What is solid surface made of?
Solid surface is a sheet material that is the same all the way through its thickness. LOTTE Chemical describes Staron as about two-thirds aluminium trihydrate (ATH) mineral and about one-third acrylic resin (PMMA).
The sheets we work with are 12 mm thick, in a standard size of 0.76 × 3.60 m.
What are the advantages?
- Non-porous: spills stay on the surface and wipe off with a damp cloth.
- Inconspicuous seams: pieces are joined with colour-matched adhesive and sanded smooth, so a long counter or a whole wall looks like one piece.
- Bends with heat: a counter can curve up into the wall, with no corner for dirt to collect.
- Renewable: the colour runs through the thickness, so light scratches and set-in marks can be sanded out.
- Some colours are translucent and glow when lit from behind.
What should I watch out for?
- Put a trivet under hot pots and pans. Solid surface is not designed to take high heat directly.
- Cut on a board, not on the counter, and keep acetone and oven cleaner away from it.
- Counters and furniture are for indoor use, not outdoor kitchens in sun and rain.
- Not every colour can be bent. The colours that cannot are marked on their own pages.
Where can I use it?
Kitchen countertops and islands, bathroom counters with integrated basins, wall cladding and backlit walls, and table tops and service counters.
Properties as published by LOTTE Chemical for Staron solid surface. Zenstone has not published technical data.