Quartz, granite, or porcelain: what a Canadian countertop really costs

Counter quotes in Canada are almost always a price per square foot of counter, installed. That one number hides most of the job. The slab is only part of it. The rest is templating, cutting, edging, seaming, delivery, and two or three people carrying a heavy, fragile piece up your front steps.

The figures below are published 2026 ranges from Ontario fabricators and a national retailer, in Canadian dollars, before HST. They are planning ranges, not a quote. A fabricator who has measured your cabinets will give you a better number than any article.

Installed price per square foot

• Quartz: $50 to $200+ installed across Ontario, with entry-level about $50 to $85, mid-range $80 to $140, and premium $120 to $200+ (Natural Stone City). Ottawa and eastern Ontario are quoted at $75 to $140 for mid-range to premium, a little under Toronto
• Quartz in Toronto: $45 to $180 installed, with most of one fabricator's direct-sourced jobs at $45 to $95 (Stone Wizards)
• Granite: $60 to $180 installed in Ontario, more for exotic slabs (Natural Stone City). A Toronto fabricator puts quartz and granite in a similar range for most projects
• Porcelain and sintered stone: $75 to $150+ installed in Canada, with basic 12 mm slabs starting near $75 to $90 (Natural Stone City). Dekton in Toronto is quoted at $140 to $200 (Stone Wizards)

What "installed" usually includes, and what it does not

A typical Toronto installed price covers the slab, CNC fabrication to your template, a standard eased or polished edge, one undermount sink cutout, delivery, installation, and seaming. Removing the old counters, disconnecting and reconnecting the plumbing, the backsplash, fancier edges, and extra cutouts are usually priced on top. Ask each fabricator to list what their square-foot number covers. A lower rate that leaves out the sink cutout and delivery is not cheaper.

Porcelain and sintered slabs move more of the bill into fabrication. One Ontario supplier puts fabrication and installation at roughly 50 to 60 percent of a sintered stone job, because the material is hard and dense and needs different blades, slower cutting, and careful handling.

Cutouts, edges, and seams

• Cooktop cutout: $125 to $150 each at Home Depot Canada, appliance and installation not included
• Finishing the edges of an undermount sink cutout in stone: $175 to $275 each at Home Depot Canada. The cutout itself is included
• Cutouts at an Ontario fabricator: $150 to $500 each depending on complexity, plus $100 to $300 at some shops for templates or specialised fabrication (Natural Stone City)
• Porcelain and sintered cutouts: we did not find a published per-cutout price. Expect them to cost more than quartz because of the slower cutting, and get the figure in writing
• Edges: standard profiles are included at Home Depot Canada. Bullnose and bevel add a little, ogee more, and a mitred waterfall end the most, because it uses extra slab and precise seams
• Seams and slab yield: L-shapes and islands need more seams. Large pieces may come from a second slab, which you pay for even if half of it goes to waste

A 30 sq ft kitchen, worked through

Take 30 sq ft of counter, a straight run with an L return, one undermount sink, and a built-in cooktop. Using only the published ranges above, before HST:

The low and high ends are $1,950 apart for Ottawa quartz and $3,600 apart for granite, before the tear-out or the plumber. Pick the finish level first, then compare quotes on the same square footage and the same cutouts.

• Quartz in Ottawa at $75 to $140: $2,250 to $4,200
• Granite at $60 to $180: $1,800 to $5,400
• Porcelain or sintered at $75 to $150: $2,250 to $4,500
• Add for a cooktop cutout at Home Depot's $125 to $150, and for finishing the undermount sink edges in stone at $175 to $275

Heat, sealing, and day-to-day wear

Quartz is mostly ground quartz bound with resin. Caesarstone's own care instructions say to always put hot cookware on a trivet or hot pad, and a Toronto fabricator notes the resin can be affected by sustained high heat. Granite has no resin and tolerates hot pots, but it is porous: plan to reseal it, typically once a year.

Sintered stone such as Dekton is fired at temperatures a kitchen never reaches, so a pan straight off the burner will not mark it, and it needs no sealing. The trade-off is that it is hard rather than tough. A heavy pot swung into an edge can chip it, which is why eased corners and supported overhangs matter more than they do with quartz.

The dust is a fabrication shop problem, but ask anyway

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety notes that engineered stone can contain 90 to 97 percent silica, against under 45 percent for granite and usually under 5 percent for marble. Cutting, grinding, and polishing it makes fine silica dust that can cause silicosis, an incurable lung disease. Australia banned engineered stone benchtops from July 1, 2024. In Canada each province sets exposure limits, and Ontario has specific control program requirements.

For a homeowner, the practical step is to have cutting done at the shop, not in your kitchen. If an installer has to trim on site, ask that they use wet cutting or a HEPA-extracted tool, and keep the family out of the room.

How our kitchen calculator treats counters

The kitchen calculator does not ask for counter square footage. It adds a countertop allowance per square foot of kitchen floor, scaled by finish level and region, with granite set slightly above quartz and premium stone well above both. That is good enough to size a whole kitchen budget. It is not a counter quote. When you have a fabricator's number, use it, and check that their square footage matches your layout.