jannicone:

Your problems are easily solved. Sit on the money.

Hello Jannicone, please tell us your locality and we will give you references of experienced workshops with our product.

I am in Raleigh NC - I saw that Rockinteriors is a certified installer of several sintered products and I would expect them to be VERY good. I will speak to the owner at my next meeting with her and discuss her experiences installing these types of products. I would at least have confidence in this installer....

Hello Jannicone, this is our offcial distributor in NC

MARVA MARBLE & GRANITE INC - Raleigh / Durham
300 Dominion Drive; Suite 100 Morrisville, North Carolina 27560
+1 (919) 466-9909
Fax +1 (919) 466-9910
george@marvamarble.com
http://www.marvamarble.com
Contacto George H. Kyriacou, Brand Manager

Get in contact with them and they will advise you about the best fabricator near your locality. If there is anything we can help you with, just let us know.

Regards.

This makes me so nervous as we are about to install Neolith in our kitchen for our countertops and after reading all of these horror stories, I am considering making a switch!!!!

Hello Jennifer. We understand your position. As a Neolith manufacturer, we recommend that you seek all kinds of professional information. It is important that you know the differences of our finishes and take it into account according to the use you think of giving your kitchen. Our professionals will be happy to answer all your questions and we can provide all the information on warranty, cleaning methods and maintenance, etc. Any questions, you can contact us in the email info@thesize.es, we are happy to answer you. Regards and happy hollydays.

Unfortunately we installed Neolith. Our biggest concern was we could not get it clean. At one point we had the rep from Neolith come to our house and he recommended paint thinner. Paint thinner are you serious, he was. Stain after stain with a few chips. We had to rip it out and replace it. I tried to contact the Regional Sales Manager who was zero help. They did not stand behind their product warranty like they said they would originally. There are so many other great options. I recommend you use something else. Last thing you want to do is have a new kitchen and to turn around pay for demo and installation and new slabs. Not worth it

don’t do it. It was a. Nightmare we delt with for 10 months.

We have Calacatta Neolith and have had no issues with staining. A red wine glass left a ring which easily came out with some Soft Scrub. Harder stains require some elbow grease and Soft Scrub, but we've used it for a good two months now including hosting both Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, multiple spills (including a bowl of chili I dropped all over it) and have been happy thus far.

Same experience as pipdog with our 1.5 years of Calacatta silk.

Neolith is an easy-to-clean material as it does not absorb residue or food remains, thereby guaranteeing good hygiene. It is also resistant to most chemical agents used in cleaning* although a damp cloth is sufficient in most cases for cleaning it.

Check the Cleaning and Maintenance Guide

sbethurum Can you tell me about your experience with the basalt neolith? I have the gray basalt in silk finish and it was just installed and I am having trouble getting it to look clean-there are spots that look like grease marks and streaks. Have you been able to get them clean? What have you used? Thanks for any info

Kurt, what color/ surface of neolith did you have? Any info or advice is welcome. Thanks

sbethurum, what finish do you have, silk or satin? Do you have the gray or black basalt? The spots I have are areas where there are small metallic dots that create shiny areas on the counter and look like an oily mark. Have you found any solution?

Thanks

We installed textil white

its a flat finish with this texture in it

Almost looks like a linen fabric

total nightmare

Kurt, Thanks for responding. What did you do? Did you replace your counters and to what?

m

In twenty-five years in the solid surface countertop business I've heard some minor complaints, but never "total nightmare". Not even close, not even once.

We are going with Neolith Calacutta silk finish for our kitchen remodel and Marva is the distributor and Rockinteriors is our fabricator. Anyone familiar if they have a lot of experience in working with this material?!!??

We tore it out. I had the email address and number of the manager who directly works for Neolith. After a few conversations he would not return or take my calls. CS was horible.

This is a follow up to my earlier (2016) posts. I was initially disappointed but I've become a bit more bullish on the product over time.

We've lived with our Neolith kitchen counters and back splash (Calcutta/silk) for nearly two years now. Overall, they continue to look great.

We have two kids under the age of 7 and they're constantly doing projects on them with paint, pens, glue, stickers and whatnot. I never worry about whether the counters will clean up - they always do with a little elbow grease. And yes, sometimes it can be work to get the coffee rings or pen marks off, but they do disappear. On a daily basis I use disinfecting wipes or Simply Green. For stubborn stains, Soft Scrub, as another person has mentioned, works well, too. In the beginning, I was panicky about stains not coming up easily, but overtime, I've learned how to work with it and I'll even let something sit if I'm in a hurry to get out the door. They are remarkably smooth and there's no pitting or divets where food/drink can hide.

The back splash is beautiful and the seams are super tight - much tighter than our installer was able to get w/our Calcutta marble.

My only hesitation is that it seems fragile. We have had a couple of nicks to the edges that I think wouldn't have made a dent to our marble. I'm always concerned about dropping a lid or pot (not that I would on purpose) because I feel it could crack the surface. Our installer had to come from a neighboring state, so it's not easy or inexpensive to schedule a house call.

I would definitely use the material again for a back splash or in the shower - something that doesn't get a lot of direct use. I'd have to think hard about using it again for a surface counter.

Hope this helps!

Thank you - I do have access to a local installer, but certainly nervous about moving forward with this decision considering how expensive this is and all of the feedback provided here. Eek!

Kurt, I am curious-what did you use to replace your counters?

I'm curious too: what was nightmarish about the counters that made tearing out and replacing the best option?

Hello Kurt, We also are interested in knowing what happened.

"Hello Kurt, We also are interested in knowing what happened."

Well then why the hell don't you contact " the manager who directly works for Neolith" and ask him?

My issues with the basalt gray in the silk finish are not resolved. My fabricator sent his crew to clean but the metallic dots are still there and when light hits the counters it look like oily marks or fingerprints.The sheen is different as one looks across the counter.On the darker color, I think this may show up more than on light surfaces. People have said this is metal transfer but I had nothing on the counters and this is nothing like the experiments I did on the sample with metal pans etc. If anyone has anything similar or has any advice, please post!!

Joseph. I did multiple times. A few call backs then silence. Would not return calls or emails. I was always very nice.

what are you using now for countertops?

Kurt:

I am dumbfounded that The Size would get on here and express wonderment. If I ran Neolith, having read this thread, I would have dropped everything to find out who this manager was, get an explanation, and post it. But then that's customer service, a concept they can't seem to grasp.

After reading this thread, I Definitely will not be using Neolith in my new build.

The Size:

There's this thing out now called the "internet". It's where all your unhappy customers can gather and commiserate. The most horrible thing about it is that your potential customers can read the commiseration too ^.

There's only one real cure and that's to be able to say "We are sorry, but we've refunded all of Ms. X's money." That gives the potentials the opportunity to say to themselves, "Well, at least if things go into the toilet, Neolith will probably give us our money back."

Put a tourniquet on this thing, please. I'm begging. It's really going to hurt, but it's better than the alternative and less expensive. As a businessman, I can barely stand to watch this.

Joseph yours are words of wisdom, hope The Size reads and ‘gets it’ we live in Ottawa Canada and plan to build in the next few months. We may have a difficult time finding a good fabricator, regardless of the type of countertop we choose. At this point, I’m thinking good old laminate may be the best answer!

Wow. Was just about to go order! Now I’m nervous. Anyone have experience with the river wash finish for a kitchen counter?

Fingers crossed - templating is happening tomorrow and then my Neolith counters will be installed February 14th as of now.....SUPER NERVOUS of the experience and outcome based upon all of this feedback!! Hopefully RockInteriors knows what they are doing!!

Good luck!!! Which countertop did u pick?

I picked the Calcacutta in Satin!

I have already picked our product, so too late. Sorry you had a bad experience and I am keeping all fingers and toes crossed that we are not going to be in the same boat!! I do think it is critical to have a fabricator who specializes in custom counters and experience in working with this product as well!

P G - me too (Ottawa, I mean). I, too, love some of the neolith-type materials. HD in CP has a decent little display and one countertop installation, but, as in JohnSmith's shared close-ups above, the mitred edges are abysmal - rough, mismatched glue, uneven, etc - and that's in their presumably special store-front displays, which doesn't bode well for domestic installations! They've also never actually sold any ... yet.

OTOH, an online acquaintance installed it in her cook school on a huge island a few years ago, and it's standing up really well, takes a beating, they can party on it in heels (!), etc. She has the Dekton Makai.

Did you consider good ol' Canadian soapstone? It's not the most exciting countertop in the world, but I keep coming back to it for all its super properties. Plus the dealer is local and has an excellent reputation - no middlemen.

Poppy Potter:

Please post a link to your post. I've searched and can't find it.

[Here[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/do-you-want-to-see-pix-of-cracked-neolith-dsvw-vd~5121488) you go, Joe. Might be the Kitchens forum on the Houzz side..?

Joe go to neolith in Advice and the subject is: Do you want to see pix of CRACKED NEOLITH?

@bubbly, nice to hear from a neighbour. Actually,we are thinking of soapstone, biggest concern is its softness. But I am just starting the research on this. You can private message me if you would like.

P G - take a drive out to Perth; the HH there has (or had! Phone and check first perhaps) a big display of Canadian soapstone - kitchen counters, and a complete shower. They're dealers for the local soapstone people, who are based in Carp and deal in the soapstone from Quebec. It is quite soft, but it's very mottled, not heavily veined. I have a sample slab that's approx 1' x 2' and it is lovely. It's very expensive imho, which I'm guessing is because as a Canadian quarry it has to comply with Canadian workplace health and safety regs, vs less stringent regs in S America or Asia ...

Stoopid Houzz - it would great to be able to tag people, pros, etc. I'll get their link for you.

https://www.houzz.com/pro/canadiansoapstone/canadian-soapstone

You can ask them for a sample, but it is ridiculously small, like a couple of inches square. Better to go see the displays in Perth.

P G - here's the other Canadian soapstone company - no idea if they work this far east, but no harm in asking! Looks like they do have a variety of soapstones on offer.

http://www.greensvillesoapstone.com/products-countertops.php

https://www.houzz.com/pro/gvsoapstone/greensville-soapstone-company

@bubblyjock, thank you so much for the referrals and links. (:

P G - you're welcome! Make any decisions yet?

Hi again bubblyjock, we are just starting to get building quotes. So very early in the process. Are you posting your build on the “How’s your build” thread.

Hi Everyone - we just had our Neolith Calcacutta counters in silk finish installed in our kitchen. I DO NOT recommend going with this product unless you are okay with a number of downsides. We utilized a certified Neolith fabricator who has lot of experience in working with this material. We did the mitered edges so that they were not white as well. Not only was this by far the most expensive product, but it was disappointing as well. You can see the white edges where it was mitered and there are defects from the moment of installation from which I was told are "normal" and acceptable. My seams (only two, that is nice) are VERY obvious and not what I would have expected. The material itself marks up when ANYTHING touches it basically. Put a cookie sheet on it and you have horrible black / gray marks everywhere that do not come out. I have been told you have to be willing to scrub it for that to happen and they recommended using acetone to get them out. Um....so now i am left with counters that cost me over $13k that I am not happy with from how they look (they look great from afar) and that mark up when anything touches it and I have to use a special something to try and get them out and that is not easy. If I could do it again, I would go with quartz or quartzite. These are not worth the pain and suffering along with the high cost and disappointing outcome. I went to some friend's house over the weekend where they had their new quartz counters installed, by the same fabricators we used and they look far superior to ours and they do not have the same issues. I read the reviews on here and chose it anyway and am devastated I did. I wish I had taken these reviews to heart and not listened to the fabricator's comments that these were one off experiences.

Follow-up - we actually had a Neolith rep who came to our house and saw the counters and the issues i spoke of and who claims that they are to standards and that the fabricators did a great job. Here are some pics of the issues I am seeing. First is the seam. 2nd is one of the marks there at install they claim is fine and so is the 3rd (another one of them). You can also clearly see from here that the edges where it meets are white and not seamless as I had expected......

Diane Iseman-is there any update to your problem with the counters?