3 Production Sites in Guangdong, China · 10,000+ m² Slabs in Ready Stock · Factory-Direct Export
Porcelain slabs are made by pressing and firing natural minerals at high temperature, producing an ultra-dense surface that handles heat, UV and heavy use — indoors and out. The same material is also sold as sintered stone; porcelain slab is the name used in the US market. We supply the slabs, and we cut them into porcelain countertops, vanity tops, bar tops and table tops to your drawings, or ship them whole for cladding. Browse the current designs below and tell us the finish, thickness and quantity you need.
The standard large-format porcelain slab is 1600 × 3200 mm at 12 mm thick — 5.12 m² in one piece. Selected designs are also pressed at 6 mm for cladding and for surfaces where weight matters, and some are produced at 1600 × 2700 mm or 1600 × 2800 mm. Finish depends on the design: polished, matt, honed or semi-polished. Fabricators also call this format large format tile, XL porcelain slabs or simply large porcelain slabs; in the UK the finished pieces are sold as porcelain kitchen tops.
| Item | Metric | Imperial |
|---|---|---|
| Standard slab size | 1600 × 3200 mm | 63 × 126 in |
| Also produced | 1600 × 2700 mm, 1600 × 2800 mm | 63 × 106 in, 63 × 110 in |
| Area, standard slab | 5.12 m² | 55.1 ft² |
| Thickness | 12 mm standard; 6 mm on selected designs | 1/2 in; 1/4 in |
| Weight, 12 mm slab | About 147.5 kg (1600 × 3200 mm) | About 325 lb |
| Finishes | Polished, matt, honed or semi-polished, by design | |
| Designs in production | Dozens | |
| Minimum order | Stock slabs: one slab — ask us to check stock. Made to order: one container, up to five colours, thicknesses can be mixed. |
The 3200 mm length is what makes this material worth shipping. A 3000 mm island top comes out of one slab with no joint, a full-height wall panel runs floor to ceiling, and a 1600 mm width takes a double vanity across it. At 12 mm the slab is light enough to handle as a large panel and thick enough to mitre into a 40 mm apron where a heavier edge is wanted.
Porcelain is the one slab material on this site with no binder in it. Mineral powders are pressed and fired, so what you get is a fired ceramic body rather than stone held together with resin or cement. That single fact explains almost every performance difference below.
| Property | Result | What it means on site |
|---|---|---|
| Water absorption | Under 0.1 % | Nothing soaks in. No sealing, ever — not on installation and not annually. |
| Surface hardness | Mohs 5 | Everyday cutlery and dragged pans leave no marks; use a board for knife work. |
| Heat | Fired, no resin binder | A hot pan goes straight on the surface. There is no binder to discolour. |
| UV | Stable | Outdoor kitchens and façades hold their colour instead of fading. |
| Frost | Under 0.1 % absorption | No water in the body, so nothing to expand and crack in a freeze. |
| Food contact | Fully inert | The glaze is fired on and there is no resin, so nothing migrates into food. |
| Flexural strength | ||
| Abrasion resistance |
The first reason we suggest porcelain countertops is heat. Quartz is harder than most things in a kitchen but its binder is resin, so a pan straight off the hob goes on a trivet. A porcelain slab has been fired at high temperature already — there is nothing left in it to scorch. Add Mohs 5 and water absorption under 0.1 %, and a porcelain kitchen countertop needs no sealing, no trivets and no special cleaner.
The trade-off is fabrication, not performance. Porcelain is more brittle than quartz, so cut-outs need the right tooling and an inexperienced fabricator can chip an edge. If your fabricator has not worked porcelain before, have the cut-outs done at the factory and take the pieces finished — that is how we suggest ordering porcelain slab countertops.
A porcelain slab countertop from us comes at a competitive overall cost, and the variables are thickness, finish, how much of the pattern has to be matched across joints, and quantity. We quote per square metre against your drawings rather than from a price list, and reply within 24 hours. If you are weighing the two materials up, we set out the comparison in quartz vs porcelain countertops.
Four designs from current production. There are dozens in all, from marble looks to concrete, wood and linen textures.
The design decides where a porcelain slab does its best work as a countertop. Most of our porcelain designs are marble looks and many sit on a white ground, but the range also runs to dark stone, concrete, plain colours, wood and linen. Matched to the job:
The same material is sold under three names and the choice of name is mostly a matter of who is selling it. Porcelain slab is what the US countertop trade calls it. Sintered stone is the name used when the product is positioned as a surfacing material rather than a tile, and it is the term you will see on the European brands. Large-format porcelain tile is the tiling trade’s name for the same slab, usually when it is destined for a floor or a wall rather than a worktop.
There is no performance difference between them, because there is no product difference. What does differ between suppliers is the press tonnage and the firing cycle. Our porcelain is face-printed: the pattern is fired under a glaze and a cut edge shows the plain body, so plan any exposed edge with that in mind.
UV stability and near-zero absorption are what let this material go outside. An outdoor kitchen counter in porcelain holds its colour through a summer that would fade a resin-bound board, and because there is no water in the body there is nothing to freeze and crack it in winter. The same two properties make it a façade material: at 6 mm a ventilated cladding panel is light enough to hang.
Table tops are the other use we suggest it for. A sintered stone dining table gives a 3000 mm top in one piece with no joint, at a thickness that reads as stone once the edge is mitred. Reception counters and bar tops work the same way — a long run, one slab, and a surface that does not care what gets put on it.
Everything a first order needs to be planned against. Stock slabs start at a single slab. Made-to-order slabs start at one container, which can mix up to five colours and different thicknesses — standard for us rather than a favour.
| Term | What we do |
|---|---|
| Minimum order | Stock slabs: one slab — ask us to check stock. Made to order: one container, up to five colours, thicknesses can be mixed. |
| How we quote | Per Square Meter, by design, finish and thickness, FOB Shenzhen, at a competitive overall cost. CIF and DDP on request. |
| Lead time | Made to order, about 30 days. The press run has to be scheduled, so tell us early if the date on site is fixed. |
| Container loading | At 12 mm in a 20 ft container: 112 slabs of 1600 × 3200 mm, 128 of 1600 × 2800 mm or 133 of 1600 × 2700 mm. |
| Packing | Slabs stood in wooden A-frames, edges foam-wrapped and corner-protected, frames strapped and braced to the container walls. |
| Origin | Guangdong, China. Certificate of origin issued with every shipment. |
| Incoterms | FOB Shenzhen or Guangzhou as standard; CIF and DDP quoted on request. |
| Documents | Commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, certificate of origin, fumigation certificate for the timber packing. |
| Quotation | Send sizes, quantities and destination port. We reply within 24 hours. |
A printed pattern has to be judged in the material, because a photograph cannot show you how a face-printed slab reads on an edge. Send us the design numbers and we will post hand samples at 150 × 150 mm, one per design, up to six per request. For a shortlist we can photograph the actual slabs before they are cut.
We suggest having porcelain cut here. Fifteen edge profiles are done in-house, mitred aprons included, and undermount and drop-in basin openings, tap holes and hob cut-outs are polished on the exposed cut face. Porcelain is unforgiving of a rushed cut-out, which is why we would rather do it here than have a piece break on your bench. Send a DXF or a dimensioned drawing and we return a cutting plan against the actual slab before the saw starts.
Porcelain, also sold as sintered stone, wins on heat and sun; quartz wins on hardness and ease of fabrication. Porcelain is fired with no resin binder, so a hot pan goes straight on it, outdoor colour holds, and it absorbs under 0.1% water. Quartz rates Mohs 6 to 7 against Mohs 5 for porcelain and absorbs within 0.04%, but its resin can mark under a pan straight off the hob.
Sintered stone is a slab made by pressing mineral powders and firing them at high temperature, so what you get is a fired ceramic body rather than stone held together with resin or cement. It is the same product the US countertop trade calls a porcelain slab. We press and fire ours at our plant in Guangdong, at 1600 × 3200 mm and 12 mm thick as standard.
Yes, and that durability is what makes porcelain good for countertops. The fired body takes a hot pan, holds its colour in sun, absorbs under 0.1% water so stains stay on the surface, and needs no sealing, trivets or special cleaner. At Mohs 5 it is a little softer than quartz, and the weak point is the edge: an inexperienced fabricator can chip it, which is why we recommend ordering porcelain countertops from us already cut.
Both take a hot pan; the difference is upkeep and consistency. Granite is quarried stone at about Mohs 7 and is porous, so it is normally sealed when it is installed, and colour and pattern can range widely even within one named stone. Porcelain is fired with no resin binder, absorbs under 0.1% water so it never needs sealing, and holds its colour outdoors. Granite is harder; porcelain, at Mohs 5, needs careful cutting at the edges.
Direct from us: we press and fire porcelain slabs at our plant in Guangdong and sell them whole or cut. The 3200 mm length gives a shower wall panel that runs floor to ceiling, and selected designs are pressed at 6 mm where weight on the fixings matters. We also cut countertops and vanity tops to your drawings, with 15 edge profiles and basin openings polished on the cut face.
There is no product difference: sintered stone, porcelain slab and large-format porcelain tile are three names for the same pressed and fired material, and the name mostly reflects who is selling it. What differs between manufacturers is the press tonnage and the firing cycle. Our slabs carry the design printed on before firing, with a glazed face, so a straight cut exposes the body; where an edge is on show we mitre it, carrying the pattern round the corner.
Quartzite is quarried and porcelain is fired. Quartzite is sandstone fused by heat and pressure deep underground, an extra-tough stone that common acids do not etch; some quartzites are moderately porous, though, so those countertops are sealed, worked edges included, and resealed from time to time. Porcelain absorbs under 0.1% water and never needs sealing, and it takes heat and UV outdoors without fading.
Modern and minimal kitchens first: a white marble look on flat-panel or handleless cabinets, or a concrete look in an industrial or Scandinavian scheme, suits the thin, clean edge porcelain gives at 12 mm. Where a heavier look is wanted, we mitre the edge into a 40 mm apron. In a traditional shaker kitchen, a marble look in matt or honed keeps the top from reading too glossy against painted doors. We can supply the cabinets too.
12 mm is our standard, which covers countertops, floors and walls, and selected designs are also pressed at 6 mm for cladding and surfaces where weight matters. Most designs are 1600 × 3200 mm, with some at 1600 × 2700 or 1600 × 2800 mm. A 20 ft container takes 112 slabs of 1600 × 3200 × 12 mm, each weighing 147.5 kg net, or 133 slabs at 2700 mm long.
One slab is enough for designs we hold in stock, so check stock with us first, and a 3000 mm island top comes out of one slab with no joint. A porcelain design we fire to order needs a one-container minimum, which up to five colours can share, and takes about 30 days. Finished porcelain countertops and vanity tops have no minimum, but freight on small lots is high.
Slab sizes, thickness and finishes are set out in the table above. For a design that is not on this page, send the reference and we will tell you whether it is in current production.
Tell us your sizes, thickness, finish, quantity and destination port. We reply within 24 hours with availability, lead time and pricing. We mainly supply fabricators, distributors and contractors; for a personal project, contact us first to check it fits.
Stock availability, factory pricing, lead time and container loading advice, straight from our export team.
Samples are free. For serious buyers, we can also cover the courier cost, subject to G-Stone’s approval. Tell us where to send it — we reply within 24 hours.
Calacatta GoldGSA163212G52
Hairline grey veinGSA162712G231
Black with gold linesGSC163212G29
Linen textureGSA163212N95