Thanks for posting. This does seem like the dream material. I was sad when my Neolith estimates in Baltimore were several multiples of any other stone that I was considering. Hopefully the prices will come down as people get familiar with fabricating it.

"Hopefully the prices will come down as people get familiar with fabricating it."

This was one of the topics that came up in a class at Coverings in Orlando last week. Imagine cutting an expensive sheet and having it break on the table. Someone's got to pay for that sheet and it ain't all gonna be the fabricator.

The tooling manufacturers are gearing up and successful fabrication techniques will be learned and passed around by fabricators. Neolith and Dekton didn't invest a quarter billion apiece on something they think will flop.

If the install price wasn't way out of our price range, I would have jumped at using this material in a heart beat. No, wait, less than that. There aren't many things I'll miss about my old kitchen but one of them is the 12 x 12 porcelain tiled island. 21 yrs old and still looked great, even the edges.

As I've posted before, in Europe (I priced Switzerland), Neolith is in the same price range installed as quartz. I also thought that posters from California reported substantially lower prices than on the East Coast.

How do the samples feel? Dekton seemed really rough.

The stores near me (Bay Area) said that the polished Estatuario would come out mid May. I told them to contact me when they got a slab or samples, so will try to post more photos and impressions of them once they do. How do you like the Silk texture?

If we don't like the Neolith Estatuario or Calacatta, we have officially decided we are just going to go for the real thing (marble)!

That sounds promising. i was so disappointed by the Dekton feel.
What's that white spot on the upper edge of the lower right sample?

The white spot is a chip that was there when the samples arrived. The samples weren't cut very gently and the edges are rough. I'm sure they'd be finished much more nicely for installation, but I do want to try whacking them with something to see how chip-resistant they are, as the edge profile will have to be pretty sharp. Any suggestions for a good chip testing tool?

As for the texture, the honed samples all feel nice (only one of them is marked Silk, so I'm not sure what the others are): tactile without being bumpy if that makes sense. Below is a photo of Neolith Pulpis on the left and Dekton Sirius on the right--the colors are off because of glare, but I wanted to try and capture the difference in textures.

girlguineapig:

Respectfully, the "real thing" is hardly comparable.

I would like to see that chip test. The edges seems to be weak in these kind of countertops and we need users to show their experience in real use (glass/porcelain/anything falling against that borders).