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Quartz Joint: If you’ve been considering a kitchen refurbishment project at home and you’ve been looking at new worktops, you’ve probably been thinking granite or quartz slabs. And if you’ve been looking at quartz, you’ve probably seen Cambria Britannica from Cambria Quartz. One of our absolute favourites. We will go through everything you need to know before purchasing this or any other quartz worktop. But as importantly, we will explain how to ensure you get nice joints on your quartz worktops.
Cambria Quartz as an example of where you should place a quartz joint.
Today’s focus is on quartz worktops and their joints. And more specifically, on Cambria quartz and high movement quartz countertops. These types of quartz slabs are beautiful. And if you’ve spent any time looking at home decor magazines or websites, you’ve seen this type of product.
White marble effect quartz is in trend, but there are some things to know before purchasing this product. First, with over fifteen years of experience installing quartz kitchen worktops, we have become huge fans of quartz worktop surfaces. In fact, I also have quartz worktops in my own home. Another point is that approximately 70% of the total worktop installations we carry out are in quartz stone.
One of the leaders in this sector is Cambria Quartz. And although we are fans, we want to clarify that we aren’t endorsing their product because they are paying us. We are strictly talking about this product because we believe in it here very much. Still, you must know what you’re getting with this product. Also, it would help if you had some candid chats with your worktop supplier to get the results you want from this product.
Quartz joint. A Marble Look Worktop‘s perspective.
Cambria Quartz worktops are an excellent option for people trying to get the marble look. We used to be limited to marble before, and marble is not one of the worktop options for active households. Marble is not practical if you utilize your kitchen for cooking and entertaining because it’s a soft and porous stone. Therefore, when we looked at worktops before quartz was an option, we stuck to granite as it’s a hard and non-porous stone. But saying that, even granite is porous.
Enter Quartz Worktops
Quartz is a non-porous product. And there are some significant differences from one brand to the next—both in terms of what type of performance qualities you can have. For instance, Cambria worktops, made in the United States, are a hundred per cent non-porous to the point that they are National Safety Food Council-certified. It means that you can use Cambria quartz countertops even in commercial kitchens. There aren’t many other products that we believe in more than this one regarding resistance to staining.
As far as an anti-bacterial component to it, it’s just a great worktop. And by far one of the most popular options in Cambria worktops to place a quartz joint.
Is there heavy veining in Cambria Britannica Quartz?
There are lots of movement looks in the slab. Britannica offers a white base with some grey-blue vein going through it. If you’ve been researching this material, you would have noticed that Britannica dominates many magazines in the media surrounding kitchen and bathroom worktops. It’s just a gorgeous stone. Similarly, you’ve probably seen Cambria Britannica many times in pictures of kitchens over the last few years. It’s often paired with bright, white cabinets or white cabinets, with a navy blue island. It’s just stunningly classy. And it offers a timeless look even when there is a quartz joint.
One of the essential things in conversation when working with clients on selecting quartz worktops, granite countertops, or any of our slabs is that they come in pre-determined sizes. For example, this Cambria stone measures 3360 x 1660 millimetres.
Measuring up Cambria Quartz worktops: avoid wasting material.
When we go into a home and measure kitchen worktops, we’re taking the length and width of your worktops. Also, we are determining the dimensions of those tops. We often need between 8-10m2 of worktops for a kitchen if we add up all its dimensions. Yet, we’re looking at potentially twelve square metres of actual material space. And in some cases, even that isn’t enough to supply the tops. This is when we factor in items like a big kitchen island. When we’re looking at how we utilize these for our worktops, we have to remember that it’s like we are rolling out the dough for a pizza and taking our pizza cutter. We drop it into the dough and get our pieces out of it.
But do you know what happens and how it affects the position of your worktop joints?
We end up with a lot of the dough around the sides that are leftover. After we’ve made our cut-outs, it’s the same thing with our kitchen worktops. We have to take and remove the pieces from the slab. And then, we will have pieces leftover around the perimeter. Therefore, we want to ensure we clearly understand how we use this material with these particular stones when we lay it out. Due to its high degree of movement, that can become potential waste. The process is even more significant because we have a direction to the patterned stone. Therefore, we can’t just take and start moving the stone’s direction and placing joints in your worktops. Because here you’ve got distinctly different movements going on in ideal places. That’s a conversation. It will help if you discuss it with your worktop supplier. It would be best if you did so when you’re buying your Cambria or any other quartz worktop presenting high movement.
Quartz Joint vs Granite’s joint
Regarding granite, you need to ensure you understand what its veining will look like once laid out on your kitchen cabinets. And you also want to know the plan for how you create the granite worktop‘s joint. Again, you don’t want to leave this out without having a clear opportunity to understand how your worktop will look, especially when it comes to your kitchen worktop’s joints.
If you’ve seen many kitchens with mitred edges, you can see the difference in how someone who understands these lays them out. They make sure that the movement is continuous from our edge details to our joints on the worktops.
So let’s go ahead and discuss a couple of kitchens with what would be a seemingly good job, where we thoughtfully prepared our joints. We’re using the material to ensure that it flows well, and then I will show you a picture of a project.
It was not done correctly, obviously not by our company. This isn’t so that we point out the bad quartz joint. But to give you an instance of what kind of conversations you need to have with your fabricator to achieve a very desirable result. Or, otherwise, a potentially very undesirable result, like the one shown with the quartz joint. And sometimes, there’s not necessarily a right or wrong option. But, still, it may mean that for you to get the results you want, you’re buying an entirely separate slab, just specifically to accommodate that movement.
Let’s take a look at these pictures of joints. And in particular, a quartz joint.
So here we have a picture of a kitchen finished with the Britannica Stone from Cambria:
And you’ll notice here on this island; we have these mitred edges. So when we’re laying out the slabs and planning, we discuss how we will utilize them. And when we install it, you want to follow these slabs’ veining, especially if your kitchen isn’t huge. But for you to do this properly with the mitred edge, it can add a slab to your project. Without a doubt, having an additional slab of material will avoid an off quartz joint.
Following Veins on your Cambria Worktop Joint
You may have a slab almost entirely dedicated to just the kitchen island. And then, we have the perimeter worktops that you get supplied with the additional slab.
Recheck the island’s photo. As the worktop falls over the edge, you’ll notice that you see the veining going from the top to the bottom. So there is a joint right the corner, but you don’t even see it in person.
The quartz joint was one of the things our clients often discuss. And then, if you also look at the back portion of the worktop, you see the veins running down the laminated edge of that mitred edge worktop. So, again, when utilizing quartz, we’ve got it very carefully planned. Again, this is so that we’re not disrupting the flow of this stone’s movement.
Here’s another picture of that.
Placing joints correctly on heavily veined worktops.
Where again, you can see that we’ve got the veining. Straight down the side again on the corner of this joint. You don’t see any actual joint there. It’s just a nice clean corner running down the side. Now let’s go ahead and contrast that with this picture of a worktop that I found online:
It appears similar to the Britannica quartz with marble veining. But you’ll notice right away that there is a very distinct disruption in the flow of its veining. They’ve placed the quartz joint right at the corner. It looks like they have an angled joint. And then it comes back, creating two different lines that we see where we place the quartz joint. Opposed to that joint running straight from the corner. And all the way to the back or the entire seam running diagonally to the other corner. So it’s running in two different directions. We’ve got approximately an inch, and then it goes towards the back. With this type of look here, there may be certain circumstances that this is the best that you can do.
For example, when trying to make the job work with only two slabs or only one slab. In this case, you know you do not want to purchase an entirely additional slab. So that the layout is the most ideal from one worktop to the next, the dimensions work differently. And you may not have the ability for every single top to be seamless.
Getting the look you want on your quartz worktops may be more expensive, depending on where you place the joints.
When you’re spending several thousand pounds, we’re trying to point out that you want to ensure that you have this conversation with your worktop supplier. Otherwise, they will make that decision for you. They may prioritize your budget over the results because many fabricators have your best interest at heart. Because they want to earn your business, they may be afraid to tell you that you’re going to have to spend more money to get the right look. Therefore, in a hurry to try and earn your business and get the job, they may be afraid to tell you, hey, you need another slab to make this the way you want it. But this may be right when you think about your worktops over the long term. Even if you got to pay a little more for it upfront, you’re going to thank us later. But not every company is going to do this. Some will say that it is a beautiful slab, regardless, and then they lay it out incorrectly.
Here’s another example of a quartz slab that comes with much less pattern. But we can see there’s still a very poor seem job here.
The darker joint is very visible, and there shouldn’t be any reason for this. The joint should not be necessarily invisible as no seams are invisible. But there shouldn’t be such a drastic dark line across the worktop. That’s just a miscut from the fabricator. It would be best if you did far better than this picture. Therefore, these are the types of concerns you should address with your worktop supplier before purchasing any stone.
Deciding on the features of your Cambria Quartz Kitchen
Before deciding on what level of movement and what colour, you want to ensure that your worktop installer is up to reasonable standards when installation takes place. And you must know that nobody’s perfect. There will be mistakes. But you want to make sure that your worktop company will be able to stand behind them.
Here’s just another example:
It is a marble kitchen worktop. But again, you’ll see this joint not only has the movement not lining up, but we have the stone visibly running in two different directions.
In this particular instance, most of our clients would not be thrilled with this outcome. And again, that’s why you must discuss the position of your worktop’s joints with your fabricator. We encourage you to have these conversations because the kitchen worktop is the central focal point of any kitchen refurbishment. You’re going to be spending a tremendous amount of money to put these compared to many other projects you will take on around your house. It is not a small expense, and you want to make sure that you get the desired results.
It’s not because there’s always a clear cut and dry answer when pointing out a quartz joint. But it’s because this is a conversation you must have. And you want to make sure that your fabricator is taking these into account. In addition, you want to choose a fabricator that appreciates the final results to the same degree as you.
As you can see from the pictures, when dealing with high movement slabs, it becomes essential to know how to utilize that material.
Similarly, it’s vital to understand how it will be laid out now by contrast. Here’s another product from the Cambria Quartz Collection that’s got much less movement to it.
Cambria Whitney UK worktops have less pattern movement. Available at The Worktop Library in London
It’s a product that is more solid in colour. But we want to make sure we’re still having those joints correctly. Because you could still have a bad joint on this product. And when we don’t have any specific movement to it, there’s no particular direction. So we have a little bit more freedom as to how we utilize plain quartz colours. But even then, you may wish to have a chat with your London quartz worktop company that will install your kitchen quartz worktops. This way, you will know how you’re affected going from one slab to another.
Quartz thicknesses when creating joints
Another critical aspect to consider. When looking at your quartz worktops or even your granite countertops, you’re probably going to have two options regarding the thickness of the material. So if you go into a kitchen showroom and deal with somebody regarding your worktops, you’re going to discuss that thickness being available in two centimetre stone or three centimetres stone.
When installing a 2-centimetre thick quartz worktop, we see that the edge detail becomes double this thickness. It is because we mitre the edge. That means that we’re making this piece, and we’re joining another part along the edges. That hides the plywood support. We put it underneath when we’re installing it on top of your cabinet base. Then, you have about a 3/4 inch plywood support that sits on top of the cabinets. And we put our two centimetres stone on top, helping reinforcement.
It would help if you also considered any slight imperfections or inconsistencies in the cabinet boxes. They are part of any construction project. It can be the squareness of the rooms, the evenness of a floor, or even the exact precise measurements and dimensions of cabinets, etc. Also, four centimetres of the stone helps to hide any of these, giving you an excellent finish by contrast. And you also can get these stones in a 3 centimetre thick where the actual stone is thicker. But generally, when you see those, they will be directly installed on the cabinet. You will not have plywood support, and often you don’t have a laminated edge.
Three centimetres worktop, two centimetres worktop. Which one should I choose?
If you think that a three-centimetre worktop is better than two centimetres one, that is not necessarily true.
We overwhelmingly install more with the two centimetres quartz and then even 40mm mitred edges. However, if you create a minimalistic kitchen, you may wish to consider 13mm quartz thickness.
Popular Quartz Edges
The edge most popular finish in 2021 is the Squared edge. It’s got a little bit more of a modern finish to it. But fifteen years ago, when we were installing a lot more granite, UK homeowners chose a more rounded bullnose edge. This happened because a bullnose edge is somewhat more decorative.
Other edge types, such as an Ogee Edge or Chiselled edge, married the natural stone look with a rough, rustic finish that also felt natural.
But this year, overwhelmingly, people are choosing pencil edge, bevel edge and Squared edges. Because these edges offer very clean, modern tailored, look Cambria worktops.
Cambria Quartz Quality
In our opinion, Cambria Quartz is one of the absolute Premier quartz brand options that you can get.
It’s a beautiful product, and there aren’t many other brands like it. We’ve seen that even close to replicating the type of depth and movement that the Cambria Collection can achieve. And as previously mentioned, its quality is second to none. Not only that, but its production takes place in the United States, and that its national Safety food Council-Certified. In addition, it comes with a ten-year UK warranty that’s even transferable to a new owner. So, therefore, it has all of the things you could be looking for in terms of a worktop.
Finding a kitchen worktop supplier that understands how to place joints effectively
But you must be partnering with somebody who understands how to utilize this material properly. And also when it comes to installing it in the kitchen. Especially when you’re dealing with a much more expensive product than the vast majority of the other options, for a good reason, when you’re spending that kind of money on your material, you want to make sure that you’re partnering with somebody capable and qualified to be dealing with it. There’s nothing more frustrating than spending money on the product to get what you want and then putting it in the hands of somebody that’s not going to make the absolute most of it.
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Let us know, maybe what your favourite Cambria colours are? Have you seen them? If you’ve been out looking at Cambria, probably our personal favourite right now is Cambria Portrush. Because it’s got a beautiful blue veining through it and a marble white background. So, for all those choosing white kitchen cabinets with navy blue island cabinetry, maybe with gold hardware, this is a bespoke stone to fit that gorgeous look.
My name is Maria. And I’m here to help with all your worktop questions. So definitely, comment down below and let me know what else you need. And until next time, good luck with your project!
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.