Porcelain, wood and Corian: Australia’s best alternatives to engineered stone benchtops

Wooden kitchen benchtops are the most affordable options on the market – and can be sanded back and have its colour changed on a whim. Photograph: Andreas von Einsiedel/Getty Images

Anna Power, architect and director at Studio Ester, remembers her first encounters with engineered stone as it hit the Australian market nearly 30 years ago.

“We would have bits of it in the office and we were so fascinated with it. We used to rest teabags on it overnight and leave red wine rings on it just to see what would happen.”