Commercial Restroom Reflections: The Quality Quartz Sinks Can Provide

Specifying an elegant sink for the commercial restroom can set the tone for the entire restroom’s aesthetic and the user experience. Yet, it can be challenging to find that quality at a reasonable price. Sloan’s SloanStone® Quartz sink decks offer the perfect blend of beauty, durability, and cost-effectiveness, outperforming competitive surfaces with an industry-leading minimum of 85% quartz in each color option.

Morgan Kish, Sloan’s Senior Product Line Manager for sinks, faucets, soap dispensers, and showerheads, along with Emerson Vogel, Sloan’s Product Management Specialist, discuss this innovation, as well as general commercial sink trends as we begin 2024.

What was the catalyst for developing the new SloanStone Quartz Molded Sinks?

Emerson Vogel: A big factor was a boost in customer demand, for a lower priced, high-quality molded sink that is resistant to chipping, staining, and scratching. The new SloanStone Quartz Molded Sink is much more resistant in comparison to what is on the market today

Morgan Kish: Additionally, when you look at Sloan’s product line as a whole, we’ve offered our molded solid surface sinks for over 10 years at this point. And we also have a wide range of custom fabricated solid surface and quartz offerings. But if a customer doesn’t need that level of customization, or if their budget doesn’t allow for it, we have molded solid surface sinks, and people have loved them.

As the demand for fabricated quartz has grown, we’re frequently hearing from customers telling us that they love quartz and the high-end aesthetic that comes along with it, but don’t necessarily need all of the customization that fabricated sinks offer. And just like Emerson mentioned, there are also performance differences between quartz and solid surface materials. That’s why we wanted to add a molded quartz to our offering, just like our molded solid surface. With our SloanStone Quartz Molded Sink, we expanded our traditional SloanStone category to include both materials just like our fabricated line already offers.

Specifically, what is molded quartz, and what are its advantages when it comes to aesthetics, warranty, and more over traditional molded or competitive molded designs?

EV: SloanStone Quartz being 85% quartz is a primary differentiator, as well as that it performs closer to a fabricated quartz than a molded solid surface. Aesthetically, veining is very difficult to achieve with a molded sink, regardless of whether it’s solid surface or quartz. With this new  sink material, we are able to achieve a beautiful veining color option. This is a feature that is in  demand with architects and designers. The combination of being able to offer that, as well as the industry-leading quartz-per-deck percentage is a huge bonus.

Additionally, Sloan keeps these molded sinks in inventory, which helps facilitate a faster turnaround time from order to shipment. In terms of longevity, Sloan is proud to offer a 10-year warranty on the material itself. Also, SloanStone Quartz sink decks have earned the GREENGUARD Gold certification to promote healthier indoor environments.

How important was it to provide customers with an aesthetically pleasing product while being mindful of costs?

EV: That was a very important factor, and a crucial element through the product’s development. There are a lot of features that can be added to a fabricated sink, and the fact that each are manufactured, by hand, for each order, fabricated sinks still have a higher price point. However, molded sinks can still have the desired aesthetics with a more competitive price point while also being incredibly beautiful. We want to ensure that customers can find something that suits every project within our sink offering, regardless of their budget. 

MK: When people consider quartz as a specification option, it’s because of the high-end aesthetic. That’s why we knew incorporating a visual element was a critical factor when creating a molded quartz product. When you look at other molded quartz on the market, you’ll find that manufacturers use a smaller percentage of the naturally occurring material in that mixture. You will then see in their molding process that chunks of the material will float to the bottom of the mold, which will be the top of the sink deck when it’s demolded. So, when you look at the finished sink, you see a lot of these chunks near the top, and then as you look lower, you see less and less, which creates a faded look.

It was critically important for us to make sure that we found the right mixture by using a proprietary molding process to avoid that fading and ensure a high-end aesthetic within the molded design. We’re proud to offer three color options to start and hope to expand in the future, but since we’re incorporating a tight quality control process around what we’re adding to the offering, we’re not going to offer a color that we think is below our aesthetic requirements for our SloanStone molded quartz product.

With the restroom often being the second-most visited space in commercial buildings, are aesthetics more important than ever?

EV: Yes, and I think we can all agree that over the past few years there’s been a microscope over the restroom. While aesthetics are still important, it’s also the cleanliness, quality and longevity of these sinks that matter today as well. Whether it’s a high-traffic or more lightly used restroom, when someone visits a building’s commercial restroom, it contributes to their overall impression of the building. With this in mind, it’s crucial to have an elegant sink that doesn’t look like it has had years of wear and tear. Cleanability is also easier with SloanStone quartz molded sinks due to the design’s softened edges with no seams. At Sloan, this is something we’re proud to offer for any environment.

Is this also important when designing for stain, scratch, abrasion, and impact resistance?

MK: This is very important, and this is why we take a lot of time when talking to customers about material choice in terms of how their restrooms are going to be used. What’s interesting—and maybe even a little counterintuitive—is that we recommend solid surface materials as the choice for high vandalism locations. Even though a molded or fabricated quartz will be much more resistant to scratching, staining, and chipping, they are harder to repair. So, if you are certain that the people using your facility are going to damage the product, we want you to choose something that’s repairable and maintains its look over time. Is vandalism is a concern and not a guarantee at your facility, the molded quartz has more repairability than fabricated quartz designs. This provides a nice option if you love the look of quartz but are concerned about potential vandalism.

Sloan’s new sinks feature an industry-leading minimum of 85% quartz in each color option. How were you able to achieve that?

MK: This pertains to my earlier comment regarding how the material sinks to the top of the sink top during the molding process. At Sloan, we wanted to use more naturally occurring material and less resin to achieve our desired aesthetic. And when it comes to performance, the less resin in the sink, the stronger the material. That’s why our molded quartz performs much closer to a fabricated quartz than competitive options on the market. In comparison, most of our competitors have about 60-70% quartz in their molded quartz product.

With that smaller percentage, competitor’s products performs a lot closer to a solid surface product, and we really wanted to set our solid surface and our molded quartz apart. By including that additional quartz content, we were able to get the look and performance that we wanted, and also give customers differentiation between material options.

What other certifications have SloanStone Quartz sinks achieved?

MK: All of our SloanStone molded quartz sinks and SloanStone molded solid surface sinks are IAPMO-certified. IAPMO tests more than just the material itself. They also conduct load tests, which are extremely important for commercial environments because we know people will sit or lean on the sinks, for example, during cleaning. It is not uncommon that there will be a situation where someone will be putting a large amount of weight on the sink.

The IAPMO test certifies that 300 pounds be set onto a single sink station with basically zero deflection, as long as it’s properly installed. We add on an additional 150 pounds per station. Thus, the sinks can withstand the requirements of commercial applications. 

The other aspect IAPMO certifies is the drain function. This helps ensure that if the faucet runs for a specific period of time, that the drain does not clog or overflow over the sink. 

From a compliance standpoint, there are so many different plumbing codes depending on the region, so it’s important to keep a close eye on all that is happening worldwide from a regulatory standpoint. We make sure we take care of all of this for our customers so we can proactively tell them whether a design meets compliance for their area.

What sink trends do you forecast for the year ahead? Were SloanStone Quartz Molded Sinks designed with those in mind? 

EV: We continually hear requests for high-quality sinks at a lower price point, which is a key benefit that our SloanStone Quartz Molded Sinks offer. Another thing I hear often is how important a product’s serviceability is to the maintenance team of large facilities. How is their facilities team able to get under the sink? How are they able to change out soap bottles? These are all key considerations for facility maintenance teams. We offer our standard stainless enclosure or angle bracket options for these sinks, along with our extensive line of faucets and soap dispensers, all of which make maintenance and serviceability simple and straightforward.

MK: We’re seeing a lot of customers focusing on the longevity of the product they specify. They want to ensure that the product they select is going to last for many years, so that it not only looks good on day one, but also five to 10 years down the line. That was one of the key drivers when moving forward with molded quartz and why I think we’re continuing to see success with our full sink line. We provide customers with the reassurance that the product they choose is going to last.