Lumina Quartz is new to us here at Affordable Granite. Imported into the UK by our regular suppliers Granite Granite of Basildon, Essex, Lumina is good value, good to machine and good in use. Lumina Astral White is their take on the small-grain, subtly-sparkly look, and we like it. It is a little lighter than our regular Classic Quartz Ice Branco and we have found that some customers prefer it.

Lumina Astral White alongside Classic Quartz Ice Branco – our regular small-grain white sparkly quartz. The customer saw both and chose the Lumina

Mrs R of Crowborough chose the Lumina Astral White to top off her new high-gloss light grey kitchen units. White on grey is a very popular combination at the moment, and it is easy to see why. Bright, clean, stylish and practical, a white and grey kitchen can be dressed with coordinated accessories in any colour you like.

In this kitchen, the most striking feature, looking stunning over the white worktop, is the brightly coloured glass splashback. This is so colourful that it certainly doesn’t restrict the choice of accessories, and brings life and flair to the whole room. Mrs R is so pleased she sent us these photos – all of the images of the kitchen and utility room are her work.

The kitchen is a sleek handleless slab door design. To ease access into the “handles” at the top of the doors, the quartz worktops have a sharknose profile on all exposed edges. This emphasises the clean lines, with the 20mm worktops appearing even thinner. The slightly granular sparkly white of the Lumina Astral White quartz is bright but also liveable-with, having just enough pattern to not show every single speck.

The edge is not our regular rounded sharknose. Mrs R opted for a non-standard square front, to give a harder look which she felt coordinated well with the slab doors.

A U-shape kitchen with a slightly-wider than standard peninsula separating the kitchen from the dining area. The large rectangular stainless steel sink and modern tap dominate the run across the kitchen beneath the window and an induction hob completes the set-up before the U ends with the oven-tower.

The sink wall has lower than standard (approx 60mm) upstand for much of its length with an extra high upstand (approx 200mm) beneath the windowsill, which is also made in quartz.

There is no doubt that it is the glass splashback which draws most attention in this kitchen! We worked with our friends at Southern Counties Glass on this job. Mrs R chose an Ashley Philips design, Surging Wave from the Southern Counties Glass Ashley Phillips Brouchure. We worked together to coordinate quartz and glass templating and fitting – not easy as the two processes are quite different. But the job is done and the customer is delighted.

The quartz worktop installation did not end with the kitchen. The utility room also has a short run with a small sink for hand washing clothes.  There is a glass splashback here too, but in a single colour – Heather – in simple toughened glass. The worktop dispenses with the sharknose edge, as most of the run is over the washing appliances anyway. I believe that the splashback ends before the pipework as the intention is to box it in.

This kind of major kitchen and utility room project is bread and butter to us. We enjoy working with the glass guys at Southern Counties too, and are delighted with the kind of impact that coloured glass offers when teamed with plain worktops. Mrs R really has her dream kitchen: you can too. Feel free to phone 01293 863992 for a chat, or send your plans and diagrams through our quotation form or via sales@affordablegranite.co.uk