Alternatives to Engineered Stone?

Hi Francesca! I've used Paperstone, thin large-format porcelain, and solid wood; others I have tried but haven't gotten onto a job yet include linoleum, metal (wrapped over a substrate), natural stone, sintered stone (like Dekton), backpainted glass... the "good" qualities of these varies but are generally well known so hopefully that gives you a starting point. A new product I am watching carefully is EKOA (lingrove.com), which is a cellulose-based alternative to wood veneer meant to eventually be price competitive to plastic laminate. They are working on a product for horizontal surfaces, but not there yet. Hope this gives you some ideas!

Hi, Francesca! I don't want to speak for Brent (our products & materials person here at BG), but my understanding is that engineered stone has the exact same silica-dust issue as any other silica-containing product that's sawed or ground or otherwise processed in ways that create dust. That very much includes what is possibly the most ubiquitous building material—concrete. The only difference with engineered stone is that many regulators (including OSHA in the U.S.) have not previously held manufacturing companies or jobsite contractors to the same standards as they have for concrete, tile, and natural stone. So I think there is nothing about engineered stone as a material that is special when it comes to silica dust or silicosis. The difference is in legal protections for workers. This is just one of many, many supply-chain issues the building industry is trying to reckon with after a weirdly long period of laser focus on end users (=building occupants, but not usually even including occupants who do cleaning or maintenance therein) when it comes to material health. The problem with this reckoning is that we simply don't have access to differentiating information within most supply chains, so it's really hard to even know where to start to send a market signal. Anyway ... Brent knows much more about these materials, but you can also explore alternatives to silica-containing materials in the BG product guide for countertops/solid surfaces.

Wowee, did I get that one wrong! Yikes. For the actual, factual truth, please see research and writing by our Associate Editor, Elizabeth Waters, as well as our updated product guide from Brent Ehrlich.