Granite Benchtop Costs VIC 2026 - Get Free Quotes

Granite Benchtop Costs in Victoria

Granite runs $600 to $1,200 per lineal metre supplied and installed across Victoria, which puts a standard kitchen at $4,000 to $8,000. Common varieties sit at the lower end and premium stone at the upper, with truly rare material reaching $1,600. Those figures make granite the least expensive natural stone in most Melbourne yards. They also make it the best value durable surface available in this state by a comfortable margin. Pricing one alternative alongside it is the fastest way to see where the value sits.

Value is the honest word for what granite offers rather than luxury. It resists scratching, ignores acid entirely, tolerates any temperature a domestic kitchen produces, and asks for a sealer every couple of years in return. The reason it costs less than marble or quartzite is supply rather than performance, since granite is quarried in large volumes across many countries. Importers hold slabs in racks and will pull them out for viewing.

Fashion moved away from granite for roughly fifteen years and has moved back. Engineered stone dominated Australian kitchens from the mid 2000s, offering consistent colour and no sealing, and granite came to read as dated by association with the speckled brown benches of the 1990s. Anyone who last looked at granite a decade ago is remembering a different product range. That association is now well out of step with what Melbourne importers actually hold.

The engineered stone prohibition changed the market here more than any design trend did. Since 1 July 2024 that material cannot be manufactured, supplied, processed or installed anywhere in Australia, and WorkSafe Victoria enforces it in this state. Households who would have chosen quartz needed somewhere to go, and granite absorbed a large share of them. Fabricators report it as the busiest natural stone category in Victoria since the change.

Natural stone was never within the prohibition and remains fully available, though the workplace duties around dust apply during fabrication exactly as they always did. Cutting granite releases respirable crystalline silica, which is why it happens in workshops under water suppression with extraction. That is a duty on the fabricator rather than a limitation on the product. A finished sealed benchtop in your kitchen releases nothing at all.

What follows covers what granite's origin predicts about its behaviour, the varieties Melbourne importers stock and where they come from, the three finishes and how they change daily life, and what sealing actually involves. The persistent myths get addressed directly, along with thickness, edges, Victorian ground conditions and pricing. Where you are still weighing materials against each other, the wider comparison sits under stone benchtops. Where a warmer or softer surface suits the room better, the alternatives sit under timber benchtops and solid surface benchtops.

Why Granite Came Back

The practical answer is that households who lost access to engineered stone went looking for what it had offered them. Consistency and no sealing were the two selling points, and no natural stone delivers either. What granite offers instead is durability that engineered stone never quite matched, particularly around heat. Plenty of Victorians discovered that trade off was acceptable once they understood it. Plenty of Victorians found that trade acceptable once they understood it. Durability replaced consistency as the thing being bought.

Heat is where the comparison lands most clearly and it matters daily. Engineered stone contained polymer resin that could be damaged by sustained heat, and every manufacturer warned against putting hot pans directly on it. Granite formed from molten rock and is completely indifferent to anything a domestic cooktop produces. A household that cooks seriously notices that difference within the first week. A household that cooks seriously notices the difference within the first week of using it.

The appearance objection is the one that deserves testing rather than assuming. Granite ranges in Melbourne yards now include near solid blacks with almost no visible pattern, quiet greys, and dramatic veined stones that read much closer to marble than to the speckled granite of memory. Leathered finishes remove the shine entirely and have become popular in the last few years. What is on the racks in Campbellfield or Dandenong South today is not the range that was there in 2005. Twenty minutes walking a yard settles it faster than any amount of reading.

Price is the third factor and it works in granite's favour twice over. It is the cheapest natural stone in most Victorian yards, and it competes directly with porcelain while costing less. For a household replacing an engineered stone kitchen after a renovation, the difference between $600 and $1,600 per lineal metre across a full kitchen is substantial. That gap buys a good deal of cabinetry. That gap across a full kitchen buys a good deal of cabinetry. It is the reason granite keeps winning replacement jobs.

Repairability is the fourth and least discussed advantage, and the options are covered under benchtop resurfacing and repairs. A chipped granite edge can be filled with colour matched resin, cured and polished flush, generally disappearing into the pattern at normal viewing distance. Dulling and light scratching across a whole benchtop can be removed by honing and repolishing for $500 to $1,400. Porcelain offers neither of those options, which is worth weighing before choosing between them. Porcelain offers neither option, which is worth weighing before choosing between the two. A chip in porcelain cannot be filled convincingly.

What Granite's Origin Predicts

Granite is igneous rock, formed as molten material cooled slowly deep underground over enormous spans of time. That slow cooling allowed large interlocking crystals to grow, and that is why the stone looks the way it does and behaves the way it does. The visible flecks are individual mineral crystals rather than a pattern printed or mixed into anything. Understanding that explains every practical property the material has.

The main constituents are quartz, feldspar and mica, with smaller amounts of other minerals giving each variety its colour. Feldspar contributes most of the colour and sits slightly softer. The interlocking arrangement of those crystals is what makes the assembled rock stronger than any single component. Quartz is what makes the stone hard, sitting at seven on the Mohs scale in its own right. The yard will tell you if you ask directly.

Hardness lands at six to six and a half overall, which is above almost anything that reaches a kitchen benchtop in normal use. Knives, ceramic dishes and dragged cookware do not mark it. Only harder materials such as another piece of granite or a diamond will scratch it. A chopping board remains sensible because the stone will blunt your knives long before your knives affect the stone. A chopping board is for your knives rather than for the stone.

Acid resistance follows from the mineral chemistry and it is the property that most separates granite from marble. There is effectively no calcite in granite, so lemon juice, vinegar, wine and tomato produce no reaction whatsoever. A citrus based cleaner spilled and left overnight does nothing. It makes granite far more forgiving in a working family kitchen than any calcite stone can be.

Heat tolerance is complete and needs no qualification at all. The rock formed at temperatures far beyond anything a domestic kitchen approaches, and there is no binder in it to scorch, yellow or soften. A pan taken straight off a gas burner and set down does nothing to the surface. That property alone explains why serious home cooks in Victoria keep choosing natural stone.

Porosity is the one property requiring management, and it varies more between granites than buyers expect. Darker, denser stones absorb very little while lighter and more crystalline varieties take up considerably more. A fabricator should tell you where a particular slab sits on that range before you choose it. That answer determines how often you will be resealing across the years.

Varieties Stocked in Victoria

Melbourne importers hold granite from India, Brazil, Norway, Finland, South Africa and China, and origin affects price more than quality. Indian and Chinese stone dominates the affordable end because those quarries produce at scale. Brazilian and Scandinavian material generally sits higher, partly for genuine rarity and partly for fashion. A quieter name at half the price frequently performs identically in a kitchen. Fashion drives more of the spread than durability does.

Absolute Black and Black Galaxy are the two most requested dark stones in Victoria and they behave slightly differently. Absolute Black from India is close to solid with almost no visible pattern, which suits contemporary kitchens wanting a quiet surface. Black Galaxy carries small bronze flecks scattered through the black. Both are dense, absorb very little and take a sealer that lasts well. Both are dense, absorb very little and hold a sealer well. Either suits a contemporary kitchen wanting a quiet surface.

Steel Grey and the mid grey ranges have become the volume sellers in Melbourne over the last few years. They read as neutral against almost any cabinetry colour, they hide daily marks better than either extreme, and they sit at the affordable end of the price band. They also photograph well for resale, which matters in Melbourne's inner and eastern markets where kitchens are scrutinised closely. For a household wanting something that will not date, these are the safest choices on the rack.

The white and light granites, including Kashmir White, Colonial White and Viscount White, offer the pale look that drove so much engineered stone demand. They are more porous than the dark stones and want more attentive sealing as a result. They are also where buyers most often expect a flat consistent white and find natural variation instead. Look at the actual slab rather than a sample if a specific tone matters to you.

Blue Pearl from Norway and Baltic Brown from Finland are the recognised Scandinavian stones and both carry strong crystal patterning. Brazilian material including Verde Ubatuba, Juparana and the veined exotic ranges covers everything from deep green through to dramatic movement that reads like artwork. These sit at the premium end and are usually the stones people mean by exotic granite. Ask what has arrived recently rather than working from a printed range.

One naming point comes up often enough in yards to mention. Several stones sold as black granite are technically gabbro or dolerite rather than true granite, differing in mineral composition while behaving very similarly in a kitchen. Some pale veined stones sold as granite are geologically gneiss. Neither distinction affects performance in any way that matters to you, and it explains why a geologist and a stone salesperson describe the same slab differently. It simply explains why a geologist and a salesperson describe the same slab differently.

Polished, Honed and Leathered

Finish changes daily life with the stone more than variety does, and it is the decision people put least thought into. The same slab in three finishes produces three quite different kitchens. All three cost broadly similar amounts, with honed and leathered occasionally attracting a small premium. Reserving the slab in your name prevents a different one arriving.

Polished is the default and brings out colour and depth most fully. The reflective surface makes patterns and crystals read at their strongest, which is what most people picture when they imagine granite. It also shows fingerprints, water marks and dust more readily than the alternatives. In a dark stone particularly, a polished finish asks for regular wiping to look its best. In a dark stone particularly, polished asks for regular wiping.

Honed produces a matte surface with no reflection, achieved by stopping the grinding process before the final polishing stages. Colours read softer and slightly lighter than the same stone polished. Daily marks are far less visible, which suits a busy kitchen well. The trade off is that a honed surface is marginally more absorbent and wants sealing a little more attentively. Public liability cover is worth sighting before work begins.

Leathered adds a subtle texture that can be felt as well as seen, produced by brushing the surface with abrasive heads. It hides fingerprints and water marks better than either alternative, and it has gained ground in Melbourne kitchens recently for that reason. The texture also gives dark stones a depth that polishing flattens. It suits households wanting natural stone without the formality a polished black bench carries, and the comparison against fired surfaces sits under porcelain benchtops. Templating happens after cabinetry is installed and brought to level.

Flamed finishes exist and belong outdoors rather than in a kitchen. Intense heat applied to the surface causes the crystals to fracture, producing a rough non slip texture used for paving and outdoor benches. It is too coarse for food preparation. Where an outdoor bench is part of the project, the options sit under outdoor kitchen benchtops.

What Sealing Actually Involves

Sealing addresses staining and nothing else, which is a distinction worth being clear about. A sealer reduces how readily the stone absorbs liquids so a spill can be wiped up before it soaks in. It does not make the surface waterproof, and it has no bearing on scratching, chipping or heat. On granite it is a modest ongoing task rather than a burden. Ask the yard to reserve the slab in your name that day.

The interval runs one to three years depending on the stone and how hard the kitchen works. Dark dense granites hold a sealer considerably longer than pale crystalline ones. A kitchen that produces three meals a day will want resealing sooner than one that mostly makes toast. Ask your fabricator for an expected interval for your specific slab rather than a general figure. Cracking traces to support and movement rather than to the stone itself.

Testing whether it is due takes seconds and needs nothing. Put a small amount of water on the surface in the busiest area, leave it a few minutes, then look at it. Water sitting in a bead means the sealer is doing its job, while water soaking in and darkening the stone means it is time. Test near the sink and the cooktop rather than a quiet corner, since that is where the sealer wears first. Drainer grooves cut into the surface are a premium detail. Older kitchens hide cabinetry problems until the bench is lifted.

Doing it yourself is entirely realistic and takes about fifteen minutes across a kitchen. Clean the surface thoroughly and let it dry, apply the sealer evenly with a cloth, leave it for the time the product specifies, then wipe away everything that has not soaked in. Leaving excess on the surface produces a hazy film that is annoying to remove. Products from Lithofin, Aqua Mix and Dry Treat are stocked across Victoria. A pencil round edge hides minor chips better than a sharp square. Fabricator experience shows in the details rather than the price.

Professional resealing costs $200 to $450 for a kitchen and is worth it where the stone has been neglected for years. A technician will clean the surface properly first, which matters more than the sealer itself on a bench that has built up residue. Note the product used at installation so the next application matches what is already in the stone. Mixing products is not usually harmful and can produce uneven absorption. Indian, Brazilian and Chinese quarries supply most Melbourne stock. Comparing granite against porcelain clarifies what each gives up.

Everyday cleaning is simpler than the sealing question suggests. A pH neutral cleaner and a soft cloth handle everything a kitchen produces. Abrasive pads dull a polished surface faster than anything else, and acidic descalers strip sealers out of the stone. Where a stain has got in despite a sealer, an absorbent paste left on the surface for a day or two will usually draw it back out, as covered under benchtop resurfacing and repairs. The slab count matters more to the final price than the rate does. Melbourne's water supply works in this material's favour.

Myths Worth Setting Aside

Several claims about granite circulate persistently and most are either outdated or simply wrong. Addressing them directly is more useful than ignoring them, since they influence real decisions. Each of the four below comes up regularly in Victorian showrooms. A quick photo conveys it better than words. Sealer testing takes a minute with a little water near the sink.

The radiation claim surfaces periodically and concerns naturally occurring radon. All rock contains trace radioactive elements and granite is no exception, but the quantities in a benchtop are minute and comparable to the background radiation everyone lives with continuously. Health authorities including the Victorian Department of Health publish general guidance on radiation exposure in the home. No Australian regulator treats stone benchtops as a health concern. Igneous origin explains the hardness, the heat tolerance and the acid resistance. Sealing is a fifteen minute task rather than a burden.

The staining myth runs in both directions and both versions mislead. Granite is not stain proof, since it is porous to varying degrees and an oil spill left long enough on an unsealed pale stone will mark it. Equally it is not the fragile surface some accounts suggest, because a sealed granite bench handles ordinary kitchen use with no drama at all. Wiping spills reasonably promptly and resealing every couple of years is the whole routine. Twenty and thirty millimetre thicknesses read quite differently at an exposed edge. Australian ranges have widened considerably in the past few years.

The cracking claim needs untangling because it confuses cause with material. Granite does not spontaneously crack in normal use, and a crack in an installed benchtop points to something else entirely. Inadequate support beneath a span, movement in the cabinetry, or a square cutout corner concentrating stress are the three usual culprits. In parts of Melbourne the underlying cause is seasonal ground movement, which the next section covers. Hardly anyone thinks to bring this up. Value rather than fashion is the honest argument for this stone.

The dated appearance claim is the one most worth testing personally. It rests on the speckled mid brown granites that were everywhere in Australian kitchens through the 1990s, which are a small fraction of what is available now. Near solid blacks, quiet greys, veined stones reading close to marble and leathered textures are all current stock in Melbourne yards. Walking a rack for twenty minutes settles the question faster than any amount of reading. Near solid blacks, quiet greys, veined stones and leathered textures are all current stock.

Thickness and Edge Profiles

Twenty millimetre is the standard thickness in Victoria and suits the great majority of kitchens. Thirty millimetre reads heavier and more substantial, costs more in material, and weighs proportionally more to handle and support. The visual difference is real but smaller than most people expect once the bench is installed. Decide both before the templater measures up, since neither can be revisited once cutting starts. Sealing at installation is included by some fabricators and not others. Apartment installation is limited by the goods lift dimensions.

A mitred edge achieves the appearance of thick stone without the material cost. Two pieces are cut at forty five degrees and joined at the edge, so a twenty millimetre benchtop can present a forty, sixty or hundred millimetre face. The cost sits in workshop labour rather than material, and the join is close to invisible when done well. It is the standard approach for a substantial looking island in Melbourne. Radiused cutout corners cost nothing and prevent cracking on reactive ground. Every property traces back to how the rock originally formed.

Simple edge profiles are usually included in the quoted rate. A square edge with the sharp corner very slightly softened is the contemporary default and reads cleanly against modern cabinetry. A pencil round softens it fractionally and hides minor chips better over the years. Both are machined quickly and neither attracts a premium from most fabricators. Neither attracts a premium from most fabricators. Finish choice affects daily life more than variety selection does.

Shaped profiles including bullnose, ogee and bevel take longer to machine and polish, so they cost more. They also read as period detailing rather than contemporary, which suits some Melbourne housing and looks out of place in others. In a Californian bungalow or an Edwardian home a shaped edge can be exactly right. In a new build it usually is not. Ask what has landed at the importer in the past few weeks. Persistent myths about the stone have no regulatory support.

A waterfall end takes the stone down the side of an island to the floor, requiring additional slab area and a mitred corner joint. Veining must continue down the side to read correctly, which demands careful slab layout and skilled cutting. It is one of the more expensive details available and one of the most visually effective. Island specific guidance sits under kitchen island bench installation. A photograph of the full slab beats any sample chip.

Victorian Conditions

Two conditions specific to this state shape how granite is installed and looked after. One works against a rigid material and one works strongly in its favour. Neither is a reason to avoid the material, and both change what you should be asking before signing. Both are worth putting to any fabricator before you sign. That detail changes what you should ask next. Regional buyers should establish travel arrangements before committing.

Ground movement affects a substantial part of Melbourne and concentrates in the newer suburbs. The basalt plains running through the west and north carry heavy cracking clay, so Werribee, Point Cook, Tarneit, Melton, Sunshine and the corridors around Craigieburn all sit on ground that swells through winter and contracts across summer. Under the residential slab and footing standard published by Standards Australia, those sites generally carry a highly or extremely reactive classification. Houses there rise and settle with the seasons. The movement carries up through the floor into the cabinetry. Slab reservation is what makes a viewing meaningful.

Granite has enormous compressive strength and almost no flexibility, so it cannot absorb that movement. Stress concentrates wherever the material is weakest, and on a benchtop that is always the internal corner of a sink or cooktop cutout. Cracks appear there years after installation, long after anyone connects them to the ground. Three measures prevent it and none costs anything extra, being flexible silicone bedding, cabinetry levelled before the stone is laid, and cutout corners cut as a curve rather than a sharp right angle. Quartz, feldspar and mica interlock to produce the finished strength. Three quotes on identical inclusions rarely differ as much as expected.

Ground beneath the eastern and bayside suburbs behaves differently, so far less of this occurs there. Sand through Frankston, Mordialloc, Brighton and much of the east barely shifts, and those sites classify toward the stable end of the same scale. A fabricator who works across metropolitan Melbourne will know which districts demand the extra care. Asking the question directly tells you how much attention they pay. Professional resealing costs a fraction of what most people assume.

On water, granite is better served in this city than in most Australian capitals. Melbourne draws largely from protected forested catchments in the Yarra Ranges, producing among the softest reticulated supply in the country with very little dissolved mineral. Scale around taps therefore barely forms, which matters indirectly rather than directly. Households in harder water states reach for acidic descalers to remove that scale, and those products strip sealers out of granite, so Melbourne simply removes the temptation. Fashion rather than performance explains much of the price spread.

Outside Melbourne the water picture varies with the source rather than the region. Towns on surface storages behave much like the city, while groundwater supplies through parts of the Wimmera, the Mallee and northern Victoria carry more dissolved mineral. Deposits build faster around taps in those districts and a pH neutral cleaner matters more. Rainwater tank properties see sediment rather than hardness, which wipes off without difficulty. Mitred edges create the look of thick stone without the material cost.

Apartment installation adds a further consideration for anyone in a Melbourne tower. Buildings through the CBD, Southbank, Docklands and the inner suburbs operate goods lift bookings, and the lift dimensions cap the largest piece that can be delivered. Owners corporation rules on work hours and floor protection sit on top of that. Twenty millimetre granite runs roughly fifty five kilograms per square metre, so a large island piece needs planning as well as people. Fifty five kilograms per square metre needs planning as well as people. Radon claims about granite have no support from any Australian regulator.

What Affects the Cost

Variety sets the band and the spread within granite alone is wide. Widely imported stone from large quarries sits at $600 to $900 per lineal metre while premium material reaches $1,200 and rare stone goes beyond. Ask the yard what else they hold in a comparable palette before settling on a name. That difference reflects supply and fashion rather than performance in a kitchen. Black granites sold under that name are frequently a different rock entirely.

Slab count drives the total more sharply than the rate does, because stone is sold whole slabs at a time. A layout needing a small amount of material from a second slab pays for all of it, so a kitchen just over one slab costs disproportionately more than one just inside. A modest design change occasionally brings a job back within one slab. Porosity varies between granites and determines how often resealing is needed. Honed surfaces absorb marginally more and want slightly closer attention.

Thickness and edge treatment work together on both material and labour. Thirty millimetre stone costs more than twenty in material, while a mitred edge on twenty millimetre material buys the heavy look with labour instead. Shaped profiles take longer to machine and polish than a square or pencil edge. Waterfall ends add slab area on top of the fabrication. Offcuts from a second slab often cover a vanity at low cost.

Every cutout carries its own charge, and across a kitchen they add up faster than expected. An undermount sink runs $250 to $500 because its exposed edge is polished to a visible finished standard, while a drop in sink needs only $150 to $300. Cooktops sit at $150 to $350 and each tap hole adds $40 to $100. A drainer grooved into the stone is a premium detail at $300 to $700.

Finish choice has a modest effect, with honed and leathered surfaces occasionally attracting a small premium over polished. The larger consequence is on daily life rather than price. Sealing intervals also differ slightly by finish, since a honed surface is marginally more absorbent than a polished one. Ask whether the quoted rate covers your preferred finish or assumes polished as the default. Regional buyers pay for two visits rather than one.

Removal, plumbing and the associated trades sit outside almost every granite quote in Victoria. Taking out an old benchtop runs $400 to $900, rising to $600 to $1,400 for engineered stone requiring dust controls and compliant disposal. A plumber costs $300 to $600 across two visits, and electrical work applies where a connection moves. Splashback rectification becomes relevant whenever the new stone differs in thickness from the old surface, as covered under kitchen splashback installation. Hold a contingency for cabinetry repairs beyond those figures.

Melbourne and Regional Victorian Pricing

Metropolitan rates sit within a narrow band, and what you choose explains the gaps far more than the postcode does. Stone choice, slab count and access matter far more than which suburb the house is in. Being close to the northern or south eastern fabrication belts trims delivery slightly. The tables below assume a standard kitchen supplied and fitted.

Two local factors account for most of the spread inside those figures. Apartment work through the CBD, Southbank and Docklands carries lift bookings, restricted hours and building requirements that add coordination time, and lift dimensions can force a join a house would not need. Established eastern kitchens tend toward larger footprints with islands and waterfall ends, which lifts slab count and pushes those jobs to the upper figure whichever stone is chosen. Both are worth raising with whoever prices your kitchen.

The regional premium comes from the two visit process rather than the stone. A fabricator travels out to template and travels out again weeks later to install, and both journeys land somewhere in the price. Establish whether travel is included or added separately, and ask whether they have other work scheduled in your district. Joining an existing run can remove much of that cost.

Viewing slabs is the practical obstacle for regional buyers rather than the money. Granite varies enough between slabs that a photograph is a weak substitute, and most regional fabricators source through the Melbourne importers who hold the racks. Many will arrange to meet you at the yard if you make the trip. Reserving your chosen slab afterwards removes the main uncertainty from the job. Melbourne's northern and south eastern fabrication belts trim delivery slightly.

Ordering additional rooms alongside the kitchen pays off particularly well at distance. A bathroom vanity or a laundry bench cut alongside a kitchen shares the template visit, the freight and the installation crew. Where a second slab is needed for the kitchen anyway, the remainder often covers those pieces at very little extra. Ask for them to be quoted at the same time even if you are undecided.

Reactive clay is not a Melbourne exclusive and appears widely across regional Victoria. Cracking clay through the Wimmera, parts of the Western District and areas of the north produces the same seasonal movement beneath houses. The response is identical and free, being flexible bedding, level cabinetry and curved cutout corners. Regional fabricators working those districts are usually well aware of it.

What to Look Out For

Establish the slab count before you compare any two prices. It is also the last moment a layout adjustment can save real money. Get the slab count written onto the quote rather than agreed on the phone. Leathered and honed finishes hide daily marks better than polished ones.

View the slab itself and get it put aside in your name. Photographs and sample chips understate how much natural granite varies between slabs from the same block, particularly in the pale and veined varieties. Reserving stops a different slab arriving on installation day. Ask to see your kitchen laid out over photographs of the reserved stone before cutting starts. It takes one question and saves considerable trouble.

Ask where your chosen stone sits on the porosity range. Dark dense granites hold a sealer for years while pale crystalline ones want more attention, and that answer tells you what the ongoing routine looks like. A fabricator who cannot answer has not worked with the stone much. A chip in granite fills with colour matched resin and disappears.

Raise the ground question if you are anywhere on Melbourne's western or northern clay. Flexible bedding, levelled cabinetry and curved internal cutout corners are what prevent cracking years down the track, and all three are free to specify at quoting stage. Retrofitting any of them means lifting the benchtop. A fabricator who raises reactive soils before you do is one worth using.

Refuse any offer to cut stone inside your house. Cutting granite releases respirable crystalline silica and belongs in a workshop under water suppression and extraction, with duties enforced by WorkSafe Victoria. Minor on site adjustments with proper dust control are a different matter and should be explained to you. Any such adjustment should be explained to you beforehand, not carried out quietly. A fabricator willing to breach that is signalling how they handle everything else.

Any offer of engineered stone should end the conversation. Manufacture, supply, processing and installation have all been prohibited nationally since 1 July 2024, so a business offering it is committing an offence rather than sharing old stock with you. You would also own a surface nobody can lawfully cut, extend or match afterwards. Your rights over both the stone and the workmanship are set out by the ACCC.

Get the full scope in writing including everything excluded from it. Plumbing, electrical work, splashback rectification and cabinetry repairs sit outside almost every stone quote in this state. Practitioner registration is administered by the Building and Plumbing Commission where the benchtop forms part of larger building work, with contract requirements under Consumer Affairs Victoria. Disputes that cannot be settled directly are heard at VCAT. Ask to see current public liability insurance while you are at it. A business carrying it will produce it without fuss.

What to Look for in a Quote in VIC

A granite quote worth comparing names the specific variety and the importer holding it, states the slab count, gives thickness and finish, specifies the edge profile, itemises every cutout, describes how the stone will be bedded, confirms whether sealing is included and lists what sits outside the price. A single figure against the words granite benchtop tells you nothing usable. Get every line itemised and comparing becomes simple arithmetic rather than guesswork. Where the budget is tight, the cheaper routes are set out under budget kitchen benchtops.

Every fabricator needs an identical brief, otherwise the responses cannot be set against each other. That means the dimensioned kitchen plan, photographs of the room and existing cabinetry, the sink and cooktop models, your preferred variety and finish, and photographs of the access route from the street. Make clear whether it is a house or a unit in a tower. Name the suburb, since ground conditions change the bedding conversation.

There are four questions that will tell a careful fabricator from a hurried one. How many slabs does my layout need, where does this stone sit on the porosity range, how will you bed it given my suburb, and will you lay my kitchen out over photographs of the reserved slab. Specific answers to all four point to someone who does this properly. Hesitation on the porosity question in particular is worth noticing, since it suggests limited experience with the stone. Most yards volunteer this without prompting.

Price one alternative alongside your granite quotes before deciding. Porcelain at $800 to $1,600 removes sealing from your life permanently while giving up repairability, and quartzite at $900 to $1,800 offers greater hardness at a higher price. Seeing the numbers together turns the choice into an informed preference. Comparisons sit under porcelain benchtops and quartz benchtops. Neither alternative offers granite's combination of price and repairability. Porcelain removes sealing from your life while giving up repairability.

Budget the whole project rather than the benchtop alone. Removal, plumbing, electrical work and splashback rectification typically add around thirty per cent to a supply and install figure on a replacement, and a contingency for cabinetry repairs is sensible in any kitchen past twenty years old. What sits under the old bench stays hidden until it is lifted off. Posting the job on The Quote Yard puts one brief in front of several Victorian fabricators, and the wider sequence sits under kitchen benchtop installation and replacement.