Hi Erika, my company does commercial fitouts for clubs and pubs and we often use quartz stone table tops for bistro dining areas where they receive very heavy use (and abuse) and have had no problems with staining and/or chipping, and in these situations the chance of damage is high as they are moved regularly and not cleaned often enough. As you would be using them for benchtops the chances of chipping is minimal and as quartz stone tops are non-porous they do not stain like natural stone such as marble, hence the huge popularity of the marble-look quartz colours. We often see chipped edges on CL tops when used for commercial dining so they are not completely chip proof on the sides, but again in domestic situations the chance of chipping is much less.

It comes down to personal preference (and sometimes a good salesperson) but if you are going for a patterned stone such as the marble look and they are the same price I personally would choose the quartz over CL, as although laminates have advanced in the last few years you can tell a laminate top from stone quite easily by the edge - it either has a join, or the edge pattern does not exactly align with the surface pattern or the edge is a plain colour but the surface is patterned. Whereas the quartz stone pattern goes all the way through meaning your edges match exactly with the surface and the pattern is continuous.

Hi we have installed xenolith in our kitchen butlers pantry and three bathrooms. Let me know if you want some pics

Yes please. Is it easy to clean? Are you pleased with your decision? What did you do in the kitchen?

Hi yes very pleased with it and it’s really easy to clean - I just use a damp cloth. I will send you some pics.

And if you have a waterfall edge on the island they can vein match one side so it looks like one piece and the other side is pretty good too

This side the vein has been matched so it runs from the top down the side - sorry lights throw the colour a bit

Vs side vein not matched but pretty close

The tops are a lot lighter in the daylight

Thank you so much for taking the time to post photos. It looks great!

Can I ask if this is Xenolith D'oro or grey? It looks fantastic!

Hi it’s Doro - the grey is quite dark - I have a pic of someone’s vanity with the grey I will attach if you like

Thank you - would appreciate it. Are you still happy with the product a year down the track? We saw d’oro on display and loved it. In ‘real life’ do you think it throws as much brown as the samples?

Hi yes still very happy with our choice, it always looks great and a lot of people mistake it for marble. Stands up great to the kids too. We put the same colour in the laundry but in the laminate in matera and it is horrible to keep clean and wipe over! I wouldn’t really say it throws a brown more of a goldy grey colour- I have against both white and black cabinetry and timber look floor and doesn’t throw brown. The calacutta grey is very overpowering and when I seen a vanity made out of it was glad I didn’t go with it. I found some pics taken in daylight

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and post photos. It looks amazing! Thanks again - really appreciate the feedback.

Cj Smith are you still happy with your choice and do the benches get used a lot? We have a family of 6 and high traffic. Do you think it would stand up to it?

Anyone else used this product, we are considering it too? bradley_freeman1 did you end up getting it for your kitchen?

Hi Dana, Xenolith is a big step down from Quartz tops (Reconstituted stone) Xenolith is still after all just a laminate where unlike reconstituted stone tops the laminate Xenolith is softer and is prone to scratch when used in high work areas such as Kitchens. Littlethomo's post is correct.

Hope this helps,Malcolm.

Have you used Xenolith much or seen it in use anywhere?

We haven't used this product yet but will still consider it for our project. Quartz is the new asbestos and I'm not interested in using it. I have seen it on xenolith on display at south Brisbane the build and design

Hi Erika, with all due respect, you are misinformed; Quartz is not "the new Asbestos" . If it was then it would have been banned years ago. I do not know how you have come by this belief, but Quartz, also known as Reconstituted Stone and Engineered Stone is totally safe to the end consumer and to workers in the Manufacturing process and to the Fabricators who make it into benchtops and other products; providing they follow the fabrication guidelines developed for this material. You and anyone with the same misconception or concern should read https://www.caesarstone.com.au/health-safety to be better informed.

Zinolith which is made from Melamine formaldehyde, is in it's Particle Dust form hazardous during fabrication https://www.polytec.com.au/docs/technical/polytec-technical-sds-xenolith.pdf and just like working with Reconstituted Stone, Particleboard, Medium Density Particle Board, Plywood glued with Formaldehyde and all Laminates, all these products come with fabrication safety guidelines to meet Occupational Safety regulations for a safe workplace and end consumer safety.

I really do hope this information helps you and any other observer here who is reading your alarmist misguided comment and concern, Malcolm.

https://theconversation.com/engineered-stone-benchtops-are-killing-our-tradies-heres-why-a-bans-the-only-answer-126489

Here some food for thought. Plenty information out there about the risks and comparison to asbestos. No I will not be supporting engineered stone. Hopefully there will be a ban in the future.

Hello Erika, thank you for posting this link, but more importantly one should read the reference material it relies on; namely https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/562CF83B7AECFC8FCA2584420002B113/$File/NDDT-Final-Report-June-2021.pdf where this tabloid with its sensationalizing headline and selectively quoting from a single study and saying "there is increasingevidence dust control measures do not reduce the levels of silica to non-hazardous levels." all makes for a good story, however this so called "evidence" is of one small study that measured exposure and made its conclusions from dry cutting practices, which is a practice that is in contravention of existing Work Health Safety regulations.

So going back to the lead reference material of your link; the National Dust Disease Task Force Report, they identify the major problem is Non-Compliance of those said safety guidelines that I discussed in my earlier post, where this non-compliance is happening by some remaining Stonemasons who now knowingly don't comply with those safety guidelines.

I suspect I am not going to change your mind on this issue but I think it is wrong to demonize the product when the problem today is human behaviour of those wanting to save on their bottom line and knowingly fail to comply with set safety regulations. Your condemnation of this product is like saying all Cars should be banned because there are some people who drive recklessly. This report from the National Dust Disease Task Force is worth reading along with its recommendations to combat this non compliance.

Malcolm