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.”
The stone stood up to their tests, so like many other architects, Power quickly embraced the product’s winning combination of good looks at a good price.
Just a few decades on, the allure of the wonder product has been stymied. A direct link has been found between processing the quartz compound used to make engineered stone, and silicosis – the debilitating, incurable and sometimes fatal lung disease that has been associated with masonry work since antiquity, and is the world’s oldest recognised occupational disease. Its cause: breathing in too many fine silica dust particles for too long.
Some engineered stone contains over 95% silica (while granite typically contains about 30%) and the risk to those processing it is significant. WorkSafe Australia has recommended a complete ban on its import and installation, and major retailers including Ikea and Bunnings have promised to phase out the product.
This means architects, builders and renovators have been left searching for safer options that won’t compromise the final result or blow out renovation budgets.
What is silica?
Dr Ashleigh Hood, a geoscientist at the University of Melbourne, says silica – a compound of silicon and oxygen – is everywhere. “Nearly 30% of the Earth’s crust is silicon. It’s the second-most common element, coming right after oxygen.” In its most common form, silica is quartz, which means you’ll find varying levels of silica in sand at the beach and in concrete. Many natural stones such as sandstone and granite have high levels of silica, and it is in bricks, pottery glazes and even some plastics.
When is it dangerous?
Dr Ryan Hoy, head of the Occupational Respiratory Clinic at Melbourne’s Alfred hospital, says: “It all comes down to particle size.” The risks are “in particular when workers take a circular saw or a grinder to it”. In those cases, the dust emitted will be extremely fine, tiny enough to get deep into the lungs. It can even linger invisibly in the air for days afterwards.
“Silica is in concrete, rock and sand – we can’t ban it,” Hoy says. “It goes well beyond the stone benchtop industry who are unfortunately the canaries in the coalmine.” He notes there are many other industrial practices and products where risks are overlooked. “What we’ve seen in recent years is one of the largest outbreaks of silicosis in Australian history. It relates directly to unsafe work practices with a really high silica content product.”
How much is too much?
While silica dust (particles less than 10 microns – about one seventh the size of a grain of sand) has been known to cause respiratory illness for centuries and has been classed as a group one carcinogen since 1997, scientific consensus is that the devil is in the dose.
Reassuringly, Hoy and other lung specialists Guardian Australia spoke with agree that transient encounters with silica dust, such as doing a one-off home renovation or walking past a construction site, are unlikely to cause problems long term. But for workers exposed to high levels for years, it’s a different story.
“It’s about cumulative lifetime exposure,” Hoy says. While there are no hard figures on how much exposure needs to occur before disease develops, Hoy points out that unlike mesothelioma, a cancer which can present decades after a single exposure to asbestos dust, silicosis is a result of chronic scarring of the lungs which takes considerable, ongoing exposure.
Is having an engineered stone benchtop unsafe?
In short, no. Hoy says already-installed benchtops that are being used as they’re intended pose “zero” risk to those living with them. “Day to day it’s not an issue. But we are concerned about when people choose to update their homes.”
The regulations in place for the removal or disposal of engineered stone differ from state to state. Victoria has specific licensing requirements in place, while other states instituted updated codes of practice in 2022. Wherever you live, given the risks involved in cutting engineered stone, keeping benchtops intact during the removal process is prudent.
What can I use instead?
If you have your heart set on a stone-look finish, Power suggests porcelain as “a fantastic alternative that’s a lot more affordable than natural stone”.
She warns it might take some negotiation with your subcontractor, though. “Some tradies get nervous about working with it. It’s incredibly strong but it can be a little more brittle and prone to cracking on installation.”
While porcelain is more expensive than the cheapest engineered stone on the market, Power says it costs about the same as higher-end options and about half the price of mid-range natural stones.
Power says synthetic solid surface materials such as Corian, which can be made to resemble anything from marble to powder-coated steel, are really hard-wearing and versatile, but they tend to be expensive.
“You can use tiles to cover a benchtop too – but that can get a bit grubby in the grout over time.”
Stainless steel, an industrial-chic noughties favourite that has lately fallen out of style, “can look really good when it’s done right” – though, she says, it does tend to have a price point comparable to natural stone, thanks to the rising cost of steel and fabrication generally.
Power says compound wood options are the most affordable of any benchtop on the market. However, she cautions against using wooden benchtops around the sink. They can work for kitchen islands and around stovetops, though. Wood’s appeal lies in the ability to sand it back and change its colour on a whim.
Will renovations cost more now?
Whether or not a stone benchtop ban will come at a cost to consumers will depend on individual choices around which alternatives to use.
“I think it’s a bit hysterical to say that banning engineered stone would double the cost of your kitchen renovation,” Power says. “It’s not a calculation that can be easily made or accurately substantiated.” But Power concedes it depends on how much you’re paying for your joinery and fittings. The cost of the cheapest kitchen makeovers – installing flat-pack joinery with builders’ grade fittings – could increase by up to 40-50%. But for more expensive custom kitchens, it may only add 20% to the overall cost.
Renovators who opt for a mostly wooden kitchen may even end up spending less than they would have on engineered stone.
It might also be worth delaying renovations until more alternatives come on to the market. More and more porcelain options are becoming available as the market pivots, Power says, and its versatility is vast.
Porcelain can be made to resemble anything from natural stone to woodgrain, metal or even fabric. Power anticipates that as workers get used to handling it, it will become the next go-to product for customers seeking high-end results. It may take a few years for that to trickle into the lower end of the market, but it will happen eventually.
The final word
An Australian Housing Industry Association report recently estimated that more than half a million engineered stone benchtops have been installed in Australia just in the last three years.
While good looks at a low cost is seductive, the workers who processed these benchtops will likely suffer the consequences in the coming decades.
Elizabeth Early, senior manager of the Lung Foundation’s Occupational Lung Disease program, puts it simply: “People use engineered stone because it’s cheap, but it’s costing someone their lungs so it’s not worth it.”
