Top 10 Pros and Cons of Quartz Metropolis Benchtops (Review)
Top 10 Pros and Cons of Quartz Metropolis Benchtops (Review)
If you’ve stopped into an Archant showroom lately, you’ve likely seen our beautiful and unique line of Metropolis quartz benchtops. Many clients express how vastly different they are from typical stone surfaces.
Since their recent launch, Metropolis has become been one of our more popular worktops. Yet as we noted, it is quite different from what you might be used to. This leaves many people wondering if it’s really the right benchtop solution for their kitchen.
In this article we’ll discuss what customers love about them, and what’s not so great. By the end, we hope you’ll have a much better understanding of what Metropolis benchtops are, and if it’s a style you should use in your home.
What Customers Love About Metropolis Surfaces
1) The textured surface of the benchtop is aesthetically pleasing. The matt finish also pairs very well with Archant’s Ecogranit sinks.
2) It gives the feel of raw concrete and is pleasing to the touch.
3) It is less likely to crack the way concrete often can and is not as heavy for the cabinetry to support.
4) The bench can be mitred to any thickness. 20mm is standard with some slabs coming in even thicker at 30mm.
5) It features the same characteristics as all of our quartz benchtops - strong, durable, and consistent colour right throughout (not like Porcelain)
6) Each sheet is unique meaning no one will ever have the same. While the colour is consistent, the ridges, dimples, textures are all different from sheet to sheet. There may be a certain range of inconsistent variation, such as channels, dips, ridges, depressions and indentations. Many customers really enjoy this aspect of the design.
7) Maintenance is simple and requires no specialised cleaning products. Warm soapy water is best, or a simple green stone cleaner works well too.
What’s Not Ideal About Metropolis Benchtops?
8) The darker colours require more maintenance as they can show water marks and streaks when cleaning. This is not an issue with lighter colours. With some of the darker styles, you can literally see the ring from where a wet glass rested on it. If left to dry this way, it does not always wipe off easily.
9) The metropolis range MUST be sealed post install by the fabricator. The bench sealant should be reapplied at owners cost every 1-2 years to make maintenance easier.
10) As with all quartz benchtops, you can’t put hot cookware on the surface directly from the oven. We recommend the use of a hot mat to protect from burning the bench or cracking from thermal shock.
Alternative Benchtop Solutions
As you just read, the Metropolis style offers many unique benefits, and a few inconvenient aspects as well. For many of our customers around New Zealand, the pros far outweigh the cons, and they are truly enjoying their Metropolis benchtop.
If it doesn’t sound like Metropolis is the right choice for you, we can still help. At Archant, we love to educate people on all aspects of interior design. While we offer Porcelain and Quartz benchtops, you will find a wealth of helpful information on many other styles in this recent article.
Another alternative is to look at our fusion range which has a similar mottled design but a polished finish.
As for pricing, Metropolis is no more or less costly than other engineered stone options. As part of your research, take a closer look at the cost comparison between Quartz and Porcelain.
The Metropolis Stone range comes in a Jumbo sheet size and has a usable area of 3200x1550mm. Please be advised that the unique characteristics of the Metropolis range include dips, hollows and rippling within the surface. These characteristics are more accentuated on the outer 100mm area of the sheets. If you don’t desire these characteristics on your Benchtop, we suggest you calculate your design around a usable slab size of 3000x1350mm.
Our Trusted Design Team is Here to Help
These articles were written to give you a good feel for the various benchtop products available to you. We know there’s a lot to consider though, and a benchtop is certainly a big decision. At Archant, we want to come alongside you to help guide the design process.
You can schedule a time to sit with a specialist at any one of our showrooms. These are free, no-pressure consultations that can be arranged at your convenience. Of course, you can always call our dedicated support team as well.
