I’m looking at porcelain too so would love to hear from people who have used it. Or professionals who have used it as to what issues constraints they dealt with.

Thanks sc…. Are you able to post a pic? Do you have an overhang on island. I am wondering how it would be supported

Hi Kate,

sorry - this is the best kitchen island photo that I have to hand, not sure if it helps.

I dont have any overhang on my benchtops, so not sure how it would be supported. Might be best to call one or more of the porcelain suppliers (eg Neolith or Dekton or others etc) and ask them.

You can have a mitred/built up edge if you want, I opted against it as I like the look of the benctops "floating".

Forgot to mention - there would be less wastage if you dont choose a porcelain that needs to be pattern matched - my splashbacks and ensuite and shower walls needed to be pattern matched which added complexity to the planning and cutting for my stonemason (who did an amazing job of this and still maximised sheet use).

Cheers.

What a lovely kitchen

It’s a great kitchen. Well done
I was concerned porcelain might chip more easily on its edges. I had some samples that did chip more easily than engineered stone. . Have you had any issues in the edges of your benchtops?

Hi - no chipping or issues at all from my end on any of the benchtops (and I have a lot of porcelain benchtops - the kitchen island and 2 other seperate kitchen benches, the ensuite, the laundry and also on a built in cabinet in the new living room). My samples were all in the 6mm stock (which is only for walls/splashbacks) which is much more fragile, maybe that’s why the samples were chipping on you? Porcelain benchtops should be done using porcelain at least 12 mm thick, which is much stronger. Also, when the porcelain is installed, the stonemason polishes or mitres the edges, whereas this is not the case for samples - my samples had rough or “foxed” edges, whereas the benchtop edges are totally smooth. Not sure whether there may be any quality difference with different manufacturers of porcelain - I looked at both Neolith and Dekton and chose Neolith, so can’t comment on other suppliers. My stonemason, cabinetmaker and architect were insistent that I have flush/above mount sinks as they said that under mount sinks are risky for chipping on the edge. My stonemason was also adamant that I should not have a shower niche or ledge in the porcelain (though this might have also been to do with the pattern matching of the sheets as well as chipping risk) - we used a slimline metal shelf matching the taps and it looks fine.
My parents did a large kitchen renovation with porcelain (also Neolith) benches and splashbacks about 7 years ago and they have only had one chip - which happened very recently - they have quite thick mitred edges and dropped something very heavy right against the mitred edge and chipped the face side of the mitre). It was invisibly repaired by a mobile stone repair person - you cannot see where the chip or repair was, so that is comforting to me.
One more thing that I remembered - if you are having porcelain shower walls or splashbacks it is a good idea to preplan any drill holes and ask the stonemason to drill them for you pre install - Moorabbin Marble did this for me for the kitchen window blind fixings and the shower shelf - this avoids the need for other trades to try to drill into the porcelain shower walls/splashbacks.
I am a very keen cook and honestly have found the porcelain kitchen benches and splashbacks very carefree and really love the porcelain shower walls. It was a very big investment, so I am really pleased that it has been so easy to live with.
Hope this helps.

Beautiful kitchen, I also love the look of a floating benchtop, some years ago I did it with carefully chosen Plywood by Mr Plywood Newcastle, once sealed looked great and was very very cost effective,