About to buy a marble island worktop

[Ipanema01]

We're about to order a marble top for our island, to go with white granite for our other work surfaces.
I've gone around the houses with this and looked at having porcelain as an alternative as I really want the look of marble, but the marble is actually less expensive so I'm going for that.
Am I going to regret it, will it stain/mark badly? Any tips on keeping it clean?
It'll be white with some large grey veining so I think you'll pretty much see everything - eeep

I went with Neolith Estatuario and love it! so easy going.

Hiahia that looks fab - is it stain proof/chop proof?
Where did you source it and if you don't mind me asking, was it expensive? How have I never heard of this!

In addition to the marble island we are also about to order a porcelain to match for our splashback - maybe this could work for both.

Also hiahia, it sounds like we're going to have almost identical houses

This mine looks exactly as you describe and it is silestone Lyra, looks like carrera marble but bombproof :)

ipanema01

Which bits make you say that about our houses?! :)

The neolith is everything proof! There's even videos of them having a fire on it.
I think it costs similarly to silestone/ceasorstone. The main cost is in the fabrication as it's a relatively new product so fabricators are a bit scared. Also easy to break at fabrication stage (but not once installed) so they try to cover themselves by including the risk in the cost a bit.
I love the product, so easy to use and fuss free. After some months of use, it's apparent that we made the right choice in eliminating marble as we often have (careless) guests cooking - if we had marble I would always stress and fuss about. Not nice.

Our fabricator wasn't so used to working it, and our setup was quite complex so we are unhappy about a fair few things, but nothing caused by the product itself. Find a fabricator that knows it well and you'll be delighted.

The patterns are the most realistic ones on the market I reckon. Also I recommend the matt finish, shiny would be a pain to clean / keep smear free. And finally, it defo would be ideal as splashback too as it's so thin. You could have the pattern bookmatched to the worktop's - so good.

hiahia - that sounded creepy, sorry!
You have commented on a couple of my other threads and your taste has sounded quite similar - I'm always having to convince my OH on the things I want so it's nice to see someone else has gone for something I'm looking for!
Thanks for this, we've sent an email to the closest supplier to us requesting quotes and samples. hoping they'll come back quite quickly as we need to order this asap - kitchen is going in as we speak.

I really wanted marble for my island but the kitchen designer dissuaded me. I heard tales of marks, etching and awful stains.

I went for Silestone that looks very similar in the end. Bomb proof and looks like new 2 years alter.

Oh no, unsure again now! what type of silestone did you go for FGSdontblameme ? The look I want is so specific I make life hard for myself...
Anyone who has marble and doesn't find it a pain?

haha ipanema01 not creepy, but I didn't remember, and our non-working profiles don't help remembering either.

You were keen on the dean forge stove, is that right? what else are we doing similar?! It IS nice to have a bit of validation on one's choices, when there are so many options for everything these days.

don't get marble unless only you cook in your kitchen and also... you never cook drunk! haha. some Neolith patterns have a very short lead time. what is the granite you're thinking of?

ipanema01 searching on mumsnet - the black taps.

To be honest it is YOU who somehow made me discover the Neolith product! Because it was kind of like the ceramic tile you were looking at for your bathroom, but suitable for the kitchen. so thank you very very much.

hiahia you're welcome!
I've been looking at these options for so long I'm going to be so relieved when the house is finally finished. Its mind boggling.
We do lots of cooking and entertaining in our house so it's probably unrealistic deciding on marble. I was set on a porcelain product but it came up slightly more expensive, and the supplier said that he would favour marble over the porcelain as it could chip which made me doubt it and go back to marble. I think I've looked at this so much I've lost it! Definitely going to wait to hear from the Neolith people and keep everything crossed it doesn't come out to be more expensive as we're really at the end of the budget now.
I want to have a long run of white blanco zeus granite for my main worktops with the island and splashback with the look of the Estatuario.
What thickness did you go for? I was toying with having whatever I chose built up to 60mm but I think I'm edging towards a thinner 20mm now - I want it to look as minimalist as marble can!

we're at snagging stage now, and I keep delaying my chasing the suppliers to come and finish their damn work because i am SO FED UP with having people around! I just want it all finished, but not think about it anymore at all whichever. aaaah #firstworldproblems.

If you go for 12mm thickness it will be much cheaper, as they won't need to build/up miter your edges. Check Houzz USA and GardenWeb for a lot of users' feedback and photos.
Ours are built up to 30mm which is what gave us quite a few problems (but nothing unresolvable).

sorry it's not Silestone (I looked at twenty zillion worktops)
it's this
www.lakestone-uk.com/worktops/quartz-worktops/compac/carrara-compac

This was the runner up
www.themarblestore.co.uk/Silestone%20/Blanco%20Orion/888

Have you been to a Stone Masons? Seeing big slabs of the stuff helped me decide?

Sorry for the silence, we've been away for the weekend.
Thanks FSGdontblameme, your options are both lovely! I really want mainly white with a thick strong dark vein running through. I've been to various stonemason's but its quite tricky to find that look unless you're going for marble - the only thing that has come close has been a porcelain.
I have ordered the Neolith product and the samples are waiting at the house (we're moving back in tonight), so I'm excited to see how they look. The quote came back at around the same as the marble so doable.
Hiahia, did you go for a neolith sink too?

Avoid the marble. Honest. I have not met anyone yet who doesn't regret it. Foods as simple as turmeric and lemon can permanently.

If you and the whole family are extremely careful, it will be fine but I wonder if you really want to be stressing over the marble for years to come.

Thanks thetigerisout, we're a rugby playing, Great Dane, party kind of house so I think I'd turn into a monster ensuring marble doesn't mark. Hoping the Neolith product is amazing

Ipanema01 - exciting!
Ideally you should go see the slabs in real life if you can, the samples are pretty small!
Sounds great that the price is the same as marble...

Not a Neolith sink, we had bought our Kohler sink in 2014! Neolith sink would make the kitchen/island look so good... but it's quite new, right - I would love to read feedback from other peeps who went for it. off to gardenweb then.

So what's the verdict?!

We received the samples but they are teeny, and they have a slight gold shade running through the veining which I don't want (it didn't look at all warm online). I think we'll go to see the slabs they have to see it in a larger format.

I am a fellow marble fan.

I got around the love for marble but hate the possibility of staining thing by having plain corian kitchen and the marble Saarinen dining table. Like this
www.houzz.co.uk/photos/21223945/greenwich-corian-kitchen-contemporary-kitchen-london

The table has an invisible polymer layer on the top that stops any staining issues. 3-and-a-bit years down the line all is good and I totally want to have this as my dining table for the rest of my life.

But I appreciate it isn't the same as having a kitchen in that style so mightn't be what you're looking for.

Thanks so much pootlebug, I really love your table - do you mind me asking where you bought it?
It's a really good compromise, I don't think I'm ready to compromise yet
The kitchen, entire room and floor are white so I really do need the marble/porcelain as a contrast I think, its also an Ikea kitchen so I want to luxe it up a bit. I'm waiting for the Neolith girl to come back to me in order for us to visit and look at the slabs they have up close before we make a decision.

Were your samples Estatuario or Calacatta?

Hey hiahia, we requested Estatuario but I'm wondering if they have sent us the wrong ones as they definitely had gold running through them, they look more like Calacatta gold to me. I just spoke to the girl and am going to their new showroom in Islington on Mon/Tues to have a look at the big slabs. I mentioned it to her and she agreed they shouldn't have any gold tones so hopefully they're just a mistake.
We've currently got fetching mdf on the top of our cupboards so it'd be nice to get this ordered!

Ipanema01.... aaaah the dreaded mdf. we had that for a few weeks too. so depressing.

Wow new showroom in Islington! nice. I will pop down next time I'm in London, even though I don't think I don't have any use for more neolith product in my house now! What a sucker, I should go work for them.

Fingers crossed it was a mistake indeed.