Granite Worktops: Prices, Finishes, and What Actually Happens on Templating Day

Your fitter stands at the front door with a template in his hand. The kitchen units went in two days ago. The sink sits on the floor, still in its box, because nobody told you to have it physically present when the templator arrived. The cutout can't be templated without the actual sink. The slot in the schedule is gone. The stone goes back to the workshop, you wait another ten working days, and the kitchen completion slips by a fortnight. Granite is the worktop material where sequencing mistakes cost the most, because every step depends on the one before it being right.

What it is and what it's for

Granite is an igneous rock (formed from cooled magma deep underground) quarried in slabs and cut into worktop pieces by UK fabricators. For a UK kitchen, it's sold as a fitted worktop at £300-600 per linear metre installed, going up to £700-900 for rare imported stones. It's the oldest premium worktop material still in common use, and the only mainstream option where every single kitchen's worktop is literally unique.

The defining property is that each slab is different. Patterns, colours, and mineral veining vary from one slab to the next, even within the same quarry batch. That's the reason people choose it, and it's also the reason the buying process is different from quartz or laminate. You don't pick granite from a small sample; you visit a stoneyard and pick the actual slab that's going to be cut up for your kitchen.

Granite worktops don't require planning permission, building control sign-off, or any regulatory approval. There's no British Standard that governs residential worktop installation. The one standard that does apply is the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 for the sink connection, and that's on the plumber, not the stone fabricator.

What granite is NOT: a DIY-installable material, a low-maintenance surface, or a material that can be ordered before the kitchen units are physically in place. Each of those assumptions breaks something in the process. Understanding why sets expectations for what you're actually buying.

Types, grades, and what you're paying for

Granite prices range across roughly four grades, and the grade dictates both the slab appearance and the cost per square metre.

The price per square metre is not the whole story. A standard 600mm-deep kitchen worktop means 1 linear metre equals 0.6 square metres, so installed prices quoted per linear metre (£300-600/lm) and per square metre (£500-1,000/m²) describe the same thing. Always check which unit you're being quoted in when comparing fabricators.

Within any grade, expect to pay extras for:

• Edge profiles beyond a simple pencil edge: ogee and full bullnose add £15-25 per linear metre
• Curved or shaped corners: £50+ per corner
• Polished cutouts for undermount sinks: £300-500 in labour on top of the sink cutout itself
• Drainer grooves routed into the worktop surface: £60-120 per set
• Upstands (the 100mm strip that sits against the wall above the worktop): £40-80 per linear metre when cut from the same slab

Get a full itemised quote, not just a headline per-metre figure. The headline figure almost never matches the final bill once cutouts, edges, and upstands are added.

Thickness: 20mm vs 30mm

Granite comes in two standard thicknesses. For granite specifically, 30mm is the recommended minimum, not 20mm as is standard for quartz.

30mm granite gives you up to 300mm of unsupported overhang (useful for breakfast-bar edges), better resistance to stress fractures at sink cutouts, and the chunky, substantial look most people associate with a quality stone worktop. It weighs roughly 75-80kg per square metre.

20mm granite is acceptable but marginal. The overhang limit drops to 250mm, and the stone is more vulnerable to cracking at cutouts and around point loads. It suits contemporary kitchens where a thinner, lighter-looking edge is the design intent, often paired with a mitred edge detail that visually doubles the thickness.

For a standard kitchen, specify 30mm unless your designer has a specific reason to go thinner. The cost difference is marginal; the structural margin is not.

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Finishes: polished, honed, leathered

Every granite slab can be finished three ways at the fabricator. The choice affects appearance, maintenance, and sealing frequency.

Honed looks stunning but pays a maintenance penalty. The matte surface is more open at a microscopic level, which means it absorbs spills more readily and needs sealing more often. Leathered is the forgiving daily-use option that cooks and families tend to prefer once they've lived with granite for a year. Polished remains the most common choice because it shows the stone's pattern and colour at maximum depth.

How it's made and installed: the process

This is the section no other granite guide walks through properly. Every homeowner who hits a surprise in the process does so because they didn't understand this sequence.

Step 1: visit the stoneyard and choose your slab. Don't order granite from a photo, a sample swatch, or a website. Go to the fabricator's yard or their supplier's stoneyard. The slab you mark up with a sticker or masking tape is the one that gets cut for your kitchen. Look at it under natural light. Check for fissures, colour patches, and patterns you dislike. Once cut, no returns.

Step 2: agree the order with the fabricator. This locks in the stone, the thickness, the finish, the edge profile, and the sink/hob cutout details. Deposit paid, typically 30-50%. Lead time to templating starts from this point.

Step 3: install your kitchen units fully. Units must be level, fixed, and in their final position before templating can happen. This is the hard sequencing dependency. Templating against half-fitted units or units that will be moved later ruins the template. Your kitchen fitter must finish before your stone templator starts.

Step 4: templating visit. A fabricator visits with either a laser digital templator or old-school physical templates made from strips of MDF. The visit takes 1-3 hours. Every cutout, every overhang, every edge is measured to the millimetre. You need to be on site and ready to confirm decisions.

Step 5: fabrication in the workshop. The stone is cut using CNC (computer-controlled) machinery or water jet. Edges are profiled. Cutouts are drilled and polished. This takes 7-14 working days typically. Some fabricators claim 3-7 day turnaround; complex or imported stones may need 3 weeks.

Step 6: installation day. Two to four fitters arrive with the stone pieces. The worktop is dry-fitted, adjusted, then bonded to the units with a bead of silicone. Seams are epoxied with colour-matched pigment. The sink is bonded to the underside of the worktop. Taking 4-8 hours for a typical kitchen. You'll need the kitchen out of use for the day.

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The templating day checklist

Before the templator arrives, you need the following present and decided:

• All kitchen units installed, levelled, and fixed in final positions
• The sink physically on site (the actual sink, not just the model number)
• The hob physically on site
• Tap position decided and marked
• Edge profile confirmed with the fabricator
• Join positions agreed (where the fabricator will cut the worktop into pieces)
• Any integrated appliances (dishwashers, wine coolers) installed in their openings

Missing any of these forces a rescheduled templating visit, and rescheduled visits push the whole kitchen completion out by 1-2 weeks.

How to work with it

Granite is not a DIY-fit material. The slabs are too heavy (a standard 3m run of 30mm granite weighs 140-160kg), the cuts too precise, the tooling too specialist. Your fabricator will fit it. Your job is to make the right decisions at templating and understand the material's limits once installed.

Maximum run lengths and joins

The maximum worktop length from a single piece of granite is approximately 3,000mm (3 metres). Longer runs require a join. L-shaped and U-shaped kitchens always have joins because the stone can't be cut round a corner from a single slab.

Joins are epoxied with pigment mixed to match the stone. On plain dark stones, joins are nearly invisible. On patterned stones with bold veining, skilled fitters can pattern-match across the join, aligning veins so the eye flows past the seam. Cheaper fitters don't pattern-match, and the join shows up as a hard line breaking the pattern.

Kitchen islands should remain as single pieces where possible. A join on an island surface is visually awkward because the stone sits in the open with no cabinet or wall to anchor the break. Specify an island run shorter than 3m to avoid this.

Living with granite

Daily cleaning is a damp cloth with warm water, or a neutral pH stone-safe cleaner. That's it. Avoid every common kitchen cleaner that's acidic or abrasive:

• CIF cream cleaner: abrasive particles scratch polished finish
• Kitchen limescale removers: acidic, strip the sealer
• Neat bleach: can discolour some lighter granites
• Vinegar, lemon juice, or any citrus-based cleaner: acidic, strip sealer

In hard water areas (most of England south of Birmingham), water marks and limescale build-up around the tap are the most common daily complaint. A stone-specific cleaner handles these without damaging the sealer. Keep one bottle under the sink and throw out the kitchen limescale remover.

Sealing

Granite is porous. Most granites need an annual sealer application to prevent staining from oil, wine, turmeric, and beetroot. The exception: dark volcanic granites like Black Pearl, Nero Assoluto, Blue Pearl, and Steel Grey are dense enough that sealing does nothing. Confirm with your fabricator at installation whether your specific stone needs sealing, and at what frequency.

DIY sealing is straightforward:

1. Clean the worktop thoroughly and let it dry completely (12 hours)
2. Apply a penetrating stone sealer (Akemi Anti-Fleck Stain Repellent, Lithofin Stain Stop, or equivalent) with a lint-free cloth
3. Work in sections, leaving the sealer on the surface for 5-10 minutes
4. Apply a second coat 20 minutes after the first
5. Buff the surface dry after 30 minutes
6. Don't use the worktop for 2 hours while the sealer cures

A bottle of decent stone sealer costs £20-30 and treats 10-15 square metres, more than enough for a single kitchen. The whole job takes under an hour.

Heat resistance

Granite itself is highly heat-resistant; it formed under extreme geological heat and doesn't care about a hot pan. The sealer is the weak link. Direct contact from a pan straight off a gas hob can degrade or discolour the sealer, creating a dull patch that has to be resealed to fix.

In practice: hot mugs, plates, and light cookware cause no issue. For pans coming directly off the hob or out of the oven, use a trivet. This is a one-second habit that protects the sealer indefinitely.

Granite is more heat-tolerant than quartz (which can discolour above 150°C because of its resin binder) but less heat-tolerant than sintered stone like Dekton.

Sink cutouts: the hidden cost landmine

This is the single biggest surprise most homeowners discover at templating. Sink cutout cost varies dramatically by sink type, and nobody mentions it in the initial quote.

Overmount (inset) sink: the sink drops into a rectangular hole cut in the worktop, with the rim sitting on the stone surface. The cutout is a simple rectangle, and it's hidden under the sink rim. Budget £50-100 in labour for this cutout.

Undermount sink: the sink hangs below the worktop, with the stone cut to the sink's internal dimensions and polished all the way round. The polished cutout is the most labour-intensive cut a granite fabricator makes. Budget £300-500 in labour for this cutout.

The difference is not the sink; it's the finish on the stone edge that the cutout exposes. Undermount sinks look significantly better and don't collect crumbs on a rim, but you're paying 3-6x more for the cutout alone. If your quote doesn't break this out separately, ask for it before committing.

Minimum stone dimensions around cutouts matter for structural reasons:

• 90mm minimum granite at the front, back, and sides of any sink cutout
• 125mm minimum at the back if a tap hole is also being cut
• 50mm minimum between sink cutout and hob cutout

A designer who draws a layout with less granite than this around the sink is designing a worktop that will crack at the cutout. Push back.

How much do you need

Measuring granite quantity is straightforward because it's sold per linear metre of worktop run or per square metre of slab area. Measure your kitchen plan:

• Measure every run of worktop along its longest edge
• For an L-shape or U-shape, count the full length along both legs (the corner is covered by one of the runs)
• For an island, measure the actual worktop outline in linear metres
• Add 100mm upstand height (if you're specifying upstands in the same stone) and count this as additional square-metre coverage

Worked example: a typical small kitchen extension with a 3.5m straight run along the back wall, a 2m peninsular, and an 1.8m x 1m island. That's 3.5 + 2 + (1.8 × 2 + 1 × 2) = 11.1 linear metres. At £400/lm installed (a mid-range stone, mid-range finish), you're looking at £4,440 for the worktop alone. Add upstands across the back wall (3.5m at £60/lm) and you're at £4,650.

Wastage on granite is built into the fabricator's quote because they cut from slabs roughly 3m x 1.5m; any offcuts are their problem, not yours. Unlike laminate or wood, you don't order "extra for waste."

Cost and where to buy

Unlike laminate and quartz (where Wickes, Wren, and national suppliers sell at similar prices), granite is a local-fabricator market. National online suppliers exist but most homeowners end up buying through a regional stone specialist within 50 miles of the kitchen.

Major channels:

• Independent stone fabricators: the default for granite. Examples in every region (Surrey Marble & Granite, Affordable Granite, Omega Stone, Riverside Stone, County Stone Granite). You visit their workshop and stoneyard, choose a slab, order through them, and they handle templating through installation. Pricing varies by region but falls within the consensus range.
• Kitchen companies (Wren, Howdens, Magnet): offer granite as an add-on to their kitchens. Pricing is typically 20-40% above independent fabricator quotes for the same stone. Convenient if you're buying the whole kitchen through them; expensive if you're paying for the convenience.
• Online-only specialists (Worktop Library, Work-tops.com): supply-only at £200-350/lm for standard stones. You arrange your own templating and fitting, which means a second contractor and the associated coordination. Only sensible if you're paying for supply-only deliberately (e.g. you have a separate preferred fitter).

Do not buy granite off eBay, Gumtree, or Facebook Marketplace. Cash deals with operators working "from the back of a van" and subcontracted fitting are where most of the horror-story outcomes come from. Dramatic quote escalation at templating ("we didn't factor in the cutouts / the edge profile / the sink") is the classic pattern.

How to choose a fabricator

Green flags:

• Owns its own workshop (go and visit)
• Owns or works with a nearby stoneyard where you can mark up slabs
• Handles templating-to-install in-house, not subcontracted
• Worktop Fabricators Federation (WFF) membership
• Verifiable Google or Checkatrade reviews going back 2+ years
• Itemised written quote with cutouts, edges, and upstands priced separately

Red flags:

• Works "from a van" with no physical premises
• Subcontracts fitting to fitters you can't meet in advance
• Dramatic quote escalation at templating stage
• No workshop visits offered
• Cash-only deals
• No written breakdown of cutouts and edge costs

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Alternatives

Granite sits within a cluster of worktop materials that all aim at the "premium kitchen surface" price point. Each has different trade-offs.

Quartz worktop £250–£600 per linear metre, installed is the closest alternative. Composed of 90-95% crushed quartz bonded with resin, it's engineered to be consistent across slabs (no natural variation), non-porous (no sealing needed), and more resistant to staining. The trade-off: it's less heat-tolerant than granite (keep the trivet handy for anything over 150°C), not UV-stable (not suitable for outdoor kitchens or strong direct sunlight), and every kitchen with the same quartz pattern looks identical. Choose quartz if low-maintenance and consistency matter more than uniqueness.

Sintered stone worktop £350–£700 per linear metre, installed (Dekton, Neolith, Lapitec) is compressed mineral dust sintered at very high temperature. More heat-resistant than granite or quartz, UV-stable (outdoor use), and non-porous. Harder than granite. The costs are higher and repair is more difficult when damaged. Choose sintered stone for outdoor kitchens or where maximum durability matters.

Solid surface worktop £300–£500 per linear metre, installed (Corian and similar) is an acrylic composite. Invisible joints, thermoformable into curves, repairable with sanding. Less heat-resistant, softer, scratches easily. Choose it for unusual shapes or integrated sinks.

Laminate worktop £80–£200 per linear metre is the budget alternative at 10% of the cost. Not comparable in appearance or durability, but fine for rental properties, utility rooms, or budget-constrained kitchens. Choose it to save money, not to compete with stone.

Solid wood worktop £150–£350 per linear metre is a completely different aesthetic: warm, natural, and requiring oiling every 6-12 months. Damaged by standing water near sinks. Choose it for country-style kitchens where the look justifies the maintenance.

When granite is the right choice

Choose granite when:

• You want a genuinely unique worktop (each slab is one-of-a-kind)
• You cook seriously and want high heat tolerance without resin concerns
• The natural stone aesthetic matters to you
• You're comfortable with an annual maintenance routine (sealing plus careful daily cleaning)

Avoid granite when:

• You want zero maintenance (quartz or sintered stone)
• You need a specific consistent colour across multiple kitchens (engineered stone)
• You cook with a lot of turmeric, beetroot, or red wine and have a toddler (granite stains, quartz doesn't)
• You're fitting the kitchen yourself and want to handle the worktop too (granite is not DIY)

Environmental considerations

Granite is a natural material with no synthetic chemicals and zero VOCs. Lifespan is measured in decades with basic care, and the stone can be repurposed at end of life (landscaping aggregate, construction fill). On a whole-lifecycle basis, a granite worktop that lasts 30 years compares well to a laminate worktop that's replaced every 10 years.

The counter-point: UK-sold granite is typically quarried in India, Brazil, or China, then shipped by sea to UK ports and trucked to regional fabricators. Transport and extraction emissions are significant. UK-quarried granite exists but is niche and limited in colour range (mostly grey Cornish and Scottish stones).

If environmental impact matters to you, ask your fabricator for the quarry origin of specific stones and prioritise shorter transport distances.

Common mistakes

Ordering granite before units are installed. The templator needs finished, levelled, immovable units to work against. Every fabricator has a story about turning up to template against "nearly finished" kitchens and having to reschedule. Don't book templating until the kitchen fitter has genuinely finished and is not coming back.

Choosing stone from photos or small samples. The swatch is 100mm x 100mm. The slab is 3m x 1.5m. The patterns, veining, and mineral distribution vary enormously across a full slab. The small sample cannot predict what your kitchen will look like. Always visit the stoneyard.

Not knowing the full cost at templating. Headline quotes ("£300 per linear metre supplied and fitted") exclude cutouts, edge profile upgrades, upstands, and sink-specific work. Insist on an itemised quote before committing. Expect the final price to be 20-40% above the headline figure once extras are added.

Using acidic cleaners in hard water areas. Kitchen limescale removers are the biggest cause of dulled granite finishes in English kitchens. The acid strips the sealer and leaves permanent marks. Buy a stone-specific cleaner and throw out the CIF and Harpic.

Specifying an undermount sink without a support frame. Heavy ceramic or composite sinks (30kg+ full) stress the granite at the cutout corners. Within a year, micro-cracks appear. The support frame costs £50-100 in timber and labour at units-fitting stage. Retrofitting a frame after the worktop cracks costs £2,000+ in replaced stone.

Assuming all granite needs sealing. Dark volcanic stones (Black Pearl, Nero Assoluto, Blue Pearl, Steel Grey) are dense enough that sealer does nothing. Applying sealer to these stones wastes money and can leave a slight haze on the surface. Confirm with your fabricator whether your specific stone needs sealing.

Where you'll need this

Granite worktop selection and installation slot into the second-fix and kitchen-design stages of any extension or renovation project. The decisions you make here set the quality ceiling of the whole kitchen and determine the final 10-15% of the kitchen budget.

• Sourcing units and worktops - where to buy the worktop, how fabricators differ, and how granite fits alongside unit sourcing decisions
• Kitchen installation - the sequencing dependency between kitchen fitting and worktop templating, and how to coordinate the two trades

Granite is one of the last material decisions in a kitchen project, but the preparation starts early. The stone needs choosing 4-6 weeks before templating (to allow slab selection, ordering, and lead time), which in practice means committing at kitchen design stage, not at second-fix. Pushing the decision late is the single biggest reason kitchen completion dates slip.