Finally the time has come to write a review of the Kandla Grey Indian sandstone paving slabs! To be honest, I thought I’d have completed a garden project long before now where these natural stone slabs would have been layed but for some reason, our new customers just kept on asking for paving slabs that I had already used and reviewed.

That’s not to say that the Kandla Grey Indian sandstone patio slabs aren’t popular because although this is our first time laying them ourselves, I’d say that they are actually the most popular style of paving slabs we’ve came across. I know what you’re thinking, how can that be possible? But in the majority of garden projects that we work on where we aren’t actually touching their existing patios, I’d say that the majority of sandstone patios have been completed using the Kandla Grey. It’s just that when we actually lay a new patio, we get asked for anything but! Even with this job, we layed the Kandla Grey to match the customer’s existing patio at the start of the garden where we added a long path and patio area at the rear of the garden.

If we keep in mind that many of the Indian sandstone patio slabs available on the market are actually the same, but can be rebranded or renamed depending on the supplier, it won’t be long now and I’ll have reviewed all of the Indian sandstone paving slabs on the market with the Kandla Grey being the seventh! So far I have reviewed the Sagar Black, Autumn Brown, Camel Dust, Raj Green, Kota Black and Mint Fossil with the addition of the Sika Fast Fix paving jointing compound to finish off your new patio.

I’ve actually written a review on the Kandla Grey porcelain patio slabs too so be careful not to confuse that review with this Kandla Grey Indian sandstone, which unlike porcelain, is a natural stone.

Kandla Grey Indian sandstone specifications

Given that these natural stone paving slabs are literally called Kandla Grey, I won’t get into too much detail about the colour! What I would say however is that due to them being a natural stone, whilst they do keep fairly consistent tones of Silver/Grey, each paving slab is different to the next. This includes the different shades and tones of Grey as well as each slab having it’s own unique riven surface/pattern. This is ofcourse the case with all natural stone patio slabs.

Like most Indian sandstone paving, the Kandla Grey come in a variety of pack options. The ones we layed here were from the mixed sized patio pack option which includes a variety of 4 different sized paving slabs. These include the 900x600mm (large rectangles), 600x600mm (large squares), 290x600mm (small rectangles) and the 290x290mm (small squares), which once layed, create a lovely jigsaw effect.

If your looking for something a little different then same sized patio pack options are available which include packs of just the large rectangles (900x600mm), packs of just the large squares (600x600mm) and packs of just the small rectangles (290x600mm).

The options available for the Kandla Grey Indian sandstone paving don’t stop there though! If you want a straight edged slab then you can opt for the sawn edge patio pack, otherwise you can stick with the more popular natural, hand split edge, although an antique tumbled option is also available with some patio packs but these won’t be to everyone’s taste. When purchasing your new paving slabs I’d recommend going for the slightly more expensive 22mm calibrated option (22mm being the thickness) as opposed to the the 18-25mm non-calibrated option which are not only harder to lay due to their different thicknesses but in my experience, you can end up with lots of thin slabs.

Is the Kandla Grey Indian sandstone paving good value for money?

At the time of writing this, we purchased a 22mm calibrated mixed size patio pack covering 18.5 squared meters for £564. That’s just over £30 per squared meter, which makes the Kandla Grey a cheaper option compared to the majority of similar natural Grey patio slabs on the market! But you know what they say, buy it cheap buy it twice. But is this the case with the Kandla Grey?

If purchasing the 22mm calibrated Kandla Grey Indian sandstone paving slabs then I’ll be honest and say that the quality of slabs are fantastic. None of the slabs delivered arrived broken, and none broke when laying the slabs either. Not only this, but you might notice that some of the paving slabs in the pictures look old and that’s because they are!

The customer had an old Kandla Grey patio that had been down for a few years, removed and then sat in the garden for a while afterwards. I’m not sure on the logistics behind it but I know that they needed an existing patio relayed, and for some reason the new landscaping company refused to use the old paving slabs and so new ones were purchased. In order to save money on this landscaping project, we ordered 1 pallet of new Kandla Grey paving slabs and relayed the old ones too.

What I’m saying is, these Kandla Grey slabs had been layed, lifted and then relayed again with no breakages. The old ones were as strong as the new ones.

From experience, this isn’t the case when purchasing the uncalibrated 18-25mm option since many of the slabs, in my opinion, are ridiculously thin. For the sake of a price increase (per 18.5sm pack) of no more than £20 at the time of writing this, you might aswell opt for the better quality, 22mm calibrated option.

How easy are the Kandla Grey Indian sandstone paving slabs to lay?

We’ve had some pretty bad experiences over the years where some natural stone paving slabs have been a nightmare to lay due to the uneven surfaces being so bad it can be near impossible to keep a nice flush edge between patio slabs. Luckily the Kandla Grey are not one of these!

From memory, out of an entire pallet of 66 paving slabs, we only had around 5 or 6 that had badly uneven surfaces that would have been hard to work with. Since there wasn’t many, we just used these as end slabs (edge of the patio) or on the path. Just look at the image above, or any of the others for that matter, you will see that there are no obvious steps between patio slabs, although we are very specific when choosing which slab should be layed next. If there is a dip on one corner, find another with a dip on a corner and match them up.

Another word of advice is to purchase the 22mm calibrated option when adding your Kandla Grey patio slabs to your shopping trolley. As far as natural stone goes, the riven surface is level enough to make easy laying, so why not make sure that the depth is the same too by having them all calibrated to 22mm?

What do I think about the appearance of the Kandla Grey natural sandstone patio slabs?

I know what your thinking, what could I possibly write about the appearance of Grey paving slabs? But natural paving is very different to the traditional grey concrete slabs and in reality, they are nothing alike and shouldn’t be compared with eachother.

Unlike concrete slabs, the natural Kandla Grey sandstone has different shades of silver and greys making each slab stand out from the next! Not only this, but the riven surfaces carry their own unique patterns. Once layed, there is absolutely nothing boring about these Kandla Grey Indian sandstone paving slabs. Actually, they look amazing and so modern too!

Thinking about it, Grey seems to be the new trend so it’s no wonder why the Kandla Grey is so popular. Just look at the garden building in these pictures, it’s modern. It’s Grey! The new Kandla Grey patio compliments it so well. Even when I work on building sites, many of the new homes have Grey window frames, doors and fascias. Fence panels too!

My overall thoughts on the Kandla Grey Indian sandstone paving slabs

The Kandla Grey natural stone paving is definitely one of the better quality sandstone that I’ve laid. The surfaces are smooth enough to easily work with making laying them much easier compared to some other paving slabs I’ve layed in the past and at just £30 per squared meter at the time of writing this, it may be one of the cheaper natural stone options on the market but the quality of slab is amazing! Ofcourse this is under the assumption that you purchase the 22mm calibrated option and with such a small price difference per pallet, you’d be crazy not to!

There are so many pack options available when purchasing the Kandla Grey you’d have to be unlucky to not find a pack to suit your garden’s needs. Tumbled, 600x600mm, 900x600mm, 290x600mm, mixed sized packs with the option of sawn or natural edges – You’re spoilt for choice!

Ultimately, the Kandla Grey Indian sandstone patio slabs are great value for money, are made to a high quality and look amazing too. What’s not to love? Would I recommend the Kandla Grey paving? Absolutely I would!

There are links at the beginning of this article which will direct you to my other reviewed paving slabs but if you’re struggling to choose the best patio slabs for your garden then I’ve written a full guide to help you make the right choice. If you have a look around then you will also find some other helpful topics such as how to lay a patio yourself and how much should you expect to pay to have a new patio layed amongst many other helpful garden topics!