What is Engineered Stone and how are Engineered Stone Countertops made?
You may be a bit confused in that there are granite countertops and Engineered Stone countertops. As discussed above, granite is a type of rock that is partially composed of quartz, a mineral. Therefore, what exactly is a Engineered Stone countertop?
You may initially think that a Engineered Stone countertop would be composed of a quartz arenite, a rock made up of at least 90% quartz
However, you will find that Engineered Stone countertops are actually man made and although they consist of 90% quartz, the rest of the countertop is composed of resins, polymers, and various types of pigments.
This creates a very durable artificial rock without pores or cracks. The pigment is used to provide coloration that is naturally found in quartz arenite.
This may remind you of a white sandy beach with a few brown and pink specs. The natural sorting of quartz on beaches is driven by mineral strength and their differential weathering rates. As weaker minerals weather and erode relatively quicker than quartz, you are left with quartz as a predominant mineral in well weathered sediment systems (i.e. beaches) far from sediment source (i.e. mountains).
Here, I’ll directly compare both granite countertops and Engineered Stone countertops with physical, chemical, and geologic parameters.

