Of COURSE it's grape! And the spilled cherry Kool Aid!

My dad recommended concrete everything (walls, cabinets, doors, etc).

We may look more into the soapstone. Any thoughts on durability of the Neolith stuff?

Neolith is new to the US market. It seems to be very tough. But I'm not sure you will find a lot of user reviews yet and none over a period of years. There have been some threads on here with pros weighing in so you might search for those if you haven't already. Dekton is a neolith competitor and Home Depot in my area carries it.

If you don't mind scratches as patina, you might consider stainless steel.

There are a few very durable granites, blue pearl comes to mind. But you still aren't supposed to set hot things directly on it (thermal shock can theoretically cause fissures). I think some people would say that granite already looks dated while others would say it never will--use your judgment on that.

Maybe quartz that has a marble look? Quartz masters makes a couple of good ones. There nave been recent posts by someone who had neolith installed that has experienced surface scratching from pots and pans.

I'll check out Dekton, I'm already headed to Home Depot in a few :)

As for granite durability. I've heard the heat thing before, and the guy who runs the stone shop in town took a blowtorch and heated it from the bottom and cooked a steak on top of it.. He does it once a year and uses the piece as a table in his showroom. Still looks great. :)

I agree that there are people on both sides saying granite is dated or timeless...

Sorry to hijack for a second but how does dekton work? Does your fabricator purchase slabs from home depot? I'm wondering how the aura color compares to neolith calacatta

All I know is that at my local home depot they have a dekton display with a price that includes installation.

I do remember at least one poster here who did have his granite crack due to thermal shock. I gather it depends on whether there is a fissure in the granite, which might not be visible or predictable. I think many people do put hot things directly on granite with no ill effects so it's just up to you to assess the risk and whether you want to take it.

Engineered quartz also says you should use trivets with hot things. I think in that case the resin that's used to make it can scorch.

We had granite for 20 yrs and it survived being cut directly on, hot pots/pans on top, food spilled and god knows what. We never did anything to it other than washing with soap and water. I didn't even know about resealing until reading GW after the kitchen demo.

A few random thoughts...

Engineered quartz can tolerate temps up to ~400 degrees F without damage (Consumer Reports tested this), so anything that contains liquid water that's not boiling violently is completely safe and most dry things out of the oven are safe as well. Installers will tell you that heat damage is the most common failure mode with quartz, and I beleive them, but what this means is that people are placing things hotter than 400 degrees F directly on their counters - how hard is it to NOT do that?

The bacteria in granite thing is totally bunk. They said the same thing about wood cutting boards and butcher block back in the day, and it's simply not true that bacteria thrive on/in these surfaces, at least not if you let them dry out. In fact almost all of the bacteria in our kitchens is in our dishwashing sponge: http://www.webmd.com/news/20070625/top-spots-for-bacteria-at-home

If you're worried about staining, concrete is the worst and all light colored natural stones are close behind. I actually like the look of concrete countertops, but concrete is not a good material for kitchen counters due to it's porosity and tendency to chip. And light natural stone would be a constant worry for me. I can't even begin to imagine how many wine bottle rings and coffee stains I'd have around here if I had marble counters.

LOL, my wife saw a similar thread about bacteria in the kitchen and threw out all our sponges and stuff!

I picked up a couple samples of Dekton from Home Depot. The sales associate told me it was nearly indestructible, and I introduced her to my daughter. I handed my daughter the samples, and we didn't get 6 feet before she dropped them. No harm. She managed to knock one off the counter at checkout and it landed RIGHT on the corner. Took a nice gouge in their floor, and a LITTLE chip out of the sample.

When I got home I got a variety of pots, pans, skillets, and cutting tools. Stainless Steel Cuisanart sauce pan, Calphalon sauce pan, Calphalon skillet, cast iron skillet, big stock pot, meat cleaver, pizza cutter, and a santuku knive.

SS pan did nothing. The two calphalon and the cast iron left a mark, BUT, it was the pan coming off onto the Dekton. I was able to rub it out almost entirely with my thumb. The knives did nothing, and I told an old knife and stabbed the point into the sample several times (blunting the knife) and it did not leave any marks.

Lastly, I took the corner of one sample and used it to scratch the other (I pressed *HARD*). That left a scratch, and while I could rub it almost out, you can still see a faint scratch. It could probably be easily buffed out.

I think it performed quite well. For good measure, I subjected my 4 samples of granite to the same tests, and while they did perform well, there were more noticable marks in the granite (granite on granite was particularly bad).

Really my only disappointment was the lack of colors/designs. They pretty much had solid colors, with a couple that looked like wood. I liked the Pulpis with the Neolith.

Hi dizzy149! I'm with TheSize, manufacturers of Neolith. It's a super durable (and beautiful!) product, as others have mentioned above. You can check out another Houzz user's experience here. I'd be happy to send you some samples of the product to test out for yourself!

If you can message me with your location and which samples you'd like, I'll start that process. You can browse the color options here. Thanks!

I posted recently about the red drink mix that did not stain my unsealed carrara marble--unsealed because I roll pie crust and biscuit dough on the counter, and don't mind the oil stains. I wouldn't trade it, but I'm very accepting of the patina. I like the vintage look, and I think it goes well with the age of the house--what 85 yr old house would have a perfect counter? And marble is really great for a baking counter.

Agreed, I wouldn't mind the patina.

Thank you TheSize, my wife and I will review the options and get back with you.

What about someone reporting deep scratches in their Neolith? Here

I read that and it's why I wanted to do some tests myself. I'll get some samples and do some practical tests, then some brutal tests (ie let my daughter play with them for a week).

"Engineered quartz can tolerate temps up to ~400 degrees F without damage (Consumer Reports tested this), so anything that contains liquid water that's not boiling violently is completely safe and most dry things out of the oven are safe as well. Installers will tell you that heat damage is the most common failure mode with quartz, and I beleive them, but what this means is that people are placing things hotter than 400 degrees F directly on their counters - how hard is it to NOT do that?"

Joe, you sure that's not a UV light effect?

Joseph Corlett what is the damage from at the soap dispenser area?

Oh wait I see there was a rubber mat on top. Will that just dry out? My sister's caesarstone looks discolored by the faucet

"Joe, you sure that's not a UV light effect?"

Neither mark was exposed to direct sunlight. I had no reason to not believe this customer when she said she only kept her coffee maker in that location, although I've heard some whoppers, like candle wax etching estone.

The mark from the mat will not just "dry out". The soapy water trapped by the mat has etched the estone as it would with most natural stones.

Hi Joe,

Just to clarify, is it your professional opinion that the mark under the Keurig machine was caused by heat, or is it more likely that it was caused by UV light (or lack thereof in this case since the area in question was exposed to less light than the surrounding area), some kind of etching effect, or water deposits? The bottom of Keurig machines don't get hot to the touch, so to me heat damage is the least likely of these, but you're the expert.

Have you take a look on StonePeak large porcelain panels ? Maybe can be a good alternative for countertop

http://www.stonepeakceramics.com/plane.php

We have polished Absolute Black granite and nothing stains it, marks it, scratches it, etc. We also routinely put pots/pans straight from the oven and the cooktop on the surface - but I do usually put them near an edge hoping that the expansion will occur w/o causing a crack b/c it's so close to the edge to expand into. No idea if it does, but it psychologically keeps me happy! :-)

I sometimes cut on the counter - but not with my good knives! Not b/c the knives will harm the counters, b/c the counters will dull my knives!
.

The only downside is that if you don't wipe your counters at least every other day, dust will start to accumulate and will show. Ours are wiped daily (whether used or not) as part of the normal cleanup, but not everyone does the same.

Oh, and my granite has never been sealed - it's too dense. Sealing stone that doesn't need to be sealed can actually cause issues b/c the sealer isn't absorbed. Instead, the sealer remains on the surface and can cause a haze or other issues. (The sealer has to be removed to fix the issues.)

gaucho_gordo:

I was dumbfounded when she told me it was from the Kurig. It isn't UV, no way. I'm still undecided. Customers fib.

buehl:

I've been called to fix AB cracks from heat. They're the worst, because unlike a percussive crack, they are still deadly tight making adhesive application problematic. Magic marker and live with 'em is about all anyone can do.

won't need to be paranoid about getting disease if it isn't sterilized every 24 hours

??? In my 56 years, I have never sterilized a counter, no matter what it's made of. We very rarely get sick around here either. We also have the 30-second rule for eating something dropped on the floor. Unless it's butter or PB side down, of course. (Don't worry, I treat food for company much more preciously.) Oh, and when we're camping, if we drop something, we just brush off the dirt and eat it anyway. When backpacking, I don't even bother to brush off the dirt. I'm usually too hungry to bother.

The more people sterilize, the more they are susceptible to germs and bacteria. I think my policy is working. I can travel in foreign countries, drink the water and eat street food, and not have any problems. (Hoping I haven't jinxed myself now.)

"The more people sterilize, the more they are susceptible to germs and bacteria. I think my policy is working. I can travel in foreign countries, drink the water and eat street food, and not have any problems. (Hoping I haven't jinxed myself now.)"

LOL, that's funny. Before I got married I used to travel to Mexico and the Carribbean quite often and I ate the street food and stuff all the time. No issues.

I get married and she's a freak about germs and I've been sick, had food poisoning, and pneumonia more times in the past 5 years than the rest of my life. To be honest, I never had pneumonia or food poisoning till I moved here, and only had the flu once (had it EVERY year since I moved... Even with the flu shot).

I'm like that with my daughter though. 10 Second rule, and unless it's got something real funky on it, just brush it off and eat it. On our old carpet, we call it "floor seasoning" :P

Did you know that a popular medical treatment for US patients is to import poo from third world people and insert it into our ultra sterilized bodies (intestines) so that we can get the healthy bacteria that our bodies evolved with.

We've used so much antibiotics and sterilization that most of the US population is missing around 70% of the necessary bacteria for healthy bodies.

Sorry for the graphic discussion.