Kitchen benchtops
Islands, waterfall ends, breakfast bars and full-height splashbacks. Laser templated to your cabinetry, so the fit is right the first time.
Stone benchtops, cut in Melbourne’s west
Family-run stonemasons in Sunshine North. We fabricate and install granite, marble, quartzite and porcelain benchtops for kitchens, bathrooms and outdoor areas — measured, mitred and finished in our own workshop.
Established 2009 · ABN 24 135 976 279 · Free measure, no obligation
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20 yrs
Experience
in the trade -
CNC
Precision
cutting -
Free
Quote
& measure -
Warranty
On our
workmanship
What we make
If it’s stone and it goes in a home, we’ve cut it
Here's what we're asked for most. Everything is templated on site, fabricated in our Sunshine North workshop and installed by our own team.
Bathroom vanities
Vanity tops, shower niches, bath surrounds and shelving, cut to match your benchtop or stand on their own.
Splashbacks
Full-height or kickback, cut from the same slab as your bench so the veining runs straight through.
Outdoor & alfresco
UV-stable porcelain and granite for BBQ areas and outdoor kitchens — the colour stays put through a Melbourne summer.
Benchtop replacement
New stone on your existing cabinets. We take the old top away — including engineered stone — and handle it safely.
Repairs & restoration
Chips, cracks, dull surfaces, new cut-outs and re-sealing. Sometimes you don't need a new benchtop at all.
We also cut stair treads, fireplace surrounds, wall cladding, window sills, table tops and commercial counters. If you're not sure whether we do it, ask — the answer is usually yes.
Our work
Stone we’ve cut, kitchens we’ve finished
Every slab is different, so every kitchen is. These are benchtops, islands and splashbacks we have fabricated and installed.
Why us
Why people keep calling us back
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Since 2009
Seventeen years cutting stone in Melbourne’s west — and still at the same address in Sunshine North.
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You choose your own slab
No surprises on install day. You’ve already stood in front of the stone that’s going into your kitchen.
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Millimetre accurate
Laser templating means no packing, no gaps and no “she’ll be right” against a wall that isn’t square.
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In and out in a day
Most kitchens are templated, delivered and installed without you losing a week of your life.
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Wet-cut, dust-controlled
Better for our team, and it means builders can specify us without a second thought.
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A straight answer
A written price that doesn’t move, and someone who picks up the phone when you call.
Choosing your stone
There’s no best stone — there’s the right one for how you cook
Four surfaces, four different trade-offs. Here's the honest version, including where each one will let you down.
Granite
Best for busy kitchens
The workhorse. Shrugs off heat, resists scratching, comes in everything from near-black to speckled cream. Needs sealing every year or two — that's it.
Marble
Best when looks come first
Nothing looks like marble, and nothing pretends to. It's soft, and lemon juice or red wine will mark it. Plenty of people take that trade — marble ages into a patina rather than staying showroom-new.
Quartzite
Best of both worlds
Natural stone with marble's veining and granite's toughness. The most popular premium choice in Melbourne right now, and what we'd put in our own kitchens.
Porcelain
Best for low maintenance
Fired, not glued. Non-porous, heat-proof, UV-stable and it never needs sealing. Slabs run to 3200 × 1600mm, so a full-height splashback can have no join at all.
| Granite | Marble | Quartzite | Porcelain | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scratch resistance | ★★★★ | ★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| Heat resistance | ★★★★★ | ★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| Stain resistance | ★★★ | ★★ | ★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| Needs sealing | Yes | Yes, often | Yes | Never |
| Outdoor / UV stable | ★★★★ | ★★ | ★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| One of a kind | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★ |
| Typical price | $$ | $$$ | $$$$ | $$$ |
Australian law · 1 July 2024
Engineered stone was banned in Australia
If you've been quoted Caesarstone, quartz or any other engineered stone recently, that quote is out of date. Manufacturing, supplying, cutting and installing engineered stone benchtops has been illegal Australia-wide since July 2024, because of the silicosis risk to the people who cut it.
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What’s banned
Engineered stone benchtops, slabs and panels — quartz-and-resin products of every brand, no exceptions for offcuts or remnants.
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What’s still legal
All natural stone — granite, marble, quartzite, limestone — plus porcelain and sintered stone. That’s exactly what we work with.
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The benchtop already in your kitchen
It’s fine. The danger is in cutting stone, not living with it. But when it’s time to replace it, the old top has to come out under controlled conditions — wet-cut, extracted and bagged. That’s work we’re set up for.
The details
What separates a good benchtop from a great one
Anyone can cut a rectangle. These are the three things we get asked about most, and the three that go wrong most often when they're rushed.
01
Mitred waterfall islands
A waterfall end is two pieces of stone cut at 45 degrees and joined so the veining runs unbroken over the edge and down to the floor. Get it a millimetre wrong and you see the join forever. We've been getting it right since 2009.
02
Bookmatched slabs
Two consecutive slabs cut from the same block, opened like a book so the veining mirrors across the join. It only works if the slabs are selected and set out properly — which is why we walk the stone yard with you rather than handing you a sample chip.
03
Full-height splashbacks
Instead of tiles, one continuous piece of stone from bench to overhead cupboards, cut from the same slab as your benchtop. Fewer joins, nothing to grout, and the veining carries straight up the wall.
Edge profiles
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Pencil round -
Bullnose -
Bevel -
Square -
Shark nose -
40mm mitred
Not sure which edge suits your kitchen? We'll bring samples to your measure and you can hold them against your cabinetry.
How it works
Six steps, about two to three weeks
From your first call to a finished kitchen. You'll know who's coming and when, at every stage.
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Free quote
Send us your kitchen plan or rough measurements. You’ll get a written price, usually within one business day.
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Choose your slab
With natural stone you’re choosing your actual slab, not a sample chip. We’ll walk the stone yard with you.
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Digital templating
Once your cabinetry is installed, we laser-template on site so the fit is exact — no packing, no gaps.
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Fabrication
Cut, mitred, polished and finished in our Sunshine North workshop. Every cut is made wet, with dust extraction.
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Installation
Most kitchens go in inside a day. We place joins where you won’t notice them — beside a cut-out or at an internal corner.
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Aftercare
We seal, clean down and show you how to look after it. Then we’re a phone call away.
What it costs
No games with the price
Most kitchens we install land in the range below, supplied and installed. Where you sit in it comes down to five things.
- The stone. A standard granite and a premium quartzite can be double the difference.
- How much of it. A typical kitchen uses 4–6m²; add an island and returns and it climbs.
- Thickness and edge. A 20mm pencil edge is the baseline; a 40mm mitred edge costs more to make.
- Cut-outs and features. Undermount sinks, drainer grooves and waterfall ends all add labour.
- Access. Ground floor with a clear run is straightforward; a second-storey apartment isn’t.
Typical kitchen
$4,000 – $9,000 Supplied & installed, 4–6m². Larger kitchens in premium stone sit above this.Send us your plan and we'll price it properly. No obligation, and no follow-up calls you didn't ask for.
Trade
For builders, cabinet makers and kitchen companies
We've supplied Melbourne's trade since 2009. If you're tendering, we can price from plans.
- Cut-to-size, or full supply and install
- Lead times we actually hold to
- Documented silica compliance you can hand to your client
- Controlled removal and disposal of legacy engineered stone
- Trade pricing on repeat work and multi-unit projects
Since 2009
A workshop, not a call centre
ML Marble & Granite has been registered and cutting stone in Melbourne's west since March 2009. Same trade, same suburb, same people you'll meet when you come in to look at slabs.
Sunshine North is where Melbourne's stone industry lives, and we've spent seventeen years earning work in the middle of it — mostly through builders who come back, and homeowners who send us their neighbours.
- Registered 20 March 2009
- Entity ML Marble Granite Pty Ltd
- ABN 24 135 976 279
- Workshop 4 Ayton St, Sunshine North
- Trade Natural stone & porcelain
- Service area Melbourne & regional VIC
Questions
The things people ask before they call
Can I still get an engineered stone or Caesarstone benchtop?
No. Engineered stone benchtops, slabs and panels have been banned across Australia since 1 July 2024, because of the silicosis risk to the workers who cut them. Any quote offering engineered stone today is either out of date or illegal. We work with natural stone — granite, marble and quartzite — and porcelain, all of which are unaffected by the ban.
Do I have to remove the engineered stone benchtop I already have?
No. The hazard is in cutting and polishing stone, not in living with it. An installed benchtop is safe to use. When you do decide to replace it, the old top has to come out under controlled conditions — wet-cut where cutting is needed, with dust extraction and respiratory protection. That's work we're set up for.
How much does a stone benchtop cost?
Most kitchens we install land between $4,000 and $9,000 supplied and installed. The biggest factors are the stone you choose, how many square metres you need, the edge thickness, and the number of cut-outs. Send us your plan and we'll give you a firm written price.
How long does the whole thing take?
Usually two to three weeks from the day you approve the quote. We template once your cabinetry is in, fabricate over the following week to ten days, then install — most kitchens go in inside a single day.
Do I get to choose the actual slab?
Yes, and with natural stone you should. Every slab is different, so a 100mm sample tells you very little. We'll take you through the stone yard and mark up the slabs that are going into your kitchen.
Do stone benchtops need sealing?
Natural stone does — granite roughly every one to two years, marble more often. We seal before we leave and show you how to do it yourself, which takes about ten minutes. Porcelain and sintered stone never need sealing.
Can you replace my benchtop without pulling out the whole kitchen?
In most cases yes. If your cabinets are sound and the layout isn't changing, we remove the old top, template, and fit new stone to the existing carcasses. It's a fraction of the cost of a full renovation.
Will I see the joins?
On a small kitchen, often not at all. On larger runs and islands there'll be a join, and we place it where you're least likely to look — beside a cooktop cut-out or at an internal corner — and match the veining across it. With porcelain slabs up to 3200mm long, many splashbacks and islands need no join at all.
Do you work with builders and cabinet makers?
Yes — trade work has been a big part of what we do since 2009. Cut-to-size or full supply and install, pricing from plans, lead times we hold to, and compliance documentation for your files.
What areas do you cover?
We're in Sunshine North and we install across Melbourne, with most of our work in the western and north-western suburbs — Sunshine, St Albans, Deer Park, Caroline Springs, Keilor, Footscray, Werribee, Point Cook, Tarneit, Melton, Essendon and Craigieburn. Outside that, ask us.
Get a quote
Tell us about your kitchen
Send through your plans, a photo of the space or just rough measurements. We'll come back with a written quote — usually the next business day.
or call 0431 221 699