Dekton Outdoor Kitchen: Durability, Thickness, Colours

Sintered stone is made from mineral powders — over twenty natural minerals in the case of Dekton — pressed and fired until they fuse into a slab with no pores and no resin. With no pores, water cannot get in, so frost has nothing to expand; with no resin, the sun has nothing to yellow, unlike composite quartz, which stays indoors for precisely that reason.

So when an outdoor kitchen needs a worktop that works every day without being looked after, Dekton is the first answer we give, alongside granite and quartzite.

• Heat. A pan straight from the hob or a tray from the oven goes directly onto the surface: Dekton neither marks nor discolours.
• Frost. Because it absorbs no water, the slab passes through freeze-thaw cycles without flaking. The worktop needs no winter cover.
• Sun. Colours are stable under ultraviolet light; the paler tones also stay far cooler than black ones in August sun.
• Stains. Wine, lemon, oil, tomato, charcoal: they sit on the surface and wipe away with a cloth. No sealer to renew.
• Scratches and knocks. A knife will not score it. The sharp edge is the one place that fears a hard blow, which is why we design it with a small bevel.

One limit should be stated plainly: Dekton withstands heat, not live flame. The chamber of the barbecue and the wood-fired oven stays in refractory stone, with the air gap the appliance maker prescribes around the cut-out.

Dekton slabs reach the workshop in a large format, 3.2 metres long by 1.44 metres wide: the run of an outdoor kitchen is often cut from a single slab, with no joints where water can settle. The thicknesses we use outdoors are 12 and 20 mm, against 20 or 30 mm for natural stone.

The lighter weight matters on a terrace: at 12 mm the worktop weighs roughly half as much as a 20 mm granite slab and sits on a light frame without putting any strain on the floor slab. For a deep island front, a mitred 45-degree edge joins top and side flush like solid stone. Beneath the overhang we cut a drip groove and the worktop is given the slightest fall outwards.

Among the twenty-six Dekton surfaces we work, outdoors we suggest above all the solid tones and the greys: Nayla and Halo for a pure white that does not get hot in the sun, Kreta and Korso for mineral grey, Galema for earth. Those who want veining will find it in Natura 18C2, in Kelya, a black crossed by threads of light, and in Laos, an anthracite marked with pale veins; Khalo recalls granite, Makai sea-bleached timber. The colour is chosen in person, in the showroom or from a sample sent to your home: against the green of a garden, a white looks quite different.

A Dekton worktop sits on one of two families of structure.

• Refractory stone. This is the structure of kitchens built in place, in the garden: refractory stone blocks that house the wood-fired barbecue, the arched-mouth oven and the log stores, clad in stone or left exposed. Dekton covers the working and serving surfaces; the refractory stone stays wherever there is fire.
• Stainless steel. This is the structure for terraces and poolsides: a light frame, drawers and doors in steel or treated timber, a built-in gas barbecue (we work with BeefEater, Bull, Cabinex and the Fogher modules). Near the sea the steel is marine-grade 316, which withstands salt air better than 304. It is the scheme of our Tech Kitchen, graphite Dekton and timber slats, and of the Outdoor Kitchen Block Pro.

In both cases the worktop arrives on site already cut out for sink, barbecue and hobs, with the corners of each opening radiused.

Granite remains the choice for those who want real stone and a solid island; quartzite for those who want the veining of marble in a natural stone; Dekton for those who want to forget the worktop altogether.

Water and a neutral detergent, a microfibre cloth; for barbecue grease, an ordinary degreaser. No waxes, no impregnating sealers, no seasonal treatments. The things to avoid are hydrofluoric acid and metal or abrasive scouring pads, on any finish; on polished finishes, acid or alkaline detergents as well. In winter the water system is drained and the barbecue covered: the worktop asks for nothing.

We have worked marble and technical stone in our Aprilia workshop, on the Via Pontina between Rome and Latina, since 1976. In Rome, Latina and throughout Lazio the site survey and quotation are free; elsewhere in Italy and abroad we guide you through remote measuring. We select each Dekton slab individually, then draw the kitchen in 3D with the architect in our technical office, so you see it in your own garden before anything is cut. Cutting and cut-outs are done by computer-controlled machinery, edges and bevels are finished by hand, and installation is by our own team. We deliver and install abroad as well, as for our Dubai project.

This page is a chapter of our guide to outdoor kitchens in marble and stone, with every model and layout. The Dekton page describes the colours one by one; Laminam is the other sintered slab we work. The comparison with marble and quartz is in the guide which kitchen worktop to choose, and the stone for the open air in outdoor kitchen: which stone to choose. For fire, see refractory stone barbecues; for the pool edge, stone-clad pools and travertine. For a quotation, write to us here.