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?

It is always best not to look too closely at construction! I've discovered that every tradie seems to have the same way of solving problems: "do the first thing I can think of". Sometimes it is fine, other times not. Our stone benchtop is being fitted tomorrow and I'm going to *try* not to look underneath!! Sorry, no actual advice...

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.

I have Neolith porcelain benchtops and splashbacks in the kitchen, laundry and bathroom (and full height sheets in the shower too) and benchtops in the living room. I have had no trouble and love it. I am not rough with it, but have found it very easy to maintain. My stonemason was adamant that I not have undermounted sinks (so the kitchen and laundry sinks are minimal thin edge top mounted and bathroom is a vessel sink). My stonemason also talked me out of having a shower niche. It is really important to have an experienced and talented stonemason for porcelain and to listen to them on what you should and should not do. I found that the experienced and confident stonemasons were actually significantly cheaper too as they were not padding their quotes to cover an expectation of ruining sheets on the cutting and get the most possible out of every sheet. I am in Melbourne and used Moorabbin Marble who were fantastic.