Carrara marble is a type of white marble that features stunning bold blue-grey veining running through the stone. This beautiful material is quarried in the city of Carrara in Tuscany. Due to the natural aesthetics and affordable price, Carrara marble is a very popular choice for use in home décor.

Despite these benefits, many homeowners find that marble countertops don’t work well with their lifestyle. Here are the potential downsides to marble:

• Durability – Marble is quite soft and porous stone. This makes it prone to staining, cracking and etching. This can cause problems in the kitchen, due to the constant barrage of hot pans, sharp knives and spillages.
• Dullness – When a marble surface is first installed, it will be beautiful and shiny. However, it tends to dull over time and requires regular polishing.

Marble requires regular maintenance and care. Let’s face it, most hard-working couples or active families don’t want to spend valuable time re-sealing their worktops or fretting over spills.

What are the alternatives?

Quartz closely matches the look of marble, whilst having the added benefit of greater durability. Quartz combines natural stone with man-made resins to create an extremely hard surface, which requires far less care and maintenance than marble.

Now comes the tricky part – choosing the right quartz! There are a large number of manufacturers to choose from, all offering slightly different colours and patterns. If you’re looking to replicate Carrara, then we’ve narrowed down a few of the best quartz alternatives:

Carrara Mysterio

Unistone

Carrara

RT Stone-I Stone

Statuario

Unistone

White Attica

Caesarstone