Esmeralda

A cool grey with a green cast — somewhere between sage and river stone — crossed diagonally by white and grey veins that thicken into pale zones and thin into threads. The tone shifts along the slab, and in some light the green is far more present than a photograph suggests.

A choice for a kitchen that wants something cool without settling for plain grey. It sits well against warm timber, against olive cabinetry and against brushed brass. Both finishes are in stock; leathered deepens the green, polished brings the veining forward.

Quartzite is a metamorphic natural stone: quartz sand compacted under heat and pressure until it became a single crystalline rock. It is harder than marble and usually harder than granite — a knife, salt or a ceramic plate leave no mark — and unlike marble it does not etch from lemon or vinegar. It is porous, though: the slab is sealed before delivery, and resealing every year or two keeps it that way. There is no resin in it as there is in engineered quartz, so a hot pan will not scorch it — a trivet is still a good habit, particularly near an edge or a joint.

Every slab is one single piece of rock, and no two slabs of the same stone are ever identical. So we drive out to the supplier's yard with you, choose the actual slab there, and mark the layout on it before it is cut.