Hard Decision

Hi
We are having a 3000 x 1200 island bench and have been recommended the acrylic. Our cabinet maker is using hafele. I too found it very hard to find much online regarding this product.
The reasons the cabinet maker gave for using this product were:
- the size of our bench meant CS would need some major joins
- we are located smack bang halfway between adelaide and melbourne and the costs of having someone from Adelaide travel to install the benchtop are prohibitive
- the cabinet maker is licenced to install the hafele acrylic which brings costs down

We were really concerned as we couldn't do much research on the product but have seen a kitchen our cabinet maker installed with the hafele acrylic and it looks and feels fabulous. The 40mm is a good depth as it seemed really solid and not plasticy at all.

If anyone has any comments on what i have been told that would be great.

But back to the original poster. Don't discount the acrylic, if you can get a look at a bench top installed it would really help you make a decision.

Other thing I found bizarre is that Freestyle comes in 39mm thickness, however when I looked underneath the bench at Laminex display room I found that Freestyle doesn't go all the way through (i.e thickness of 39mm) it only covers top on the bench, therefore it's only about 10-15mm thick. Does CS or QQ have full thickness such as 20mm or 30mm?

Yes for 20mm and 30mm - once it goes over e.g. 40mm the thickness is done by joining another 20mm fascia on on a 20mm bench.

My benchtop around the kitchen is 30mm and the one on the island has a fascia of 150mm - check their website as they clearly show the thickness it comes in.

Check the technical info here http://www.caesarstone.com.au/About-Us/ ... -Info.aspx

They have an office in Osborne Park
12 Sundercombe Street
Osborne Park, 6017
WA Australia

Telephone :1300 119 119
Email : sales@caesarstone.com.au
Office Hours : Mon to Fri 9am - 5pm

Previous poster correct, anything over 30mm thick and they join two pieces cut on the angle together, hence the thick looking caesarstone benches around.

If done properly the join (both on the edge and mid counter) should be virtually invisable as they take a bit of the stone ground up and mix it with the colour matched adhesive/ grout. I've seen some pretty average joins though where its not matched and looks terrible. Theres some other posts on here about joins.

if you go with a colour without a or with a very fine pattern it will be easier to blend the joint.

You guys do know the question was asked back in November last year??

They probably have it installed by now.

oh just checking again the thread and it's AubinGroveFan post which started again the thread on Wednesday - so that's why it appeared in the new posts. - well I hope that AGF is happy with the info

You would think, but no... we just started to investigate it back then but still haven't gone through pre-start (mid June). However even now we're still undecided after visiting every possible display home and display room. Our first impression was getting a stone bench but then we discovered that it might have a joint, then indecisiveness began. Freestyle comes for free with our builder but we'll need to pay for stone upgrade. Then we found QQ with jumbo slab, but i think they don't have it in WA, plus jumbo slabs are only 20mm.
The perfect bench for us would be QQ Jumbo slab with 30mm (or CS but they don't have jumbo slabs), therefore...

Hi All,

Everyone seems to think Essastone does not come in 30mm and only 20mm but the only thing we have ever been offered by the builder is 30mm Essastone benchtops which we are getting in 3.2m length with a breakfast bar and waterfall edges....

I guess it comes down to personal preference good luck

bah ha ha ..
so true

waterfall edges is that from bench to ground????. we also have only been offered 30mm..

Is 3.2m bench with a joint or is it jumbo slab like Quantum Quartz?

Hello,
we live in Perth and have just had our island bench with waterfall ends done, I was quite upset initially as all our cupboards, microwave nook, dishwasher etc were put in place to reach 3 metres and then discovered as we wanted 40mm stone with waterfall ends we needed to have a join. My husband could not see why I was so obsessed about a join, anyway the long and the short after deliberating wether to change to Granite was to just go with the Essa stone and have the join through the sink hole. I can see it obviously because I know it's there, but I wonder does it really matter to anyone else, I doubt it. I did get the guys to change the glue on one edge from white to grey as it suited the greyish colour of the stone better and he did agree it was a better look. BUT, we had acrylic tops put in bathroom and laundry and the stone guys did suggest that for the kitchen as the join would be seamless, but I have to say I love my laundry top, the acrylic looks like stone and feels cold like stone and it so so fresh and lovely, sorry I'm going on now. So it is a personal decision, I love my island bench and am glad that the join is through the hole of the sink though as I think anywhere else would certainly have been very obvious. It will work out fine whatever you decide and I guess after a few weeks of dirty dishes crap put on top of the bench due to the joys of family life you and I will wonder why we were so kind upset. Also have you thought about Granite as larger lengths, I loved ther River(valley) white granite but just a bit out of our reach price wise, but I guess it would hide a mulititude and just such natural beauty imho.

When we renovated our kitchen, we picked Essa Stone because we liked a colour in their range better than we liked any of the caesar stone or QQ ranges. Simple really. It didn't make a dramatic difference to the cost. Quality wise, they are much the same (CS, ES and QQ).

Caesar stone does have a larger range, therefore it makes sense that people are more likely to pick a style/product from a larger range (easier to find something you like).

From the Essa Stone website
slab dimensions
nominal thickness 20mm, 30mm†
nominal slab size 3040 x 1380mm (4.20m2)
actual slab size 3070 x 1410mm (4.33m2)
†30mm on selected designs subject to local availability.

We had a U-shaped kitchen, so there were 2 joins. Noticed them for the first 24 hours, never saw them again after that. I think the "invisibility" of the join will depend on the quality of workmanship from the stone mason/installer. Ask to see their work.