Hi Littleswamp, yes this can happen to porcelain when benchtop edges are knocked with reasonable force, especially by heavy metal objects. Extra care needs to be exercised.

Hope this helps, Malcolm.

Thanks - helpful

Depends on how rough you are? I have specified porcelain for over 7 years, and my clients haven't had any problems with the product - I love, It is durable if treated right.

I have Neolith porcelain benchtops and splashbacks in the kitchen, laundry and bathroom (and full height sheets in the shower too) and benchtops in the living room. I have had no trouble and love it. I am not rough with it, but have found it very easy to maintain. My stonemason was adamant that I not have undermounted sinks (so the kitchen and laundry sinks are minimal thin edge top mounted and bathroom is a vessel sink). My stonemason also talked me out of having a shower niche. It is really important to have an experienced and talented stonemason for porcelain and to listen to them on what you should and should not do. I found that the experienced and confident stonemasons were actually significantly cheaper too as they were not padding their quotes to cover an expectation of ruining sheets on the cutting and get the most possible out of every sheet. I am in Melbourne and used Moorabbin Marble who were fantastic.

Thank you. I live in a small rural area and there are no local stonemasons so all has to be transported and that is a factor. Thanks for your input

One more thought - was your sample the 6mm thick (which is only for splashbacks/walls) or the same thickness as a benchtop - which should be 12mm thick (or thicker) porcelain, which is much stronger? (I just checked my original samples and they were the thinner 6mm and not the thicker benchtop grade, which would make a big difference in strength).

No just thin ones from caesarstone -6mm -the thicker ones would be better