It’s no secret that Neolith worktops, also known as sintered-stone or ceramic, are one of the hottest kitchen surface products on the UK market. And not for lack of reason – they are incredibly durable, come in a variety of colours, are exclusively thin (even as little as 3mm in depth) but above all they are beautiful creations that over the years became a synonym of modernity, luxury and exclusivity.
The issue is – are the last two categories really adaptable to Neolith products in 2022? Do you only see Neolith in luxurious homes and apartments? Are they truly exclusive just to the richest middle & upper classes?
The simple answer is resolute no.
While Neolith is still durable as ever and still maintains its reputation of a contemporary product seeped with elegance, these products have become very affordable prices over the past few years. Nowadays you can purchase for example a slab of Iron Corten (a popular rusty, metallic-looking hue), for as little as £65 pm2. These are very decent prices, and if you really want to, you can clad your kitchen with Neolith tops for just over £2k – these are prices given for many quartz and granite worktops.
Of course that sum is a very rough estimate. The actual price will depend on your kitchen surface area, you demand for the material, its thickness, delivery and installation costs, extras you choose (recess drainers, radius edges, sink cut outs, upstands) etc. But the point is, if you have a small kitchen, you can complete your worktop project for less than £2.5k. If you wish to get a proper, outlined Online Quote for Neolith Worktops, feel free to contact a specialised company here.
We suggest these suppliers because they have very good credibility. We’ve built that opinion by studying their reviews online, long history of worktop installations and their prices. We’ve spent some time on their price calculator, which is indicative of very reasonable pricing (a uniform decent price range across the UK). You’re welcome to try out their quote system yourself, it’s very comprehensive and takes less than 5 mins to complete. If you have any doubts or questions, feel free to phone Polish Granite or comment below.
To conclude the matter of Neolith costs, we want to highlight that you shouldn’t by any means ignore Neolith ceramic tops just because it ‘sounds expensive’ as many claimed before. Nor should you make a pre-judgement before actually doing some quotations first. Neolith surfaces are really worth your consideration, and we want to spend the remainder of this article explaining why.
Are Neolith worktops a safe kitchen surface option?
In times of increased pressure on hygiene and cleanliness due to recent worldwide events, we all take special care to keep the house clean and minimise any risk to health. Neolith, a global manufacturer of Sintered Stone, stands out today as the leader of hygienic worktops, being (among granite and quartz) the best option on the market right now.
Firstly, they are easy to maintain – all it usually takes is a single wipe to eliminate even miniscule contamination. Secondly, the grime doesn’t get embedded in minute cracks and fissures, because ceramic worktops don’t develop any, unlike wood that easily cracks and splits. The same goes for plastic/metal and even corian that can easily scratch. You should think of Neolith as a man-made stone – a nearly indestructible material blessed with immense durability. And good durability equals constant cleanliness.
Cleaning these surfaces with household disinfectants makes it possible to quickly and effectively neutralise or eliminate viruses and other harmful microorganisms. However, many cleaning agents can have a negative impact on other traditional surfaces, like laminate.
This is not the case with Neolith worktops, which, due to its special composition (a combination of resin, ground stone and many other particles), prevents all porosity or corrosion via exposure to these chemicals.
A Neolith worktop and its lifelong benefits in the kitchen
Neolith worktops are easy to maintain due to their resistance to wear and tear, as well as staining. It can be achieved only with the modern technology and complex manufacturing process, that imbues the ground up stone + mineral composition with properties that can withstand even the most intense conditions: very high temperatures, scratching, impact damage etc.
In addition, a great advantage of Neolith worktops is that they can be decontaminated with many powerful cleansers, including lye, alcohol or other household disinfectants. Neolith worktops do not require any special maintenance as the panels aren’t coated with temporary coatings that require regular refreshing, unlike Granite for example.
Therefore, the material can be cleaned without worrying about wear and tear or unsightly discolouration as it’s predominantly a non-porous, stain-resistant surface. Hence why Neolith is frequently utilised in professional restaurants – where the kitchen worktops need to resist constant use and potential damage.
What are the other advantages of Neolithic worktops?
Neolith is a material with carefully selected natural raw materials, which are transformed by a sintering process at over 1200°C. First, a group of raw materials passes through a press where a force/pressure of up to 400 bar is applied. Then the formed, pre-hardened slab travels to an ‘oven’ where it’s heated to a temperature above 1200°C. As such, the amalgam of aforementioned particles is subjected to extreme heat and pressures which creates the 3.2m x 1.2m slabs.
In this way, the sintering technology gives Neolith worktops unique physical and mechanical properties. Thanks to these operations as well as numerous detailed quality checks carried out at all stages of the production chain, Neolith worktops are really very durable. Therefore, they are successfully used in harsh environments such as our kitchens (let’s not fool ourselves) and outdoor environments.
Neolith is a material with very high physical and mechanical resistance and can be widely used as a cladding material not just for kitchen worktops. Because of the 3mm & 6mm thickness, the surfaces cna be very light and used to clad walls, flooring, facades and even furniture like kitchen units etc. Neolith worktops are easily cleaned and are resistant to high temperatures so their presence around heat-sources like fireplaces is very common as burn marks won’t be a thing, and soot issues are easily fixable.
Neolith worktops are also great at withstanding harsh weather conditions. So no matter the change in temperatures, snow, hail or rain – the product won’t be affected by scratches and liquid stains. I’ve read one review from a Neolith buyer located in West Yorkshire, who said that his outside Neolith BBQ tops were so sturdy, they even outlasted some of the harshest winters in the recent decades, yet they still look as though brand new.
Neolith countertops truly are an excellent choice of surfaces. And provided you use skilled stonemasons, you could be purchasing a lifetime product, which will stay forever young and forever fashionable.
Are there a lot of Neolith colours to choose from?
Neolith currently produce about 40ish colours, so the wide range is quite extensive. They currently have 4 sub-sections: Colorfeel, Iron, Fusion, Classtone – each collection has specific types of hues. For example, Iron contains only colours based on metallic inspirations, while Classtone collection focuses on replicating organic patterns, like marble veins.
To explore all other stone varieties, we invite you to Polish Granite’s Sample Gallery webpage and Gallery, where you’ll be able to find all Neolith colours: digital samples and even some kitchen worktop projects.
Do Neolith materials mimic classic natural stones?
It’s evidently that the Neolith colour choices are huge. And year by year the company adds more and more hues, to ensure their wide palette finds every potential customer who desires a quality kitchen worktop.
And of course, one of their biggest and most popular collections is the Classtone which mimic classic natural stones like granite, quartzite and marble. You can expect intricate veins as though on broken ice or shattered glass. Or more subtle coating of speckles and mineral deposits or clusterings.
