Dark Porcelain

Dark porcelain paving slabs are incredibly stylish tile with a dark colour palette and stone-effect surface – perfect for creating a contemporary space without losing 100% of the natural feel of an outdoor area.

Anthracite is a very dark grey with a soft charcoal tone. Black porcelain is a deeper, truer black. Both sit in our dark porcelain range. Cathedral, Cardosa, Vesuvio, Ardenne, Frame and Stone Anthracite are all anthracite, and Eco Stone Modello Black is the nearest to a true black. Every slab is calibrated to 20mm with sawn edges and an R11 anti-slip surface. We sell single slabs, so you can order one of each and compare them in your own garden before buying a full pack.

Dark porcelain does get warmer than a light slab in direct sun, but it is rarely too hot to walk on in the UK. It can feel warm underfoot on a hot, still afternoon, and it cools quickly once the sun moves off it. If you expect children or pets to be barefoot on it all day, a mid-tone such as our grey porcelain paving stays cooler, or you can use the dark slab as a border rather than the main surface.

No. the colour in porcelain is fired into the slab in the kiln, not applied as a surface coating, so sunlight will not fade or bleach it. This is one reason people choose anthracite or black porcelain over black limestone, which lightens over time. If a dark patio looks paler than it did, it is usually a surface film of dust or limescale, and a wash with a porcelain cleaner brings the colour back.

It can, but the marks do not come from the porcelain itself. Efflorescence is a white salt deposit that rises out of the mortar bed or the jointing compound and settles on the surface, where a dark slab shows it clearly. Limescale comes from hard tap water drying on the slab. Both wash off with a dedicated porcelain or efflorescence cleaner. Priming the back of each slab before laying and washing off Joint-It jointing compound promptly keeps the surface clean.

Briefly, yes. Porcelain barely absorbs water, so rain sits on the surface and dark slabs show the last wet patches as darker areas until they dry. This evens out within an hour or two in normal weather. Patches that stay after the rest of the patio is dry point to a laying problem, usually a hollow under the slab or standing water in a dip, rather than a fault with the porcelain.

Yes, and it is one of the most popular ways to use it. All out porcelain is calibrated to 20mm with sawn edges, so a dark border sits flush with a lighter field of grey or buff porcelain. Keep the border to one slab width, for example 90cm x 60cm Cathedral Anthracite around a lighter 90cm x 60cm slab, so the joints line up. For a narrower edge, our white porcelain cobbles at 100cm x 16cm gives the same contrast in reverse.

Not if you use large slabs. A dark surface with few joints reads as one calm area, which makes a small patio feel bigger, not smaller. Our 90cm x 60cm, 100cm x 50cm and 120cm x 60cm dark porcelain slabs cover a small patio in a handful of pieces. Use a dark jointing compound so the joints disappear, and keep walls, fences or planting lighter so the paving sits back and the garden around it stands out.