For more than a decade, the kitchen countertop sector has been strongly characterised by the wide range of industrial products which, thanks to the technological evolution of the ceramic sector, have reached considerable sizes in formats with thin thicknesses in the order of 12 mm and a remarkably wide range of colours.

A niche market, on the other hand, is represented by natural stone, which, it should be remembered, before the advent of ceramic products had always been the material par excellence for this type of application as it had succeeded in impressing the belief that it was a robust material that could be worked according to one's needs in terms of size and customised according to one's aesthetic tastes.

However, renewed stylistic demands in the field of interior design, and probably also the misconception that natural stone is delicate and therefore no longer suitable for use in kitchen and bathroom tops, have led to a reversal in sales, confining the choice of natural products to certain specific settings.

Convictions that are partially erroneous in that there are natural materials that, due to their own petrographic characteristics, have a very low level of porosity and negligible sensitivity to acids. Therefore, the choice among a very wide range of natural materials should be directed towards those products that offer the best performance in relation to the type of application. In addition, natural materials that enjoy these certain petrographic characteristics usually also possess excellent mechanical strength, which allows the realisation of large elements with relatively thin thicknesses in the order of 2 cm.

An important consideration should be made from a purely aesthetic point of view where, in contrast to the ceramic industry, which has developed a refined technique of photo-reproduction of natural products, there are far-sighted entrepreneurs in the Italian stone industry who have initiated an important process of enhancing the value of their natural material by relying on internationally renowned architects, designers and kitchen manufacturers.

Among these companies is Porfido Pedretti srl, an Italian company now in its third generation, the exclusive owner of the Porfido Vallecamonica, Porfido GialloGiotto and Porfido Grigioverde quarries located between Lombardy and Trentino Alto Adige.

From a petrographic point of view, porphyry is an igneous rock of volcanic origin consisting mainly of quartz and feldspars with a non-uniform microcrystalline or glassy grain structure that gives it a high compressive strength, resistance to chemicals and durability, making it suitable for a variety of construction applications.

Porfido Pedretti srl's winning idea was to extend the concept of porphyry not only as a building material for paving, cladding and window sills, but to make it a protagonist also in the field of furnishing accessories with particular attention to the kitchen environment where the creativity of the designers involved, together with the remarkable mechanical characteristics and aesthetic peculiarities of porphyry, gave life to projects of absolute refinement and functionality.

In addition to Porfido Pedretti srl, other Italian companies have already launched projects to enhance the stone material with interesting applications in the interior design sector, suggesting that in the medium to long term, natural stone could once again become the undisputed protagonist in the field of furnishing.

The photo shows the 'Anima' kitchen designed by Alberto Minotti of Minotti cucine by Asso group and the 'Genius loci' kitchen designed by Gabriele Centazzo for Valcucine, both made with material from Porfido Pedretti srl.