The last two years have seen considerable difficulties affecting the supply of Kashmir White and other related stones from Tamil Nadu, South India. Illegal quarrying activity has become rampant in the region, resulting in the loss of large areas of agricultural land, some of it common land, which should have been available for the use of the poorest people who have livestock to graze. The national government has closed a number of illegal quarries, and there is now an understandable demand for the land to be revived and brought back to agricultural usefulness.
We have never knowingly bought granite from illegal quarries, and have every sympathy with the poor and dispossessed in this situation, but the effect of the closures has had a knock-on effect on the availability and pricing of Kashmir White and other stones from all quarries, both illegal and totally above board. We have had no significant stock of Kashmir White for over a year and, in common with other kitchen worktop companies, have been looking around for good alternatives.
All this has happened (inevitable, isn’t it?!) just at a time when lighter coloured worktops have been particularly popular. Fortunately we have been able to source some stunning River White granite, and, more recently, Colonial White. Both these colours are perfect to complement the current soft grey and green kitchen units, and we actually prefer them to the Kashmir White they are replacing.
At the same time, the range of engineered stones available in white has increased. We now stock four different whites in quartz: Cimstone Arcadia is an economical, granular quartz, and similar to Luna by Compac. Quantra Macadamia is a warm, pure white, and is a good rival to Compac Absolut Blanc, Silestone Blanco Zeus Extreme and Samsung Radianz Diamond White. Quantra Polar is a granular white with a subtle mirror sparkle, like Silestone Blanco Stellar, Arenastone Bianco Stelline, Cimstone Lapland and Compac Lactea. Finally, Blanco Massa is a white with a gentle marbling, and can be considered as an alternative to Caesarstone’s Misty Carrara, Frosty Carrina and London Grey, and Silestone’s Lyra and Lagoon.
In addition to the above, we also stock Silestone’s Blanco City -a granular off white, with quite a creamy tone, which definitely falls into the “light coloured worktop” category.
In short, as a result of the Kashmir White problem, we now carry a wider range of white stones for kitchen worktops than ever before. We are proud to give our customers an unprecedented range of choice – and all at an affordable price.
