I probably would steer away from black if you want to keep the country theme

I chose stone although wood for example fits into the same catagory, as does copper then concrete and tiles to a lesser degree being manufactured but their uses are limitless!! On the floor, a bench, a wall, artwork or a feature!! There is pretty much nothing you can't do with all of these items, so I can't seen how all of them won't just keep on keeping on in different forms perhaps but none the less, still keeping on. Some bright spark will come up with a "new look" and it will go wild I'm sure in 2016 but what it might be is anyones guess but if I have to pick, I'll go copper!!

Hi I just thought I would leave a comment about the visibility of joins in reconstituted stone such as Caesarstone tops on islands longer than 3 metres. From a patern point of view; by selecting a style that has a fine grain certainly helps with reducing the visibility of a join. As for the join itself, the technology and tooling used to make such joints has come a long way in the last 10 years; therefore if you use a Kitchen Manufacturer who uses up-to-date stone fabrication methods, then such joins can be next to near invisible. Below is a kitchen we made with an Island that is over 4.3 metres long and has a join through the centre; where the join actually has to be pointed out to be seen. We have seen Kitchen Manufactures use the two height method but you really don't have to do this to achieve a long island. If you would like a long island, then you should not be put off by having to have a join; careful selection of your material, manufacturer and planning can achieve great results. Hope this helps anyone reading this article and the comments above.

Ok, so we don't need engineered stone in our kitchen, as we have it there already, but we just had more of the same stone installed in our new powder room & ensuite to match the kitchen's earthy colour scheme. We do, however, need to choose a natural granite for our alfresco kitchen as engineered stones are not covered by manufactures' warranty in our situation. So, I stick with engineered and natural stones for the long term bench top of choice.