Burnaby Countertops

Q: Our Brentwood condo has a wok kitchen separate from the main kitchen. Can you do different materials in each?

Yes, and we encourage it. Main display kitchens often warrant a feature material like calacatta-look quartz or quartzite, while a wok kitchen makes more sense in a darker, heat-tolerant material like Dekton or a mid-tone granite. We quote them as a single project with two material specs.

Burnaby is the Lower Mainland in miniature — Metrotown towers and Brentwood high-rises on one side, mid-century detached homes in Burnaby Heights and Capitol Hill on the other, with SFU rentals, Edmonds townhouses, and Forest Glen family homes filling out the middle. No two Burnaby kitchens are alike, and the right countertop choice depends as much on your building type as your taste. Alpine Countertops has been fabricating and installing premium stone for Burnaby homeowners, designers, builders, and strata-managed projects since 2015. We work out of our own Richmond, BC fabrication facility, we are BBB A+ accredited, and our quotes itemize every line — slab, fabrication, edge profile, sink cutouts, and installation. If you are renovating in Burnaby, here is what we know about the city after a decade of local work.

How Burnaby kitchens are different

Burnaby splits cleanly into two countertop markets, and the brief we receive depends almost entirely on which side of that line your home sits on.

The first is the condo and high-rise market: Metrotown, Brentwood, Edmonds, Lougheed, and the newer Cariboo and Sullivan Heights towers. These are tighter footprints — most kitchens are between 12 and 20 linear feet of counter, with a peninsula or modest island. The dominant aesthetic is contemporary: flat-panel cabinetry, integrated appliances, waterfall island ends, and a strong preference for quartz over natural stone because of strata sensitivities around sealing, staining, and load. We see a lot of Caesarstone, Silestone, Hanstone, and Vicostone in the Brentwood and Metrotown towers, with bright whites, calacatta-look veining, and warm grey neutrals leading the order book.

The second is the detached suburban market: Burnaby Heights, Capitol Hill, Buckingham, Forest Glen, Government Road, and the older parts of Westridge. These are larger kitchens — often 25 to 40 linear feet of counter when you add an island and a butler’s pantry — in homes that range from 1950s post-war bungalows being fully reset to newer custom builds along the ridge lines. Detached Burnaby clients lean more towards natural stone: granite, quartzite, and the occasional marble vanity. Buckingham and Capitol Hill in particular have a strong track record of higher-end natural stone installations.

One factor that runs through both markets is Burnaby’s strong East-Asian community influence on kitchen design. Wok-station prep counters, dedicated secondary kitchens (sometimes called spice or wok kitchens) separated from the main display kitchen, and durable heat-tolerant primary surfaces show up regularly in our briefs — particularly in Brentwood, Metrotown, Forest Glen, and Government Road. We design for that workflow as part of the spec rather than treating it as an afterthought.

The third segment we work with often is the SFU-area rental investment market around UniverCity, Burnaby Mountain, and the older Cariboo-Lougheed townhouses. Here the priority is durability, ease of cleaning, and tenant turnover resilience — quartz dominates, in mid-tone neutrals that do not show wear or stain.

Materials we recommend for Burnaby homes

We carry over 100 colours and patterns in stock at our Richmond facility. These are the materials we recommend most often for Burnaby projects:

Quartz (Caesarstone, Silestone, Hanstone, Vicostone, OmniaQuartz, Cambria) — The default for Metrotown, Brentwood, Edmonds, and Lougheed condos. Non-porous, no sealing required, dimensionally stable, and forgiving of strata-mandated finishes. We see calacatta-style whites (Caesarstone Calacatta Nuvo, Silestone Eternal Calacatta Gold, Cambria Brittanicca) and warm neutrals (Caesarstone Frosty Carrina, Silestone Lyra) leading orders. Read our quartz vs. granite comparison for context.
Granite (polished and leathered) — Strong choice for Burnaby Heights, Capitol Hill, and Buckingham detached homes where a client wants real stone with maximum heat tolerance and a one-of-a-kind slab. Polished black galaxies and white ice variants pair well with classic shaker cabinets. Leathered finishes are gaining ground in transitional kitchens.
Quartzite (Taj Mahal, Sea Pearl, White Macaubas) — Increasingly the upgrade pick for Government Road and Forest Glen renovations where a client wants the figure of marble with the durability of granite. Sealed properly, quartzite handles a busy Burnaby family kitchen well.
Porcelain and Dekton (by Cosentino) — Specified often in Brentwood new-construction towers and modern Capitol Hill custom builds. Thin profile (12 mm slabs available), heat and UV resistant, and works equally well on a kitchen island and an adjoining outdoor patio counter. The choice for clients who want a single material across indoor-outdoor flow.
Marble (vanities only, generally) — We rarely recommend marble for a primary Burnaby kitchen, but it remains the standard for ensuite vanities and powder rooms in Metrotown and Brentwood luxury condos. Our marble vs. quartz bathroom vanity guide walks through the call.

Our fabrication and installation process

Every Burnaby project moves through the same four-stage workflow we have run for ten years. We start with an in-home consultation — we drive samples to your Burnaby address, look at the cabinetry, lighting, sightlines, appliance specs, and any strata constraints, and help you narrow down to two or three slabs that genuinely belong in your kitchen. For Metrotown and Brentwood condo clients with tight pre-construction or possession timelines, we can flex the consultation around evenings and weekends.

From there we move to digital laser templating, which we run once cabinetry is installed and the sink and cooktop are on site. Laser templating is non-negotiable in Burnaby high-rises where wall variance from the building’s concrete shell can be more than half an inch over a long run — paper templating cannot reliably catch that.

Fabrication happens in our own Richmond facility. We do not subcontract cutting or polishing. Slabs are dry-laid, photographed for vein matching, cut on our bridge saw and CNC, and finished by our team. From template to installation, expect 2–3 weeks for most Burnaby projects. Installation is handled by our own crews — they know how to navigate Metrotown and Brentwood freight elevators, parkade height restrictions, and strata paperwork. For detached homes in Burnaby Heights and Capitol Hill, we handle direct driveway loading. Learn more about choosing a countertop fabricator if you are still comparing shops.

Why Burnaby chooses Alpine

BBB A+ Accredited Member — independently verifiable, not a self-issued claim.
10+ years in Burnaby — Metrotown and Brentwood tower remodels, Burnaby Heights character home renovations, Capitol Hill custom builds, SFU-area investment kitchens, Edmonds and Highgate condo refits. We have worked in the buildings, not just the city.
Locally fabricated, no middlemen — your slab is templated, cut, and polished by the same Richmond team that will install it. Direct accountability if something needs adjusting.
100+ colours in stock — Caesarstone, Silestone, Vicostone, Hanstone, OmniaQuartz, Cambria, Firstone, Dekton, plus natural stone via Margranite. Stock breadth means you are not waiting eight weeks on a special order.
Transparent, itemized quotes — slab, fabrication, edge, cutouts, and install all broken out separately. Compare line-for-line. See our quartz cost guide for context.
Strata-experienced — building access forms, certificates of insurance, freight elevator booking, and protected-floor installs are part of our standard process for Metrotown, Brentwood, and Edmonds towers.
2–3 week turnaround — calendar weeks from final template to installed countertop.

Neighbourhoods we serve in Burnaby

We install across the entire city — North, South, and Central Burnaby. Recent and ongoing projects include:

Metrotown — high-rise condo and townhouse remodels around Kingsway, Beresford, and the Station Square corridor.
Brentwood — Brentwood Town Centre tower kitchens, Lougheed Highway frontage builds, and Concord Brentwood phases.
Edmonds — newer condo communities and townhouses in the Highgate and Edmonds Town Centre area.
Burnaby Heights — detached character home renovations along Hastings Street and the side streets.
Capitol Hill — view-side custom builds and full mid-century home resets.
Buckingham — larger detached family homes and additions, often around Buckingham Heights and Government Road.
Forest Glen — established detached homes around Imperial and Royal Oak.
Highgate — newer townhouse and small-lot detached projects.
Cariboo and Sullivan Heights — SFU-adjacent rentals and townhouse complexes.
Westridge and Government Road — higher-end ridge-line custom homes and renovations.

Recent project context in Burnaby

Representative anonymized examples from the last 18 months:

Metrotown two-bedroom tower remodel. A 1,000-square-foot east-facing condo in a newer Metrotown tower. Full kitchen replacement with a peninsula island, integrated appliances, and a waterfall end. Strata required a freight elevator booking, certificate of insurance, and a weekday-evening protected-floor install — handled end to end. Material: Caesarstone Calacatta Nuvo with a 2-cm mitred edge. Templated on a Wednesday, installed 14 days later.

Burnaby Heights character home reset. A 1948 bungalow off Hastings Street, opened up to take in the harbour view. The owners had walnut shaker cabinets, white oak floors, and wanted a heat-tolerant natural stone for serious cooking. We installed leathered Black Pearl granite on the perimeter and a 9-foot island, with a 3-cm full bullnose edge to keep the profile soft against the cabinets.

Capitol Hill modern custom build. A new construction architect-led home with a primary kitchen and a secondary wok kitchen behind a sliding door. Both kitchens specified in Dekton — Kreta on the main island, a darker Sirocco on the wok counter for heat tolerance and easy cleaning. Indoor-outdoor patio counter ran the same Dekton material out to a covered BBQ surround.

Brentwood pre-construction possession. A 750-square-foot one-bedroom in a newly completed Brentwood tower. The buyer wanted to upgrade the developer-spec quartz before move-in. We coordinated with the building’s commissioning team for early access, templated within 48 hours of possession, and installed Silestone Eternal Calacatta Gold inside two and a half weeks. Because the unit was empty, we were able to run a clean install with no protected-floor pathway needed beyond the unit door.

Buckingham detached family kitchen. A 1990s two-storey home with an aging granite kitchen ready for a full refresh. The owners wanted a more contemporary look without losing the gravity of natural stone. We replaced the existing granite with honed Sea Pearl quartzite on the perimeter and a 10-foot island with a waterfall side, plus a matching slab backsplash up to the underside of the upper cabinets.

Burnaby countertop FAQs

Do you handle strata permits and freight elevator booking in Metrotown and Brentwood high-rises? Yes. Building access forms, certificates of insurance, freight elevator booking, and protected-floor install are part of our standard workflow. Most of the major Metrotown and Brentwood towers we have already worked in have our paperwork on file with the strata manager.

Can you do a same-day or rush template if our Burnaby Heights kitchen is empty and ready? If your cabinets are installed, your sink and cooktop are on site, and we have an opening in our schedule, we can usually template within 48–72 hours. Same-day templates are case-by-case but possible. Reach out and we will tell you honestly whether your timeline is realistic.

We are renovating an SFU-area rental in Cariboo. What material gives us the best durability for tenant turnover? For rental investment kitchens we almost always recommend mid-tone quartz — Caesterstone Frosty Carrina, Silestone Cala Blue, or Hanstone Storm. Non-porous, no sealing, no staining issues from tenant cooking, and the mid-tones do not show wear over a five-to-seven-year holding period.

Our Brentwood condo has a wok kitchen separate from the main kitchen. Can you do different materials in each? Yes — and we encourage it. Main display kitchens often warrant a feature material like calacatta-look quartz or quartzite, while a wok kitchen makes more sense in a darker, heat-tolerant material like Dekton or a mid-tone granite. We quote them as a single project with two material specs.

How does your pricing compare to FLOFORM and the bigger Burnaby fabricators? We are competitive on like-for-like material and we itemize every line of the quote, so you can compare ours to a competitor’s quote line by line rather than as a lump sum. See our quartz countertop cost guide for what variables actually drive the number.

Get a free Burnaby quote

Tell us about your kitchen, your timeline, and any materials you have shortlisted. We will arrange an in-home consultation, bring samples to your Burnaby address (or to your unit at the building, if you are in a tower pre-possession), and follow up with an itemized written quote within 48 hours.

Phone: 604-630-5700
Email: info@alpinecountertops.com
Showroom (by appointment): 230-11181 Voyageur Way, Richmond, BC V6X 3N9

Book a free Burnaby consultation — or browse our recent design gallery, slab brands, and care guides before you reach out.