Silestone quarts, going on 4 years. The edges chip very easily. We have heavy All Clad pots and pans and they have left several chips on the edges around the sink. I was annoyed at first, I don't care anymore. Kind of annoying though considering the price and how they claim it is chip resistant.

What kind of edge do you both have? My Cambria is only 7 months old, no chips yet. Mine has a rounded edge.

We have had Caesarstone in the kitchen for 3 years. Some small chips around the sink. I bought a product on Amazon to repair the chips, which did not do it perfectly, but filled and masked them well enough.

I would make the same choice again, as I am happy with the look for my kitchen and lack of staining. And not a fan of the look of granite.

About a week after we had Caesarstone installed, I found a chip above the DW. It could have been chipped during fabrication and pulled loose by a sponge, because that's where I found the chip. Or we could have bumped it while loading/unloading.

We had an install issue and replaced the Caesarstone with Pentalquartz. I was a little afraid to go with Caeserstone again as it had some weird white blotches, and I could view my PQ slabs locally. My second countertop arrived with a repaired chip from fabrication. It is a little shinier than the rest of the counter, otherwise I wouldn't have noticed. In the 18 months that we've had Pentalquartz, there's a tiny chip inside the sink, noticeable only by feel. I have bumped the edge with a pan a few times but it didn't chip, though it makes me nervous.

It's just two of us and we're careful. We have an eased edge, but a rounded edge is really the best choice, especially in a busy kitchen.

I've had Caesarstone (Smoky Ash) for a little over 2 years. Eased edge. No chips anywhere, no damage of any kind to report. My sink has a positive reveal. I live alone and don't do lots of entertaining.

I've had Silestone Blue Sahara for 10 years with no chips or problems. It is just the standard eased edge.

Only 5 months in, but no chips in our Silestone counters so far. And I've banged the edges several times, especially around the dishwasher. We have about the sharpest edge you can get, ~1/8 - 1/4" radius, so I guess we're living dangerously, but we've been lucky so far

Almost a year with Silestone Lagoon. I have an ogee edge and an eased edge around the sink. No chips yet with pretty heavy use and a 12 yr old boy.

About 10 months since the install, eased edge, and no chips. I have an apron front sink for cleanup, so perhaps this reduces the risk (I notice a lot of the issues reported are near the sink). I'm more scared about cracking my fireclay sink (these new Demeyere pans I've been convinced to buy via GW are uber heavy!)

Only a couple of months in, so I probably shouldn't even respond, but we have Ceasarstone (Organic White) with eased edges everywhere (kitchen and two bathrooms), no chips at all.

Cambria Darlington, eased edge, 3 years, nothin' (!)

Cambria Buckingham, 1.75 years, eased edge, not a single chip!

Like sjhockeyfan, we are only a couple of months into our remodeled kitchen ("Winfield Kitchen" on Houzz) and we love our Silestone on the island and our Daltile OneQuartz on the perimeter counters. I have held my breath after knocking some heavy items (stoneware baking sheet, cast iron pan) into the area around the sink, but so far they have held up.

Here's a tip for avoiding chips above the dishwasher. Place a cutting board on the counter pulled almost up to the edge and leave it there. You won't chip the counter and it provides a good landing area for hot things anyway. That's what I have done after getting three small chips on the edge of my marble countertops.

We've had our Hanstone counters for almost a month, which I know isn't very long, but I've had a couple of blunders already - dropping a screwdriver (business end pointing downward!) from a few feet above the counter, and banging the corners in the stove area with the stove while sliding it back after sealing the backsplash - and not even a tiny chip or scratch thus far.

We have Silestone on the perimeter in Cygnus. Love the look. About a week after installation a glass fell out of the cabinet onto the counter. The glass didn't break, it hit the counter at an angle on the bottom rim of the glass. But there is a very tiny, or should I say very, very, tiny chip in the countertop that is white. You have to be right over it to see it. But it did give me pause to know that it will chip and be white underneath. I'm very careful now, but I still love the countertops. We have granite on the island.

We have cesarstone chocolate truffle which is made with recycled glass and we have a half bull nose edge. 4 years in and there is the tiniest bit if a chip that I feel when I clean the counter surface...I think it's due to the fact that the glass isn't as tough as the quartz as close inspection shows it's the glass that's chipped. Otherwise no problems at all.

Thanks, everyone - very interesting to hear your experiences. We have an eased edge on our Caesarstone kitchen countertops. I have Cambria in the master bath and I have banged it a couple of times with a glass, and no damage. My understanding is that all quartz is essentially made the same way, but I noticed that none of the Cambria owners above reported chips.... I wonder if there could be a difference?

A round edge is a good suggestion. I am not a fan of granite, especially for the look I am going for in this kitchen, and if I decide against quartz I would consider Corian (I love Corian!) but my architect/builder literally grimaced when I said that. :) I need to show him how beautiful Corian can be.

When you're a fabricator, the first thing you look at is how to cut costs to become more competitive. Rounding edges at sinks is usually the first thing to go. The eased edge looks nice and is cheap to do.

Unfortunately, the more expensive 1/2" radius edge is much more practical. Fabricators do their customers no service when they don't try to up-sell.

Of course price-shopping consumers are getting just what they deserve too.

Trebruchet - that is interesting. I picked the eased edge because I preferred the look, not based on price. However, the fabricator didn't say anything to me about practicality. So they most definitely did not try to upsell, and I would have appreciated the information!

I also prefer the look of the eased edge over rounded. Rounded edge would not look right in my kitchen & bathrooms.

In our last home we had Silestone Kala Hari for 12 years. There were a couple very small chips around the sink, and a couple places on the flat part where particulates had popped out. None of them were visible, but I could feel them when I ran my fingernail over them. Was not an issue for me at all.

I've had Silestone Tebas Black in my current kitchen for 9 years, no chips to date. I have the standard eased edge.

That being said, I'm still struggling with what countertops to go with for the new house.

trebuchet-
can this 1/2 radius edge be done just at the sink? would it look odd if the rest of the counters are eased?

clarification:
1) when people say "chips at the sink" do they mean the countertop edge in front of the sink, or the countertop edge *inside* the sink?

2) when I asked my question about about 1/2 radius edge at the sink, I meant inside the sink, not at the countertop edge in front of the sink.

This post was edited by illinigirl on Fri, Mar 28, 14 at 20:17

Interesting read. Glad I stuck with my plan for a drop-in sink in our coming quartz counters.

"can this 1/2 radius edge be done just at the sink? would it look odd if the rest of the counters are eased?"

Yes, it can be done at just the sink. No, It doesn't look odd at all and looks a hell of a lot better than a chipped edge.

we have had Cambria Quartz kitchen countertops for two years. We love them, no chips and I would use Cambria again for sure!

"No, It doesn't look odd at all and looks a hell of a lot better than a chipped edge."
How true!

So, to summarize: What's the best edges in terms of preventing chips, both for undermount sink and general edge? For everything, rounded over eased? Or definitely rounded for the sink because that's where chips are most likely?

I prefer the look of eased but not if it's chipped.

Silestone Mahogany - about 6 years now - not a chip in sight. Love it - and I do not baby it at all

to add to the rounded edge at the sink discussion: how does the reveal choice change the likelihood of chipping? Does a positive sink reveal lower the chipping likelihood?

We got an eased edge in the bathroom, but a slightly more rounded edge in the kitchen, just for the chipping issue. Our fabricator told us Caesarstone was somewhat harder and less prone to chipping than the other brands, all other things being equal. Something to do with warm-curing vs cold-curing... I don't know, we made our selections based on the colors we needed.

"So, to summarize: What's the best edges in terms of preventing chips, both for undermount sink and general edge? For everything, rounded over eased? Or definitely rounded for the sink because that's where chips are most likely?"

The bigger the roundover, the less likely to chip.