BARBECUE TIME: GARDEN WORKTOPS

Final day of May – and a cool drizzle falls on beautiful Surrey. It was ever thus! The British Spring and Summer deliver mixed messages as ever. But warm days and balmy days will come – and with them the scent of a thousand barbecues. 

The British have never been more into outdoor living than we are now. The combination of seeing how others do it on holidays abroad, and actual climate change making for some warmer summers have lured us outside. The fact that we have moved away from the economy burgers and bangers of the past has helped too – these days there is more likely to be some proper meat on the grill and some better bottles around the place.

The heart of the barbecue is the grill itself, of course. The offering of grills and ovens has diversified vastly since the days of the simple home-made set-ups most of us grew up with. Big Green Eggs and Kamado Joes sit alongside more traditional barbecues and pizza ovens. A revolution has taken place, under our noses!

Outdoor living requires the same facilities as indoor, if you start to get into it. Cleaning barbecue grills and utensils requires tap and sink. And once you think about a sink, you need to mount it – and that generally means a worktop.

Granite is a superb material for outdoor kitchen use. Let’s face it, the rocks from which the mountains are made really ought to be able to stand up to a bit of wear and tear in a Surrey or Sussex garden!

We recommend the true-volcanic stones in our stock range, and especially the darker materials with some level of crystalline fleck or pattern. These are not only tough, but forgiving when it comes to oil spatter, finger marks, pollen dust or all the other mess that gardens can throw at them. Our favourites are Black Pearl and Steel Grey. 

A Steel Grey table with fire pit in Horsham, West Sussex

Other stones are available, of course. But in our view, real marble isn’t appropriate for outdoor kitchens. And, of the few quartz materials with ultra-violet resistance that have been produced for barbecue use, none have seemed as satisfactory as real granite. But light colours can be found, if you really need them!

If the lure of the barbecue is catching your imagination for this summer, now’s the time to choose your grill and sort out some worktops. We are here to help – with advice, quotes, and, of course, full stone worktop installations.