here’s How
by Carlisle Homes
The latest engineered surfaces and porcelain tiles mimic the beautiful look of natural stone while providing superior performance and durability, making them a perfect choice for busy homes. Here’s how to work these high-performance, stone-look materials into your interior.
There’s nothing like natural stone to add luxury to your kitchen, bathroom or living areas – and it’s a look that’s right on-trend. But while natural stone such as marble is undeniably beautiful, it’s not always the best option for busy spots in your home as it’s porous and requires regular upkeep. Natural stone is also expensive and there’s often a lot of waste during installation. Fortunately, there are other materials to consider that give you the stunning look of natural stone without the cost, maintenance or installation issues.
Engineered surfaces and porcelain tiles provide a great alternative to natural materials, and are better suited to busy homes and in areas where there’s a lot of foot traffic.
Engineered surfaces and porcelain tiles, both of which are available as inclusions and optional upgrades to your new Carlisle home, are high-performance alternatives to natural stone that are ideally suited to busy homes. They come in luxurious stone-look designs that mimic natural stone such as marble so realistically that they’re often hard to distinguish from the real thing. Better yet, they’re cheaper, easier to maintain and more efficient to install than natural stone.
Read on to learn how to incorporate these stunning and hardwearing materials into the different rooms of your home.
Engineered stone
Caesarstone, a premium engineered stone surface, comes in a range of designs that are almost identical in appearance to natural stone like marble, but it’s less expensive and far easier to maintain than the real thing. Unlike natural stone, Caesarstone is virtually non-porous and you’ll never need to seal or polish it. Choose from a range of fashionable marble-look designs for your new home, including classic whites with delicate charcoal veining, earthy, textured neutrals and intense black stone.
Enjoy the versatility and durability of Caesarstone! Add an elegant stone-look to your kitchen, bathroom or laundry with a surface that is heat, scratch and stain-resistant.
Get creative and tap into new trends
Caesarstone is versatile too. Tap into the trend for a statement island in your kitchen by opting for a Caesarstone benchtop with an elegant waterfall edge. For a sleek and seamless appearance, pair it with matching Caesarstone splashbacks. If you have an open-plan kitchen/living area, create a sense of cohesion between the two spaces by creating a bespoke tv wall unit featuring the same Caesarstone decor as your kitchen.
Caesarstone is water-, mould- and mildew-resistant, making it a smart option for areas where moisture is present, such as kitchens, bathrooms and laundries. Add elegance to your kitchen and bathroom with Caesarstone countertops, waterfall edges or vanity fronts.
With slab sizes up to 3.5 metres x 1.44 metres, it’s easy to achieve a smooth, join-free look.
Porcelain natural stone-look tiles
If you haven’t checked out porcelain tiles in a while, you’re in for a pleasant surprise; they now come in a vast array of natural stone look finishes and textures, and advances in technology mean they are incredibly realistic.
Take your pick from styles that recreate the look of classic Calacatta marble, sleek Pietra marble, the subtle beauty of Amani marble, textured limestone, travertine and more.
If you want to add texture and depth to larger expanses of flooring, you should consider porcelain stone-look tiles. There’s a vast array of designs to choose from with all the beautiful variation in colour and pattern you’d find in natural stone.
Add impact to your floors, walls and bathrooms
Create the look of natural stone floors in your living areas, kitchen, bathrooms and laundry in a tough, high-performance tile that’s easy to clean and requires zero upkeep. Unlike natural stone, porcelain tiles are completely non-porous so they’re resistant to stains, making them a great option if you entertain regularly or have kids and pets trampling through.
New stone-look porcelain tiles feature all the natural variation in colour and pattern you’d find in natural stone, making them an appealing option if you want to add texture and depth to large expanses of flooring, such as in an open-plan kitchen/living/dining area. Porcelain tiles are also suitable for exterior use, so you can create seamless indoor-outdoor flow by carrying them through from indoors to your alfresco entertaining area.
Natural stone-look porcelain tiles come in a range of different formats, giving you myriad ways to express your personal style. Create an eye-catching focal point with a splashback or shower niche in hexagonal, herringbone or chevron profiles. Add a contemporary edge with a feature wall in marble-look penny round tiles. Or step up the glam factor by running large-format porcelain tiles in a limestone- or marble-look right from floor to ceiling. Learn more about the flooring decision here.
Add impact and dial up the luxe-factor in the bathroom by running porcelain tiles in a limestone- or marble-look right from floor to ceiling.
Learn more about the luxury benchtop, flooring, kitchen and bathroom upgrades available at Carlisle Homes here. Or pop along to our beautifully appointed display homes to view these stone-look designs.