Engineered stone is banned. What you can specify instead.

Since 1 January 2025 you cannot supply, manufacture or install engineered stone in Australia. The specification still has to hold up in a display kitchen, so here is what we quote in its place.

The prohibition on engineered stone took effect across Australia on 1 January 2025. It covers manufacture, supply, processing and installation — not just the fabrication end. If a benchtop schedule still calls up a quartz-based engineered stone product, that schedule cannot be built, and no amount of overseas sourcing changes it.

We will not quote engineered stone. What we do instead is match the look and the performance the designer was chasing using materials that remain lawful to supply and install.

What we source in its place

• Natural stone — marble, granite and quartzite slabs, selected from the block and photographed before cutting so you approve the actual veining, not a sample chip.
• Porcelain slab — large-format sintered panels in stone and concrete looks, thin enough for waterfall ends and mitred edges, and stable in wet areas.
• Solid surface — seamless acrylic and mineral-filled sheet for commercial vanities and reception joinery where an invisible join matters more than movement in the pattern.
• Timber and laminated timber — oiled or lacquered hardwood tops for island benches, bars and butler's pantries, with edge details drawn before machining.
• High-pressure laminate on substrate — a value option for secondary dwellings and rentals, with matched edge tape and moisture-resistant board.

What to check before you lock the specification

Substitution is not just a material swap. Each of these alternatives behaves differently, and the drawings need to follow.

• Thickness and edge build-up — porcelain and solid surface are supplied thinner than the engineered stone they replace, so the joinery carcass and edge lamination change.
• Cut-out support — undermount sinks and cooktop cut-outs need substrate and bracing detailed for the new material.
• Sealing and maintenance — natural stone and timber need a sealing and care regime handed to the client at handover, and that should sit in your operations and maintenance manual.
• Silica in adjacent products — the ban is specific to engineered stone, but crystalline silica dust controls still apply to natural stone, porcelain and tile processing on site.
• Documentation — keep the product data sheet, the supplier declaration and the batch or slab identification with the project file.

Where the sourcing side helps

The material is only half the job. For natural stone and porcelain we buy at the factory gate, inspect during production, and check slab-by-slab against the approved reference before anything is packed. Compliance paperwork, test reports and product declarations are assembled and handed over with the goods rather than chased after delivery.

The safest position on engineered stone is not a workaround. It is a specification that never needed one.

Send through the benchtop schedule and the kitchen elevations and we will come back with compliant options at an indicative landed cost, itemised so you can see the product, the freight, the duty and the GST separately.