Studio 05 · Side by side

Material Bench

A sortable comparison of eighteen floor and worktop materials by water absorption, hardness, heat tolerance, barefoot comfort, maintenance and relative cost.

Material	Absorption %	Cost	Note
Carrara marble Stone	0.40	€€€	Etches with acid regardless of sealer. Patina is the point.
Travertine Stone	2.50	€€€	Filled or unfilled changes everything. Warm underfoot, superb outdoors.
Limestone, honed Stone	1.80	€€€	The classic Mediterranean floor. Records the house, which is either the point or the problem.
Granite Stone	0.20	€€€	Nearly closed, nearly indestructible, and hard to make look quiet.
Quartzite Stone	0.30	€€€€	Marble looks with granite behaviour. Expensive and worth it on a worktop.
Basalt, brushed Stone	0.50	€€€	Dark, even, excellent grip. Reaches sixty degrees in full sun.
Slate Stone	0.40	€€	Cleaves naturally, sheds water, tends to look cold in low light.
Terrazzo, cast Composite	0.60	€€€	Seamless when poured in situ. The joints in tile versions undo half the effect.
Microcement Composite	0.80	€€€	Beautiful for four years, then hairline cracks. Substrate movement is the enemy.
Sintered stone Composite	0.02	€€€€	Resists everything, ages not at all, and therefore looks newer than the room forever.
Porcelain, matt Ceramic	0.10	€€	The sensible default. Choose large formats and rectified edges or the joints dominate.
Zellige tile Ceramic	3.00	€€€	Every tile different, every surface alive. Fragile edges and a fitter who understands them.
Oak, engineered Timber	5.00	€€€	Warm, quiet, repairable. Wear layer thickness decides whether it lasts fifteen years or forty.
Iroko decking Timber	6.00	€€€	Stable outdoors, silvers if you let it, needs oiling annually if you do not.
Thermally treated ash Timber	4.00	€€€	Dimensionally stable, dark through the section, brittle if drilled without care.
End-grain block Timber	6.00	€€€	The only worktop you can sand flat in an afternoon. Kind to knives, unkind to standing water.
Stainless 316 Metal	0.00	€€€	Scratches into a patina and is indifferent to heat. The only sane choice within sight of the sea.
Tadelakt Plaster	1.00	€€€€	Seamless and waterproof when done properly. Everything depends on the hands that apply it.

Style Finder

Eight questions about light, mess, guests and how you actually spend a Sunday. One of six houses comes back.

Palette Studio

Choose a room, an orientation and a temperature. Get a five-part palette with the surface each colour belongs on.

Daylight Compass

Your latitude, your orientation, your window head height. How deep the light reaches and how much overhang you need.