I recently saw a countertop called Richlite for the first time and was quite impressed. Is anybody else familiar with it and if so what are the pros & cons? How does it compare to say granite? Is it expensive?
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I was very excited about them as well. That is, until I got the samples. I think that they scratch much too easily to keep a nice look in a residential kitchen. You'd need to treat them like cultured marble and we just don't live like that!
Apparantly it does fade if exposed to a lot of sunlight but it can be sanded out. If so I guess any scratches could also be sanded out.
I doubt you'd ever get back the gloss finish though unless it was a really fine sandpaper and then some sort of sealer. I was just lightly rubbing with scotchbrite and almost instantly lost the sheen. Get the sample kit - it's worth it to see what the colors really look like as well as to "road test" the finish and durability with your typical cleaning methods.
Got a friend who sells the stuff. He has a long trim carpentry background. He says that because the company spent years making the stuff for chem labs before it ever got into the housing market, it has oddball stock sizes that are pretty wasteful for standard countertop depths.
And yes, it is very pricey.
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