Hi mikaelamaya, I'm getting porcelain benchtops for my new kitchen, so like you, I'm interested in how other people go with them. I was listening to a radio segment the other morning ('Homies' with Simon Marney) and they said the new porcelain benchtops were more more stain resistant than composite stone benchtops, and suggested that a caller replace her stained benchtop with a porcelain one. That gave me hope! I've been testing a sample of Arte Domus (Sydney) porcelain and so far its resisted red wine, beetroot, turmeric, oil and tea. My only concern with it is whether it will chip easily. I guess I'll just sand back a chipped edge and call it 'patina'. I'm going for porcelain because of its matt finish and slim edge, and because I can get a whole slab for an island bench without joins. I'm also putting it on the bathroom vanities, so I hope I'll be happy with it. Anybody else out there with experience of this product?

I found this article when I was looking at benchtop material for a family member Porcelain sheets are the way forward, non staining and of no danger to the craftsman/maker Porcelain is more expensive than Quartz (both in raw material and in installation costs), but then so is marble. I am using a lot of Neolith in my house, so I shopped around to find a stone cutter who was crafty with maximising the use of each sheet of Neolith (to avoid wastage and minimise the number of sheets needed). It made a huge difference. My house was also designed around the sheet size - Neolith sheets are 3.2 metres long (so you can have a 3.2 metre benchtop or island without needing a join). You need to use 12mm (or thicker) sheets for benchtops. (Splashbacks and showers use 6mm thick porcelain sheets - Neolith does 2 different matching sheets for each marble design, so you can bookmark and pattern match the splashback). Also be aware that the marble pattern is only printed on the top of all of the brands of porcelain. If you want to continue the pattern on the “lips” of your benches, this needs to be a beveled edge (which you also need to do with quartz or marble if you want any thickness of “lip” to your benchtop). So you also have to factor in the stone cuts needed to create the benchtop “lips” when calculating sheet cutting and usage. I am not having edging on my benchtops and am instead going for the slim European look of “floating” benchtops. I am not worried that the 1.2 cm edge all the way around the benches will be plain white.

We have had composite stone bench tops for many years. First was Askilan (not even sure this is around anymore), then caesarstone which we had for over 15 years. It had one tiny chip at the edge of the under mount sink. It had a gloss finish in a white fleck and never showed a mark or stain. Replaced with a new caesarstone when we renovated the kitchen, this one has a Matt finish and shows more marks but us just as easy to clean - I love it.

I have a top Mount double bowl sink in my kitchen with stone bench tops. I don’t think it looks cheap.... AND, the second unused hole is not just “filled” by the plumber, but a “faucet hole cover” is installed and will sit almost flush with the sink surround. If you have under mount sink in your kitchen, how are you going to have dishes draining, before immediately hand drying. You will have to put some kind of draining board on the STONE, and that will look cheap. But if under mount sinks are included in the build, then go with that. But they don’t include somewhere to place pots and pans after washing and before drying by hand. Because you have stated that you are only having a single bowl sink in the kitchen.