Scrumptious countertops!!

BEYOND gorgeous!!! Can I ask the approximate cost per sq/ft for the Nelolith? I am seriously considering this as a marble alternative. This or soapstone....hnmmm.

absloutely beautiful!

Very lovely!!!

I missed this somehow. It looks so gorgeous! You must be so excited!

I look forward to seeing your kitchen progress, I remember your kitchen from the layout threads and it struck my fancy. You have great taste!

Walt, you did it!! It looks amazing!!

What paint color or stain will you use on your cabinets? If paint color will be white, what shade of white? I'm having fits over matching Neolith Calacatta Silk with a corresponding white subway tile and white vanity paint in my mater bath. My designer is steering me toward "bisque," but it's not the look I want, and straight-up white is not quite a match.

BTW: What backsplash material will you use?

Yup, it finally all worked out, and so far I really like it. I'm out of town for a couple of weeks, and I'm anxious to get back and see it 'new' again. We ended up hiring a designer to help with colors, since I was overwhelmed into paralysis at having to make everything work, especially with a cabinetry peninsula now carrying into the dining room, etc. She put together a palette based on things we already have, a sample of the Neolith, our red stove, etc., and then suggested options within that for various parts of the kitchen and rest of the house.

To make a long story short, we're planning Sherwin Williams Amherst Gray for the base cabinets and Monroe Bisque for the uppers and pantry and fridge columns. So, yes, the bisque you don't want! :) I'm having a hard time visualizing it, and I ricochet between terror and trust. We shall see . . .

Backsplash will be Setto 2-Godai series in Wicker (more terror/trust). It has a whiter base than in the photo, a tannish outer border and a little 'bleed' of grey, and it's slightly concave so should add a nice texture to the wall:

You're a rock star, Walt! I can't thank you enough for sharing your cabinet colors and backsplash material. I'm with you on the terror, since it's such an outlay of time, inconvenience, endless drywall dust, and money.

Promise me you'll post photos again once cabinets are painted, and again when backsplash has been installed.

Can't wait!!! Thanks again, Walt!

I'm so glad it worked out for you on the Neolith! I remember answering some questions for you a few months ago. Looks great!! I still get a TON of compliments on my Neolith and am happy with my choice. Hope you are happy in the long run too!

I've looked at your photos about a thousand times jojo, and I love the long swaths of your counters. I'll definitely do a reveal as things move along. And Sherri, it dawned on me that the paint colors the designer is referencing are Benjamin Moore, not Sherwin Williams. I got the color names right though! Also, I got to thinking about the color palette she put together, and it includes Classic Grey as the 'white.' I assume she checked it with the counters, so you might want to give that a look.

Can't wait to see. I know it'll be gorgeously mind-blowing, since it already is!

Thanks for Benjamin Moore clarification. Really beautiful color palette with choices I hadn't considered.

Keep posting photos, Walt!

Walt, how do you like the feel of the silk vs the polished? When I felt the silk neolith slab it almost had a tile-like feel? But I do like the honed look of it as the polished is very reflective.

Also our wholesaler also had a satin finish neolith that seemed a bit smoother than silk but the slab was in the back so I didn't get a full look at it. Curious if you considered that finish as well. Thanks in advance.

Did is you use neolith in bathroom as well? Having trouble finding floor tiles that don't "yellow" the neolith.

@John-- The counters have been covered since shortly after install so I can't run my hands along them again to give an immediate impression, but I know it's not the same delicious, silky feel as real marble. I like that it's a bit more tactile than the polished and not as glassy feeling, plus the polished was far more reflective than I wanted. I finally came to the (unsurprising) conclusion that there are pros and cons to every counter material, so I had to pick the most important pros and accept the cons. As for satin, I didn't realize it was available and didn't see it. Drat. And I'm wondering if I should've waited to see a slab of the new Calacatta Gold. :) I never did manage to find any Calacatta slabs in Seattle and had to sneak away to stone yards while traveling, so polished and silk were all I saw.

The 2015 Neolith catalog says Calacatta C01/C01R is only available in Silk and Polished finishes in 6mm and 12mm thicknesses. Check online to see if 2016 now includes Satin. I haven't come across it.

To avoid the yellow tinge of Neolith Calacatta when pairing it with whites, we had our vanity painted in Restoration Hardware's "Stone" and walls in "Ash." (Our local paint company already had the colors on file.) Because there's so much color variation in our marble calacatta mosaic backsplash, there was no worry about clashing whites. The Cerim-Italy floor is 4"x36" tiles that look like wood and match the vanity paint color.

In our master bath, we were trying to match the yellowish-white of Neolith Calacatta to tiles and we came up empty. Then we discovered that Neolith Arctic White is the perfect match for the white background of Neolith Calacatta. Arctic White comes in Satin, Polished and Silk finishes, and 3mm, 6mm and 12mm thicknesses. Our fabricator said the Arctic White slab could be cut into tiles of any size and installed that way.

Still haven't figured out how to proceed, but will post solutions once we decide.

Above Photo: Neolith Calacatta-Silk countertop, Neolith Arctic White 2.5"x7" sample tile, and marble calacatta mosaic tiles. Poor quality photo, but it all blends really nicely together.

Those tiles match pretty closely. Where did you find the 3 tiles on the right?

The marble calacatta mosaic tiles on the right came from Ann Sacks, but most suppliers carry something similar, at a fraction of the Ann Sacks price. Each mosaic tile is 1.5"x3" and they come on a 12"x12" sheet.

They're real marble, so they need to be sealed. We learned a valuable sealing trick the hard way: We installed these calacatta tiles as a border in our guest bath shower and grouted them with Oyster Grey grout. But the grout color bled into the tiles slightly, creating a "blurred" grout line, rather than a well-defined line. Very disappointing.

So just before we grouted the same marble tile in our vanity backsplash, we applied some inexpensive stone sealer ($15 from Home Depot) between each tile with a foam paint brush and let it dry for 20 minutes. Then we grouted, and the grout line came out crisp and well-defined, no bleeding. The next day, we applied a heavy-duty sealer ($80 Meta Crème impregnating sealer) over the marble and grout to seal everything up for the next 10 years.

LESSON LEARNED: Applying an inexpensive sealer BEFORE grouting marble is an easy extra step that makes the whole job look cleaner.

I have been following your posts re: Neolith for months. Thank you for all of the information. How is the rest of your install? Are you still liking the silk finish, no regrets not getting polished? I am having an extremely hard time deciding. At this point, I am set to go with Calacatta in Silk but with the new Natural Honed finish. I got my slabs from Ollin in Anaheim and they only got two batches of the "natural honed" just last week. They look similar to silk, but are much smoother - closer to marble but not exact. I am going with the Native Trails farmhouse apron front sink in slate. Anyway, I look forward to hearing how things have gone for you!

Sounds beautiful. Post photos when you're in-process and when it's complete.

We're also using the smoother Calacatta Natural Honed finish - 6mm thickness for the back wall of our master bath shower. There's a large 9" recessed window smack-dab in the middle of the shower wall, so it will be interesting to see how the fabricators deal with making mitered seams where the window juts inward.

Two side shower walls will be tiled with 4"x16" white subway tiles.

We're using Neolith Calacatta Silk - 12mm thickness for shower bench, windowsill and vanity countertop.

Walt, please post photos of your kitchen remodel. Even if it's not fully complete, would love to see how your kitchen is shaping up!

Hi Sherri--thanks for asking! We're still an excruciatingly slow work-in-progress, but things are coming together nicely.

Millions of details to go, plus we still have most everything in storage.

I didn't know there was a new Neolith finish. Like new cars, I'm now coveting it. :) We're having a bit of problem with ours: when the GC took the protective covering off last week I noticed strange rows of evenly spaced little dashes all over the counters that wouldn't clean off, like it rubbed in transit or a machine left a residue of something. The blue tape in the first photo marks some of them. The fabricator came right out to clean it, but they over-polished a good half dozen spots, so there are now shiny patches in the otherwise-matte surface. I have no idea if or how that'll be fixed, but they've been back to look and agree it's a problem and the guy will talk with his boss.

Walt do you have gaps underneath your counter ?

Hmm, johnsmith, I guess we do have little ones. The first photo is the underside with a cabinet door open and the second is at a corner of a peninsula. There's a plywood underlayment everywhere, and I think they put a smoother piece of wood on the outer edge that's flush with the cabinet fronts. The overhang is pretty short, so the inside of the mitered edge is almost flush with the cabinet face. I'm sitting across the room looking at the peninsula now and I can't see a gap.

Okay, I just went and looked in more detail, and in most places there's little or no gap because the overhang is short, and the gap on the end of the peninsula seems to be because the cabinet and countertop are off square by 1/8 of an inch so the gap narrows down to nothing. The old house slopes so much in so many directions that I'd say 1/8 of an inch is basically dead on.

Thanks Walt. Mine looks similar. Do some of your edges have glue like look on them ? See my pics below.

Nope, our edges are all really crisp. Has your fabricator been back to try and fix that?

Looking good, Avatar! I am still loving that wall of windows at the end! And the matching top glass cabinets and windows with the window pane effect. I don't know what that is called, but I love that it all matches across the top! I can't wait to see a final reveal.

He came back to try to fix and in some places it looks better but I still have 3 or 4 places of a few inches where it looks like my picture. My fabricator said it couldn't be fixed. Hmm.

OMG, Walt! How beautifully it's turning out! Your backsplash is phenomenal, cabinetry is top-notch, and despite the dashes and shiny spots, your countertops look like a million bucks! Love the touches of red throughout your kitchen, and your awesome red range.

I'm intrigued by your kitchen flooring. Is it also Neolith?

Can't wait 'till you get to unpack your storage unit and move in!

Thanks Sherri, we're definitely enjoying it (impatiently :) ). The floor is plain old linoleum.

I love it! Kind of retro, in a very upscale way. Nicely done!

Walt, it IS really nice. It is clear, through all of the details, that you have put a lot of work and thought into this - it will be gorgeous. I am pulling the trigger on the natural honed neolith calacatta today. My fabricator has done MANY Neolith installs and is very comfortable with the material. In fact, he was just at another seminar yesterday, so I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

Finish already. It's really looking great. Love the floor and especially the red stove.

Those are the latest model of Gorilla Grips in the first picture; I'm jealous. They're stretching the hoses too far, however, and will develop a leak where the blue hose meets the brass nipple if they keep it up.

Maybe a clipped corner at the sink would look better. It's not too late:

"My fabricator said it couldn't be fixed."

johnsmith111:

Your edge should have been prevented, then it would not have to be fixed. That starts in the shop with saw blade selection, saw bed, and feed rates. It is as good as it's going to be without re-profiling the edge. How about a nice bevel?

AvatarWalt, we are templating for the Neolith this week.. I am in a panic about the reveal for my NativeTrails concrete sink, and I am hoping you can help.. Would you he willing to share an upclose picture of the front reveal of the neolith along the sink edge, as well as the thickness/reveal around the sink? My sinks are squared off but installer says they must do slightly rounded edges along the back of the sink or it will crack. Any help you can provide is GREATLY appreciated! Thank you!!!

Chillvineyard, sorry for the slow reply but we were out of town with sketchy internet so I didn't check email. Did things go OK?

Avatar Walt - can you tell me what pulls and knobs you used on the cabinets? Thanks!

French toast - we used the Aubrey pulls from Restoration Hardware in various sizes.

AvatarWalt - I think I have the edges all figured out, but they have not even come to template, as the cabinet guys have made many errors which have to be remedied. The electrician is working now and I think they will template tomorrow or the following day. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the response.

Looking forward to updates and photos, chillvineyard. Let me know if you still want to see any part of ours. We have enough (interminable) unfinished details that I haven't done a reveal yet, but hopefully soon (or soonish . . . ).

Avatarwalt, how is it holding up?!? I'm in the Seattle area, Woodinville, to be precise and am so tempted by neolith and thin porcelain slabs that look like marble but am concurrently terrified to put in something so new to fabricators. Also I have a 5yr old, 3yr old and 9mo old, so I worry about chipping edges/scratching etc.

would you recommend your fabricator still? Anyone else you used that you really liked?

Any feedback would be incredibly appreciated!!!

Yikes, I'll have to assume that given the passage of time you've already moved on, claraz8. I'm so sorry I didn't see your message and respond right away! In case it's still useful, after about a year with the counters in daily use, we do have a couple of small chips along the edge where DH has whacked it hard with a heavy pot. I'm not sure that any surface would have stood up to that (DH can be a bit of a challenge), and I haven't been bothered enough to see if they can be repaired. Other than that, they've been great--no scratches and completely easy to clean--coffee, red wine rings from bottles, rust from cast iron (we're not entirely fastidious), etc. has all come off with 409 or a bit of BKF.

The fabricator was Marmo e Granito, and I liked them. They were great about setting up appointments to see Neolith kitchens they'd done and were happy to spend time with me in the yard moving the templates around the slabs to get things as I wanted them. The mitered edges flow well too.

Again, sorry for the impossibly late response. What did you decide on?

Gorgeous kitchen! Thanks for following up after a year of use. It is easy to love a beautiful, new thing. Great to hear how well it handles life. I can't wait to use this in my new kitchen.

Hi Walt - Thanks for the update! Glad to hear your countertops are holding up, except for a few chips from DH whacks. (BTW: What is DH??)

Check out this link to another HOUZZ discussion site that talks more about Neolith, Dekton, and similar sintered stone products. There are lots of photos and discussions about triumphs, tribulations and cost from brave homeowners who have pioneered the use of these brand new products in their homes:

[https://www.houzz.com/discussions/neolith-calacatta-slab-dsvw-vd~3237120[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/neolith-calacatta-slab-dsvw-vd~3237120)

Thanks Sherri, I'll check out the other discussion. Always fun to see and read about our decisions. :). DH is "dear husband," though less dear when he's flailing about with a heavy pan. Sigh. ETA, I just looked at the other thread and it's one I've been enjoying all along, including your awesome bathroom.

I am very nervously almost contemplating the Neolith Estatuario for kitchen countertop in the 12mm. (I don't want to build it up. I want just a half inch thickness for countertop). Anyone have any recommendations for experienced fabricators/installers in NY area? should probably start a new thread.

photo of counter and backsplash