I'm not a pro or anything but I would go with Quartz! It's maintence free! I wouldn't go with tile.

There is a porcelain countertop product that is solid, not tiles. From what I can see I believe that us the porcelain product somaca is referring to.

Large format porcelain is about 2x as expensive as quartz. And it has issues with edges, as it's thin. Buildups need to be mitered, and will not be as invisible as a solid product. Have them show you a sample of an edge before you go too far down that road.

Thanks everyone. Yes, thx wsea, on the porcelain I am referring to the large formats like 60"x60" or 60" x120". Thx Sophie too about the advice on the edge and the heads up on pricing. I'm awaiting pricing to come back on both of these. Will share my findings.

Ceaserstone for a more tailored, modern look. It has some amazing colors! Don't fear color!

Carrera marble for a more rustic/historic look. It's been used in kitchens for hundreds of years, and the stains and flaws just add soul and warmth, plus it's killer for rolling out pastry!

It gets better. Granite, which is generally bomb-proof, is overused and will look dated.

There is another material that uses recycled glass in a medium. It's very pretty, comes in colors, and is a "green" product. http://www.vetrazzo.com/eng is one of the makers, but there are others.

Hi Somaca,

Would be interested to know what you ended up picking?

I am also deciding between Porcelain slab and Ceasarstone.

Thanks in advance.

I debated the two also, and ended up going with Caesarstone only because the porcelain slab products are so new that I've run into contractors that shy away from it because there aren't enough fabricators who are skilled enough to do them well. Quartz has been around for so long that experienced fabricators are easy to find. I was not willing to take the chance, because I've seen SO MANY poor fabrication jobs I've seen even in granite and quartz.

I ended up not doing porcelain nor quartz in the kitchen and instead went with a natural stone (quartzite) for the kitchen. However did do large format porcelain in the galley kitchen and for a rooftop deck countertop. In the bathrooms (except master) and laundry went with the caesarstone. Very happy with all the choices.

Hi Soma, We are now in the same boat! Our fabricator said porcelain countertop with mitered edges is very susceptible to chipping. like even a broke glass will chip the edge and it is impossible to repair. Is that true? Would like to hear your experience, since you have been using it for 3 years now.

"Our fabricator said porcelain countertop with mitered edges is very susceptible to chipping. like even a broke glass will chip the edge and it is impossible to repair. Is that true?"

Pretty much, unless you get a sintered/ultracompact that has the veining that goes all the way through. Now you could have a much more rounded edge that would be much less susceptible to chipping.

Hi! Our porcelain slab on our roof deck did suffer a hair line crack that I don’t know what occurred to make that happen. No issues with our galley kitchen tho it is low traffic area. Minus the hairline crack, love that it doesn’t etch and still looks like it was just installed.

Hi Soma,

We are currently trying to decide between quartzite (perla venata) and porcelain-laminam for our kitchen. Several months post renovation, are you happy with your quartzite countertops? Given you experience with both materials, would you ever consider using porcelain for a busy kitchen?. Would appreciate hearing from you.

Has anyone used porcelanosa krion in the kitchen? I have been spoiled by my otherwise hated white tiles with its grout all these years but it's so durable? I'd like to know if krion will be a good choice for our kitchen remodel. I read that it has 33% resin, like Corian, so it may look weathered quickly, more so than quartz/silestone/Caeser stone contenders. The krion looks really pretty. We have 3 cooks in the family, so what's best?

I found out, that one of my favorite Toronto designers use Laminam surface on her whole kitchen island. And I fall in love in that colour! So I was planning to use in all my kitchen Laminam...but now I am confuse...is it safe material to use in kitchen. I was watching video that Laminam is very durable, you can cut, you can even burn it with fier and it will be ok. But what if I hit it with a dish. I would love to hear some more experiance with Laminam product in kitchen.