What about people mentioning that their counters have excessive scratching after a very short time?

I'm puzzled by that nosoccermom. The factory in Spain (which has been far more responsive than the local people) sent me samples, and I tested them pretty well, including rubbing them with a cast iron frying pan, with no ill effects. I still have the Calacatta polished and honed squares (clinging to hope, I guess) and I just now got them out and tried scratching them with a box cutter and the skinny edge of a flat head screwdriver, pushing hard with both. Nothing. Not "barely noticeable," not "almost nothing." Really, nothing. I have a couple of little squares of Dekton, and they were the same, which is good.

I'm really not sure what that was about. I've heard somewhere (probably here?!) that the polished dekton is not as indestructible which is why it is only available in matte finish. I'm assuming it was something particular to the polishing or coating on that one person's counters. I really was not able to scratch my dekton sample (including things like knife tips which did gouge the quartz sample I had but not the dekton).

I had my heart set on Neolith as well for at least my island. The Neolith rep at the stone yard who carries it in my area did warn me that the polished version can scratch, whereas the other finishes are pretty indestructible. When I saw that lady post about her scratches it made me worried. I have polished samples and I scratched at them with knives and dragged plates across. I was able to make a few scratches, they are very faint, I can't fully feel them with my fingertip, and I have to hold the sample up to the sunlight and look at an angle, but they were there, so I just can't tell how concerned to be about that. Because my sink is in my island, I worry about dishes being dragged across the counter top. My other concern is the chipped edges during fabrication. We have a family friend who owns a granite yard and he says no one in the industry wants to work with Neolith. He told me to look carefully at the shower display created from Neolith at Pacific Shore Stones where they carry the Neolith, he says if you look carefully the seams area is a mess because of the chipping. I absolutely love the look of the Calacatta polished Neolith and would do it in a heartbeat I'm just terrified to spend $2000 plus on an island and then have it scratch and chip because I might as well get marble at that point. I hope that those who have installed Neolith give us some more updates. I just need one more follow up confirmation and I would be willing to pull the trigger.

I'm waiting until prices drop in my area, which at this point are still sky high (175.00/sqft). I know that pricing in Europe is very competitive with other counter top installs.

Dear katieleabrown86,

Thanks for your message and interest on Neolith. We are happy that you feel so tempted about it and hopefully can help you push the trigger ;)

Our Head of Technical Training will be visiting Pacific Shore the week of 7-11th December for a series of fabricators trainings in this area. If you inbox me the details of your fabricator we will make sure to include him/her in the training schedules.

Looking forward to hear from you!

Neolith Team.

Ducalosa is available at Lowe's but I can't find it on TheSize website. Is it the same quality as Neolith? And does Lowe's have trained fabricators?

Duralosa is Neolith. Last sentence.

Oops. I meant Duralosa, not Ducalosa. Has anyone had this installed?

I am considering Neolith for an up-coming kitchen remodel. Today, I then heard about Dektron, which sounds very similar. Upon Googling it, however, there is a Consumers Reports YouTube that shows how easily it cracks when something is dropped on it. Anyone with any experience with Dektron here?

I don't have experience with either, but recently saw a new build in my area with polished Neolith on the kitchen island countertop. There were actually two adjacent homes by the same builder, with same floor plan. One kitchen had the Neolith in Calacatta pattern, and the other kitchen had cararra marble counter. Both looked good, but they were new homes, so I can't comment on durability. It's the first time that I have seen Neolith used by local builders.

I work for CDK Stone and we have offices and showrooms in most states of Australia, as well as a couple in New Zealand. We are able to provide quotes on stone slabs and any more information people want about Neolith. I know I am biased, but for a fairly new product in the architecture and building industry, it is making waves and becoming a very popular product simply because of the durability and hardiness of it, and because of how realistic it looks when directly compared to natural stone.

http://www.cdkstone.com.au/luxury-surfaces/surfaces-neolith/

http://www.cdkstone.com.au/contact-us/

I'm in the Seattle area as well and considering a marble alternative. Can anyone tell me how your products have been holding up or recommend a good fabricator??? Thanks in advance!

Hi claraz8,

Thanks for your interest in Neolith. Please send us a private message with your details and we will put you in contact with our official distributor in Pacific North West so that they can take care of your request.

Have a good day!

Neolith Team.

Hi claraz8. We're in Seattle and have silk Neolith Calacatta in our kitchen. We've been using it since mid-June, and overall I really like it. It looks great, and we're not the best about keeping spotless counters (wine bottle rings, coffee drips, forgot-to-put-the-raspberries-in-the-fridge-overnight, etc.), and cleanup has been fantastic.

It's not a miracle surface, however, and the installers changed the sheen on some parts of the surface by doing whatever they did to remove adhesive tracks (or something) that were left. That being said, they were super responsive about coming to address first the adhesive and then the problem with the sheen, volunteering to replace the slab or to give us a discount on the price. We opted for the latter, as the sheen problem isn't particularly obvious and we didn't want to worry about damaging tile, cabinets, etc. during replacement.

So, even with the footnotes, we're very happy with the counters and I can easily recommend Marmo e Granito who did our fabrication and install. They quickly set up some visits for me to see Neolith in people's kitchens, and they were very accommodating about multiple visits to look at and rearrange templates to get the veining going the way I wanted, and, as I said, were very responsive when the problems came up. I think we were early on the Neolith learning curve, so I doubt that the same issue will happen again. Let me know if you have other questions, and I'm happy to let you take a look at the counters in person if you want.

AvatarWalt thank you so much!!! All of your research and positivity on these threads has been so helpful. I wondered where you actually bought your slabs and whether you were able to see them in person before ordering?

My biggest question is whether it feels and sounds more like stone or glass???

I would actually love to see your counters if you'd be willing!!! My email address is: claraz8@yahoo.com

I'm so hopeful this can work but nervous because I have three little ones..ages 5, 3 and 9 mo.

Thank you again!

A few comments after having lived with my Neolith Estatuario counters for 16 months now:

1. neolith warranty is worthless, if you have a problem you're on your own as the manufacturer is impossible to reach.

2. Choose wisely the shop you have fabricate your Neolith as it's difficult and different from other materials. You can expect to see repairs made at the shop on your brand new counters. Negotiate in advance how many/how noticeable these repairs can be for acceptance.

3. It's not an indestructible material, you will get chips in it and because the material is so beautiful and perfect, you will see the repairs. The edges of our counter were mitered so the face of the edge is same pattern as the top. This creates two very thin pieces of material at the location most susceptible to being banged and thus chipped. I don't believe I would do it this way again. Even though it looks best. The pattern is only applied to the top and the material below is a uniform color.

picture is closeup of a repair

They need to quit mitering that stuff; the pointed edge is just too delicate. A rabbet at the bottom of the edge profile is much less likely to chip and just as inconspicuous.

Joseph, can you explain the technique to use a rabbet at the bottom of the edge? We are installing Neolith and our fabricator was planning on mitering the edge, but I'm concerned after reading about kreg's experiences with chipping.

Start at # 18.

"With a rabbet does it still mimic the look of a thick slab?"

Yes.

"Does it only affect the bottom or does it take care of the top edge as well?"

I'm not sure what you mean by this question.

"What does it wind up looking like???"

It looks fine. The trick is placing the rabbet at the bottom of the edge profile. You've got to have some sort of edge profile; you're not going to leave a perfect razor-sharp 90. I'd suggest a 1/8" round over minimum. Now the joint is facing out toward your legs instead of up at your eye.

Different material (veined Corian), same theory.

I am getting ready to install counters in a master bathroom, butlers pantry, and possibly kitchen. They will be white. I was going to go with caesarstone or a similar quartz. Is there a reason I should consider Neolith? Pipdog, which color are you using and why did you choose neolith?

I currently have a quartz material with a sharp edge, and both the installers and I ended up chipping it. So the chips aren't limited to neolith. I will say that I am impressed with the white quartz I have installed currently in the kitchen. Nothing seems to stain it!

Thanks Joseph for the explanation and the photos! Very helpful.

Rockybird, we're using the Neolith Calacatta in the silk (matte) finish for our counters and backsplash. I was planning on using a white quartz in our kitchen (either Blizzard or Calacatta Nuvo), but our neighbor has Caesarstone and it has chipped quite a bit over the last two years with young kids cooking in the kitchen. We were looking for alternatives at a slab yard in Anaheim and I came across Neolith -- I'd never heard of the product before. I like white quartz and think it would have looked fine in our kitchen, but I was worried about chipping and I like the veining in the Neolith. Our floors are off-white large format tile so we needed some sort of movement in the counters, and I didn't love the veining in the Calacatta Nuvo by Caesarstone.

The down sides to Neolith are that it takes a skilled fabricator to install it and there are more problems on the front end (installation difficulties, fabricators not wanting to work with the material, cost, etc). But from the people that have installed it, Neolith is a harder surface and it's quite resistant to wear. However, I'd be careful with the polished finish as it is very reflective and does scratch.

Pipdog - thanks! I bet your kitchen will look phenomenal in marble! I would prefer matte or honed finish but it is good to know about the scratching. So the advantage to neolith is that it is less prone to chipping?

Hi, we are a fabricator in Arizona and have been in business since 1974. These new porcelain material sound great on paper but are a nightmare to fabricate and even if you get it fabricated, transporting from the shop to the home and installing without cracking or chipping is nearly impossible. If you decide to go with this material expect $150 + per square foot. Small chips and repairs will be in the finished product and do not hide well due to the nature of the porcelain. Natural stone is much easier to repair and fabricate. We have been successful on maybe 2 out of 20 jobs. It's not because we are not qualified, because we are, we are certified through every porcelain manufacturer (Neolith, Dekton, Lapitech) these materials are like glass. Very hard and stain resistant but fragile at the same time. I do not recommend these materials and buyer beware.

Stockett:

Keep practicing or lose market share. These products are here to stay. The stoners said the same thing about quartz a decade ago and now it's eating their lunch, as they ate the lunch of the solid surface guys before that.

Joseph:

All I'm saying is that its not as great as it sounds. Nor will it save the customer money vs natural stone or quartz. Probably the most time consuming material to work with out of the three. Yes I believe it will be the future but there is still a lot of R&D that needs to be done by the manufactures. I have received 3 revised fabrication manuals from Latitec alone this year. Tooling is not quite perfected yet, repair kits and recommendations on how to do repairs are not existent.

Also, I paid 75/sf for dekton (no chips or repairs either). I think your pricing is off. It is a little scary that one can be certified with only 2/20 successful installations though....

lharpie:

I don't know what you used the Dekton on (Kitchen, bath, BBQ etc.) so I couldn't comment on why yours was a success. Edge detail, seams, shape of countertop and location all come into play. For example a 2CM edge with no lamination on a island would have high probability of getting installed without a fluke. An U shaped kitchen with laminated or mitered edge with farmhouse sink opening and 4 seams would be more suseptable to chips and cracks. The other negative you are forgetting is the un- reparability of Dekton. If you do ever crack or chip your countertop there is little to be done.

We have been in the natural stone industry for over a quarter of a century and have been proud Neolith distributors for 5 years and counting. Neolith is not only the extremely versatile but also incredibly durable. Because it is made with 100% combusted raw minerals, it is eco-friendly, easy to clean, and light in weight making it perfect for specific cut-to-size dimensions. Here is a great video that exemplifies just how durable Neolith truly is. We would also like to refer our page for more info on Neolith!

Or one could just use Corian and it will last forever!

It's easy to fall in love with this material but I just found the youtube video that Victoria C was referring to - no thank you.

Dektron Cracking

Sorry, but if Consumer Reports did not "fabricate and install" the Dekton according to the manufacturer's instructions before testing, then the test is bogus.

You don't get to say a Ford doesn't run when you haven't put any gas in the tank as Ford requires.

Joseph, Consumer Reports’ experts tested Dekton as they do all other countertop materials and none cracked from edge to edge as Dekton did...

Sorry Stockett, but for example if they didn't apply manufacturer-specified underlayment or support, the test is worthless. You have to drop a ball on a countertop that meets the manufacturer's fabrication and installation instructions. Nothing else is fair.

Of course its fair, its an apples to apples test to all other countertops they have tested. They cant put a foam board sub straight or something else under this test only. That wouldn't be fair to all the previous countertop materials they have tested in the same manner. They are testing the durability of the product per the test they have done compared to previous materials. I'm not saying its the best test but its a fair apples to apples test compared to all previous materials tested.

Stockett:

That is pure nonsense. You must test the materials as specified to be fabricated and installed by the manufacturer. A heat test with full underlayment under Corian would fail. DuPont, Corian's manufacturer, does not permit full underlayment. You don't get to say, "Well, all the other products we tested had full underlayment, so the Corian has to have it too in order to make it "apples to apples". This is silly.

Above you mention a "Rabbit edge" for porcelain. Is a "Rabbit edge" a manufacture recommended edge for Dekton or Neolith? It is not. You're credibility with me is shot because you keep comparing this with Corian. This is not like Corian at all. I'm sure you are a great Corian installer and fabricator but please to not miss lead these fine people on the subject of porcelain slabs fabrication and installation.

Stockett:

Speaking of manufacturers, do you remember silicone joints in Corian? Those were recommended by DuPont until fabricators started hard seaming with methacrylate and making them inconspicuous. Have you ever seen thermoformed Corian? Another practice not recommended by DuPont until fabricators started doing it. Coved backsplash? Yep, them dang fabricators again. It's one thing to make sheets, it's another to beat your competitors and make the lady put her hands to her cheeks and exclaim, "That's beautiful!" When guys are trying to make a living, they get a lot more creative than the desk jockeys and lab rats whose paychecks are not dependent upon the lady putting her hands to her cheeks.

By the way, "You're" is a contraction meaning "you are". You wanted to say "Your credibility with me is shot..."

Somebody is going to rabbet a sintered edge some day and if it's done right it's going to look better than the obligatory miter. It has to, the seam is facing out at your waist instead of up at your eye. Since there is more gluing surface; it's stronger, it's easier and therefore less expensive to fabricate, it's less likely to chip during fabrication, and is much safer for employees because there aren't two razor sharp delicate edges to handle. Watch the sintered manufacturers okay a rabbet after the fact. You read it here first.

STAY AWAY FROM NEOLITH! I have had this product for a year and it has been a nightmare from day one and continues to be. More than a dozen slabs broke before they even made it to the job site. After installation it cracked and chipped. Neolith blames installer and installer blames Neolith and I'm stuck in the middle having paid thousands of dollars for a horrible product. IT CAN NOT BE REPAIRED, it can only be ripped out and replaced for the nightmare to start all over again. STAY FAR, FAR AWAY from NEOLITH! Note that the only good reviews you will find of this product are from the people trying to sell it. Good luck finding an actual end user customer who has had a good experience.

staging, here's a happy customer.

I'm a happy end user customer too: [our kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/reveal-a-not-white-kitchen-dsvw-vd~4210569).

Hello Stagingstylist, we regret your unfortunate
experience with Neolith, we hope we are able to reverse your view. We respect your criteria of
assessment to the product, and we are aware that there are some projects in
which results can be not as desired by clients nor by us, however customer
satisfaction is what we stand for. We try to hear our customers, understand
their complaints, and keep them happy! If you could please share with us your
incident by writting an email to digitalmarketing@neolith.com and we promise you
from here the headquarters that we will investigate further and come to a
satisfactory solution for all.

In fairness, the happy linked Neolith customers have just had their tops installed. Let's give them some time please. The second has already acknowledged a chip.

In fairness, the happy linked Neolith customers have just had their tops installed. Let's give them some time please. The second has already acknowledged a chip.

Hello Stagingstylist, we regret your unfortunate
experience with Neolith, we hope we are able to reverse your view. We respect your criteria of
assessment to the product, and we are aware that there are some projects in
which results can be not as desired by clients nor by us, however customer
satisfaction is what we stand for. We try to hear our customers, understand
their complaints, and keep them happy! If you could please share with us your
incident by writting an email to digitalmarketing@neolith.com and we promise you
from here the headquarters that we will investigate further and come to a
satisfactory solution for all.

I have a 129” island so would need a seam. How do seams look in Neolith calcatta? Thanks!

It won't be Corian inconspicuous, but should be fine.