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Silestone Leather

14 years ago

Hello!

I am looking at installing Black Tebas Silestone in a leather finish. Anyone have any experience with this finish? I LOVE a matte countertop and the only other thing I have found that I like is a dark Corian, which I have been told scratches HORRIBLY.

Thanks so much!

Heidi

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Comments (5)

User
14 years ago
I was under the impressin that the leather finish has been discontinued. None of my fabricators offer it any longer due to the heightened care issues associated with it and the fact that it shows fingerprints pretty badly. Even when they offered it, the customer had to sign a waiver of understanding about those issues. Ultimately, Cosentino stopped offering the leather finish because of that. Perhaps I am wrong, and it's just my fabricators who no longer want to deal with the hassle and stopped carrying it, but I seem to recall being told this by the actual Cosentino rep.
barthelemy
14 years ago
There is also a matte Caesarstone if you like quartz counters.

I do not have it installed, but I have Silestone leather samples, and they do show fingerprints and metal marks. I also have honed Caesarstone and it seems that it does shows fingerprints as much as Silestone Leather.

The Cosentino representative I met told me that their leather finish requires sealing every two years in a kitchen environment(please note that I'm in Europe, maybe Live_Wire_Oak is right stating that it is no longer available in the US).
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I have Caesarstone in a honed finish. The color has been discontinued (sadly), but it is a sandstone-type color. Regarding the "metal marks" mentioned above -- if a metal pan is dragged across the surface, it leaves a dark mark. I have AllClad pans in the "Master Chef" finish, which is a matte aluminum exterior. This may be more prone to leaving marks than a polished stainless, for example. My countertop fabricators left me with a can of Ajax when they did the counters a few years ago, and advised me to use it whenever there was any kind of staining on the countertop. I have done so, and it is 100% reliable at removing any marks, including these metal marks as well as ink (from a grocery bag). It's really not something that I worry about at all, and I *love* my honed counters. Now I'm making some changes in the kitchen, and since my color has been discontinued, I'm faced with replacing my counters. Caesarstone has fewer honed colors now, and it's very disappointing because I hate the way that polished surfaces reflect my lighting.
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Thanks for the info. I'm putting all sorts of stuff on my Grey Amazon sample to see how it wears. I have a feeling this this going to be a struggle, though, trying to convince my husband to look at this more practically. Our neighbor has concrete countertops and there are dark areas and irregularities in the finish that give it character, and he doesn't see to take issue with that, so maybe a concrete lookalike that develops those qualities may be acceptable to him. I just know I'm not going to take care of a countertop any more than as needed, and I'm the pretty much the sole user of said countertop.
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My fabricators quit handling the leather finish. When they did handle it, they required a signed waiver from the customer acknowledging that the counters would show dirt and fingerprints more and be more difficult to clean. Not many customers wanted that finish after being apprised of the upkeep. Then it went away entirely. I believe Cosentino is on the fence currently about keeping it in the lineup.
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I would caution you against Silestone leather until you get more feedback. I have to get the facts from a friend out of state, but she has had no end of problems with it and dealing with Silestone. She spoke to their representative, Craig (not sure last name) and he was not helpful and basically left her on her own with the problem.
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doonie
14 years ago
I have 2 slabs of leathered Yellow Nile silestone awaiting installation in May. I am getting mine through a local fabricator, but when I looked into it 6 months ago, Home Depot carried many samples of the leathered Silestone.

Home Depot had stopped carrying Black Tebas when I went to collect my samples due to the fingerprinting issues mentioned by live wire oak, but they still have the leathered in the lighter finishes, which don't have the fingerprint issues.

So, you might just check at your local Home Depot for information.
MariposaTraicionera
14 years ago
Someone I know was also told about the leather needing sealing, so check into all of that carefully. Silestone is not as maintenance free or HARD as they would lead you to believe!
jsweenc
14 years ago
Leathered granite, OTOH, is a different story! We did get a sample of the leathered caesarstone when we first started looking. The pits on it (intended) made DH balk. I decided I didn't like the shiny finish and in the end we looked at granite instead. Ended up going with a leathered black and so far the only thing it shows is anything with fat, but that is eliminated with a quick swipe. I can't see fingerprints at all.

Price wise, I don't think quartz, especially leathered, will be any better than granite.

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