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?

We got an engineered stone resurfacing in marble for our bench and splashback. Looks amazing. We went with Granite Transformations in Taren Point (Sydney), very happy with their customer service and speed of installation. We changed our sink and that could be easily done with the benchtop overlay. You could get rid of the ugly bullnose and get a straight edge too. They also do stone, which is a bit cheaper, but marble looks so good. Granite Transformations Sydney South

When anything goes wrong it’s what is written on the paper that prevails. If the quotation you accepted says drop in and that is the supporting document then you’re out of luck. A total redo would be at your cost. You may be able to negotiate that they do it at a discount out of goodwill.

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.