Had it for 12 years before we moved into new home. I enjoyed our counters -- I was able to lightly sand ours to remove light imperfections, had a huge continuous sink. Could use many cleaning items. However, we wound up with a crack at a seam, under an area where I had used a crockpot. Never got it repaired due to expense, and it may have affected the value of our home sale.

It is apparently doesn't add to a home's value in the manner of granite/quartz, etc., or so I've read.

Here's a previous thread I found helpful when I was looking at countertop materials

Here is a link that might be useful: Avonite

I ordered a sample and thought it felt unnecessarily 'plastic-ey' compared to the other solid surface choices. I could be nuts, though.

We've had Avonite in our kitchen for 13 years. It's held up well overall but there are scratches on the island that I can't get out with a green scrubber (maybe sandpaper would work?). Ours cracked also, in two places around the cooktop, and bubbled and discolored, like it was burnt. The problems are mostly around the 15K burner but there is a crack behind the diagonally opposite burner too. The problems with the countertop are a primary reason for me wanting to redo our kitchen.

Thank you so much for the link! It was very helpful. No Avonite for me! I am just learning my way around this site after not having been here for awhile.

I have done warranty assessments for Avonite as well as repair work. It gets pretty simple to determine customer abuse from fabricator error from defective material.

LIke all solid surface manufacturers, Avonite recommends the use of trivets when using heat generating appliances. A seam failing from a crockpot is customer abuse. The seam could be inconspicuously repaired for around $500.00 which would include refinishing the rest of the tops to like new condition.

Cracking around a cooktop would require examining whether or not high-strength reinforcements were installed along with heat-conductive tape and proper cut-out finishing. If I peek in your cabinet and see you use a 15" pot on a 10" burner, in violation of the cooktop manufacturer's instructions, it's customer abuse again. If not, it's fabricator error.

Avonite is a fine product and shouldn't get the blame when consumers and/or fabricators don't read/obey instructions.

I just saw your interesting comment about proper installation and use, Trebuchet. Our installer did come out to repair the crack at the cooktop the first time it happened (about 6 months after installation). It was so long ago that I can't remember what he said now, but my memory is that he said the Avonite just can't take the heat from the 14K BTU burner. This statement from the Avonite installation website seems to support that: "Do not use in areas exposed to sustained temperatures in excess of 375o (CI) or 260o (CIll). " http://www.avonitesurfaces.com/content/specifications

There is what appears to be metal tape inside the cutout, likely that Thermoflo tape although I can't tell for sure.

My cooktop instructions don't make any stipulations about pan size, but I am careful to size the pan to the burner and the flame. Largest diameter pot I have is 10".

In all fairness, if you pay $250.00, you can join the Stone Fabricator's Alliance, get into their Darkroom, and read about how the heat lamps in restaurants and dishwashers crack granite.