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Sapienstone Arabescato Worktop. It’s a porcelain stone that will never go out of fashion.
Ready to take your kitchen to the next level? Whether you’re looking for a clean, sleek look or an old-world, rustic kitchen, Arabescato is a cool, timeless marble that adds a touch of elegance to any room.
What is Sapienstone made of? And What does a Sapienstone Arabescato worktop offer?
SapienStone contains ceramic clays, glass, and coloured minerals. It’s classified as porcelain stone which is amongst the best kitchen worktop products you can buy. However, the material undergoes a specific process that allows it to become totally non-porous.
Manufacturing Sapienstone slabs is a 6-step process:
- Creating the material: As the first stage, the manufacturer prepares the mineral raw materials that the final product uses. Unlike other companies in the sector, Sapienstone produces all its raw materials in-house, thus ensuring complete control over the entire industrial process from beginning to end. First, they pulverize mineral clays and mix them with water to create a sticky liquid poured into moulds under pressure. In addition, 40% of its raw materials are of recycled origin.
- Pressing the material: the raw materials undergo a process of continuous pressing that compacts the product. As a result, there is enough pressure to guarantee all the technical properties of a kitchen worktop.
- Dying of the stone: Before moulding, the manufacturer introduces the base of the material into a dryer. It eliminates all the moisture from the product before applying enamels during moulding.
- Printing of Sapienstone surfaces: During this stage, the Brand completes the upper part of the product by applying different enamels. In addition, it employs a ground-breaking moulding technology characteristic of the surface.
- Baking the slab: during this process, the Company puts the mix into an industrial oven-like furnace. This stage mimics the heating of stone in nature, reaching a temperature as high as 1200°. The surface cools of naturally for up to twenty four hours. This process can take up to twenty-four hours.
- Packing the slabs: the Brand boasts the only fully automated manufacturing plant in the world. With it, the Company ensures that all the slabs are in perfect packing conditions. In addition, the automation process allows for quick delivery of the slabs to any country in the world.
If you want to know more about the manufacturing process, as well as the benefits and features of this product, you can watch this informative video:
Comparing a Sapienstone Arabescato worktop to other worktop products
Sapienstone Arabescato Worktop vs Arabescato Marble Worktop
Marble worktops present three main issues when using them in your kitchen: they can absorb liquids and damage by acids from lemon, orange, etc. Additionally, you can accidentally scratch them when using a knife on its surfaces. In contrast, a Sapienstone Arabescato worktop is 100% scratch-proof. In addition, it offers acid resistance, and it does not absorb liquids.
Sapienstone Arabescato worktop vs Arabescato Quartz worktop
Quartz worktops have been around for almost thirty years and are the number one surface material for kitchens. With longevity comes experience, and having worked with quartz worktop materials for over fifteen years, we are a company that knows this stuff. Even though some homeowners prefer natural stone surfaces, quartz has shown remarkable resilience and strength in choosing worktop materials. In our experience, a quartz worktop is only susceptible to two things—first, heat resistance. Quartz can generally withstand up to 150-celsius degrees of heat.
Similarly, we don’t recommend placing hot items directly from the oven to your quartz worktops. Instead, use hot pads, trivets to a chopping board. Second, exposure to UV rays for long periods. It means that you cannot use your quartz worktops outside because direct exposure to sunlight can alter their colour over time. But a Sapienstone Arabescato worktop would take up to 1000 Celsius degrees of heat before firing up. In addition, you can use it indoors and outside because UV rays do not affect its surfaces.
Sapienstone Arabescato aesthetics
Sapienstone Arabescato worktop surfaces display more realistic features when compared to their quartz counterparts. The introduction of ‘through the slab veins’ makes the design uniform in three dimensions, reproducing the veins on the surface of the material throughout the thickness of the slab to ensure that the worktop will continue to look good even you chip it or scratch it. In addition, a Sapienstone Arabescato worktop employs a different technology from quartz manufacturing, allowing the material to replicate the beauty of natural marble with superior efficacy.
Order your SapienStone Samples by clicking on this link.
Advantages of using SapienStone Arabescato as a kitchen worktop material
There are many advantages when using Sapienstone when compared to other worktop materials. As mentioned above, when compared to natural marble or granite, these new surfaces brings about a maintenance-free option because you won’t ever need to seal its surfaces. Similarly, all you will ever need to keep your worktop pristine is a little bit of soapy water and a cloth. Adding the superior aesthetics that this material can bring to your home, choosing Sapienstone Arabescato may seem a no-brainer. But let’s now compare this ceramic surface to more worktop materials.
Performance of worktop materials
Natural stones can stain or etch when you cook with oil and use different chemicals to clean your kitchen. And a quartz worktop can burn when exposed to temperatures over 150C over long periods. But read on if you want to dig further and know how other materials perform as worktops.
- Solid Surfaces: materials like Corian and LG Hi-Macs, are practical for forming pieces into unusual shapes. But when it comes to kitchen worktops, these materials fail to meet scratch-resistance expectations. Over time, solid surfaces can accumulate dirt. Additionally, the surfaces can become dull and start showing scratches. These are some of the reasons why many homeowners decide not to purchase solid surface worktops.
- Steel Worktops: in the first place, steel worktops are an excellent choice for maintenance because they are effortless to clean. Second, steel worktops offer a good option if you want a kitchen surface that provides a decent level of stain resistance. Third, they deliver superior heat resistance. But just like with solid surfaces, steel worktops scratch over time. Therefore, if you don’t like to see scratches over your worktop surfaces, steel isn’t the way to go.
- Wood Worktops: although wood is one of the first choices for those that like natural worktop materials, they present problems regarding their maintenance, practicality, and durability. Wood can absorb water and rot over time. In addition, you can scratch a wood worktop easily, and it can also absorb oil and stain. Durability is another factor of wood worktops. Wood worktops will degrade over time, to the point that eventually, you will want to replace them. At the Worktop Library, clients ask us to replace wood and steel worktops for the mentioned reasons.
Can I use my Sapienstone Arabescato worktop in other areas of the house?
Yes, because the material is non-absorbent and resistant to UV rays. You can use Arabescato in bathrooms as a worktop or vanity top. Additionally, you may want to use it to decorate the bathroom walls and floors. But there are other areas of the house where you can make good use of this material. These are the exterior areas of your home, such as the garden, patio, balcony and terrace.
Available in large slab sizes of 3200 x 1500mm, this product allows you to create designs that display very few or no joints. As a result, it’s ideal for making garden benches, table tops and barbeque worktops. And when it comes to thickness, you can choose from 12mm or 20mm. Sapienstone 12mm stones are ideal for furniture and wall decoration because the product’s lightweight characteristic helps reduce the total load that decorates the item you are cladding. And Sapienstone 20mm thickness stones are great for horizontal applications such as kitchen worktops, barbeque, and table tops. In addition, it offers additional strength to unsupported overhangs in breakfast bars and kitchen islands.
How to clean Sapienstone
SapienStone slabs offer high chemical inertia and surface resistance to dirt and stains. For this reason, SapienStone worktops do not require surface sealant treatments. However, it is always good practice to remove stains while fresh, avoiding surface encrustations. This way, it will be possible to quickly and easily remove any deposits of staining liquids.
Daily cleaning: you can use a microfiber cloth and soapy water. If needed, you can also use a window cleaning spray to remove persistent stains. Using a microfiber cloth whilst cleaning, you will ensure there are no streaks on your kitchen worktops.
Cleaning SapienStone Silky finish worktops: this finish requires a little bit more maintenance than the polished finish due to its avant-garde characteristics. You should avoid using harsh chemicals on it and clean its surface regularly to avoid the accumulation of dirt. In addition, you should avoid impact on the surface and the worktop edges as it may chip the material. Finally, when using water, it’s best to avoid contact with the furniture on which your Sapienstone worktop rests, as liquids can damage kitchen cabinets and wood units.
You can download the Sapienstone maintenance guidelines here.
Cost of Sapienstone
In 2021, the cost of a Sapinestone kitchen worktop starts at £1799+vat. It includes the template, supply, and installation of your kitchen worktops in London and surrounding areas. A typical Sapienstone worktop installation includes the cutouts for the hob and sink and the tap hole. In addition, you can opt for a set of draining grooves which we include in the cost. These come with a polish and a standard profile regarding the worktop edges, and you can choose from different designs. A pencil edge is the most popular profile for Sapiestone worktops because they are the least prone to chipping when impact occurs.
Sapienstone classifies its prices into nine groups. Here is a list of the colour price groups for the brand:
- Price Group 1 colours: Urban Argento Natural, Urban Antracite Natural.
- Group 2 colours: Black Basalt Natural, Basalt Cream Natural, Light Earth Natural, Grey Earth Natural, Sand Earth Natural,Brown Earth Natural, Rovere Buckskin Natural, Rovere Baio Natural.
- Price Group 3 colours: Calacatta Natural, Malm Black Natural, Malm Grey Natural, Pietra Grey Natural.
- Group 4 colours: Urban Antracite Natural, Urban Argento Natural.
- Price Group 5 colours: Noir Natural, Uni Ice Natural.
- Group 6 colours: Uni Ice Natural.
- Price Group 7 colours: Bright Onyx Natural, Arabescato Natural, Calacatta Statuario Natural, Bianco Lasa Natural.
- Group 8 colours: Calacatta Polished, Malm Black Pre-Polished, Malm Grey Pre-Polished, Pietra Grey Polished.
- Price Group 9 colours: Bright Onyx Polished, Premium White Polished, Arabescato Polished, Bianco Lasa Polished, Calacatta Light Polished, Calacatta Statuario Polished, Dark Marquina Silky, Dark Marquina Silky, Calacatta Statuario Book Matched Silky, Calacatta Statuario Book Matched Polished, Calacatta Book Matched Silky, Calacatta Book Matched Polished.
Conclusion
Sapienstone Arabescato worktop is a magnificent product for those looking to display natural beauty in their kitchens and bathrooms without any of the drawbacks associated with natural stones. Similarly, its practicality and ease of use, making it a great contender to other kitchen worktop materials. It also offers great performance indoors and outdoors, and its affordable price point reflects the great aesthetics and performance of reliable worktop material.
Meet Alan Nussbaum, our Sales and Marketing Manager, whose expertise in stone worktops is second to none. With almost two decades of experience, Alan’s impressive track record includes creating one of the first online stone companies in 2012 and pioneering the acceptance of cryptocurrencies in construction in 2018 before co-founding The Worktop Library with Maria.
Alan’s outstanding work is featured in numerous Stone and Home Decor magazines. In addition, he collaborates with the industry’s leading stone brands, cementing his reputation as a true innovator.
Before starting a thriving career in the stone industry, Alan honed his skills by overseeing luxury fashion brands such as Burberry, Matches Fashion, and Patrick Cox. With his unique blend of experience and expertise, Alan is a true trailblazer in the stone worktop industry. His passion for delivering exceptional service is evident in every aspect of his work.