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Category 05 of 11

Stone veneer

The face of every wall, column, fireplace and kitchen island.

Veneer is a facing, not a structure — the wall behind it is block or framing and does the actual work. What you are choosing is a face, a joint style and a corner detail, and the corner detail is what separates a wall that reads as stone from one that reads as stone wallpaper.

Curved wall faced in stacked stone ledger panels with water sheeting down it
Stacked-stone ledger panels on a curved water wall, paver patio to the left.

Filter

6 ways to narrow this down. Combine as many as you like — they stack.

Type

The family the material belongs to.

Pattern
Colour family

The tonal range the material type comes in.

Cost band

Relative installed cost, not a price. Same three bands as the pricing guide.

Where it goes
Style

6 of 6 stone veneer in this category

  • Outdoor kitchen and bar under a pergola, its back wall faced in white stacked-stone panelsNatural stone

    Stacked stone ledger panel

    Thin strips of natural stone pre-assembled into panels, so the wall goes up as modules rather than stone by stone. The strong horizontal line is unmistakable, and it is the go-to face for a modern water wall.

    • Multicolour
    • Charcoal
    • Golden quartzite
    • White

    Signature cost band

  • Wooden side gate between two dry-stacked stone walls, a pale stone path leading to itNatural stone

    Dry-stack fieldstone

    Full-thickness natural stone laid with almost no visible mortar, so the wall reads as stacked rock. Slowest to build of anything on this page and the least likely to ever look dated.

    • Buff sandstone
    • Grey granite
    • Rust blend

    Bespoke cost band

  • Long outdoor kitchen island faced in cut stone under a wood pergolaNatural stone

    Cut ashlar stone

    Stone sawn to rectangular units and laid in courses. More formal than fieldstone, less repetitive than manufactured, and the pattern that sits most comfortably against a traditional house.

    • Cream limestone
    • Buff
    • Grey

    Bespoke cost band

  • Naturalistic pool edged in boulders with a flagstone path leading to a stone houseNatural stone

    River cobble veneer

    Rounded stone, laid tight or with generous mortar joints. The most rustic face available and the one that most obviously belongs beside a naturalistic pool or a boulder-edged water feature.

    • Mixed river
    • Grey-brown

    Signature cost band

  • Light stone feature wall with two water spouts falling into dark plantersManufactured stone

    Manufactured stone

    Cast concrete moulded and coloured from real stone. Lighter, cheaper and faster than the thing it imitates, with a finite number of moulds — so on a long wall the repeat becomes visible if it is not laid carefully.

    • Buff
    • Grey
    • Charcoal

    Essential cost band

  • Smooth plastered wall beside concrete steps with a glass railing, agave planted along the topRendered & clad

    Smooth stucco / plaster face

    No veneer at all — the block wall is rendered and finished flat, usually to match the house. The quietest and cheapest face here, and in a modern scheme frequently the right one.

    • White
    • Warm white
    • Greige

    Essential cost band

Before you choose

Nobody should pick stone veneer off a screen

Colour on a monitor is a guess, and a surface you will walk on barefoot for fifteen years is not a guess worth making. We put real samples in front of you at the design consultation, in daylight, next to each other — including the ones we would talk you out of.