The Avonite Story

Avonite – “Innovations in solid surfacing” they said, “Offering you the flexibility, elegance and durability you could only have dreamed of”. “Hard, homogenous and repairable, Avonite Surfaces can be inlaid and jointed inconspicuously” said Sylmar Technology Ltd who were the exclusive UK supplier of Avonite Surfaces. With the manufacturers’ (who were based in the USA) 10 year guarantee, it sounded just what we were looking for.

Expensive though it was, my husband and I were attracted by all the promises made in the marketing material so, just to be on the safe side, we asked for a sample of the ‘Coppermine’ satin worktop we were considering for our new large kitchen/diner and for the adjoining (equally new) utility room.

We were both very light users of the two rooms because we travelled a great deal, and our housekeeper was very careful with our home. We therefore tested the sample by moving mugs and plates across the surface, and tried to stain it with wine. The result was – no scratches or marks. We were so impressed that we ordered it to be made and fitted throughout both rooms. Oh dear, how we came to regret that decision !!

A firm called Whitehall Fabrication Ltd did the work, but very soon after completion it became obvious that the Avonite surface was extremely easy to scratch. The simple movement of a mug or ornament across the surface left scratches everywhere. We put felt pads on the bottom of all the ornaments, but obviously couldn’t do the same to all our mugs and plates. We therefore ‘attempted’ to obtain the various items of the “Care and Maintenance products recommended by Avonite” (white Scotch Brite pads and Soft Scrub). We kept asking for them, and were eventually recommended to use some green scouring pads. We purchased these – but the kitchen fitter then strongly advised us NOT to use them !

So we tried to acquire Avonite’s “Surface Care and Maintenance Kit” – only to be told that it was not available in the UK.

Three years after installation we wrote to Sylmar, asking if they could provide any products which were required to put the Avonite back into pristine condition….we recounted to them the long and sad story.

To be fair, Sylmar did reply a few weeks later, but what they said did not give us a great deal of confidence.

Sylmar opined that we had a gloss finish and not a satin one – which was not the case. They sent us another “Care and Maintenance” leaflet but informed us that, if we did indeed have a satin finish then they advised that the necessary procedure should “be carried out professionally”. They gave us the names of two companies “who are willing to offer their services, at costs to be agreed with us”.

Subsequent to that letter my husband died, and the caterers I used after the funeral scratched the worktop in a couple of other locations; so I contacted one of the ‘professional’ companies recommended by Sylmar (Artisan Worksurfaces Ltd) to polish the Avonite satin worktops throughout both rooms. Their representative arrived on site……

Oh dear ! The result was an absolute disaster:

  • At first the representative informed me that Avonite ‘Coppermine’ did not come in a satin finish, and that what I had was a gloss finish.
  • I protested, and showed him the sample against the worktop. He then admitted
    that the surface was “more satin than gloss”.
  • I had previously asked how much dust there would be from the work, and had
    been told “very little”. Due to that confident statement I had not covered the furniture with dust sheets.
  • The Artisan Worksurfaces workman spent almost all day ‘experimenting’ on the surfaces – using a polishing machine, creams, and various other products. He even tried my Pledge spray polish !
  • Dust and cream went absolutely everywhere. All the cupboards where full of
    it. The cream was splattered all over the stone mullions to the windows,
    permeating their porous surfaces. The soft fabrics, which had been
    professionally cleaned just a matter of weeks earlier, were ingrained with dust
    and cream.

 

  • When my housekeeper and I cleared the thick dust from the Avonite
    surfaces we found – to our horror – that they had been ruined.The uneven patina was an absolute disgrace. The machine had left scratch marks everywhere.All the fixed items (sinks, hobs, taps, tiles and stone mullions) had a different finish around them; no doubt because his machine couldn’t get to their edges.
  • The workman who had ruined my kitchen had the nerve to tell me that he would not have recommended Avonite for a kitchen !!
  • I wrote to Sylmar Technology a few times about the problem but, needless to say, my letters were ignored. I eventually gave up.

So was that an end to the Avonite saga ? Unfortunately not.

The “seamless” Avonite sinks were integral with the worktops and, just a couple of months after the surfaces had been ruined by Artisan Worksurfaces, a large crack appeared in one of the sinks in the utility room. Water was leaking through the crack into the cupboards below. Ever hopeful, I immediately started writing to Sylmar again – reminding them of Avonite’s ten year guarantee.

My letters about this latest disaster were, of course, ignored, so I wrote to Avonite Inc in the USA. Much to my delight they replied immediately, advising that they would contact Sylmar Technology and “have them get in touch with me”. Three months later I had still not heard from Sylmar, so I emailed Avonite and told them this.

In the meantime I could obviously not use a badly leaking sink so, in sheer desperation, my plumber had filled the underside of the crack with fibre-glass so that I could at least use the sink.

Avonite USA asked their European Manager to see if he could get a response out of Sylmar.

Another month went by, so I chased the European Manager, and asked if Sylmar was ignoring him too ? Within 24 hours I received an email from Sylmar’s Director of Technical Services saying that he would send out one of their technicians to evaluate the issue.

More weeks passed and a ‘technician’ turned up at my home without giving me any prior notice. He gave the sink a cursory examination and attempted (unsuccessfully he told me) to take a photograph of the crack with his mobile ‘phone.

A week later I chased Sylmar, and was informed that they were approaching someone else in the organisation….it was exactly the same person who had ignored my letters five years previously. I was not impressed.

Yet another month went by without my hearing anything, so I chased Sylmar AGAIN.

The following month, still having heard nothing, I took legal advice – and informed Sylmar what I was doing. A week later they informed me that the sink would be “refinished and repaired” the following month. They also told me that they wanted to involve Whitehall Fabrications (who did the original work) in the issue.

Later, Sylmar informed me that, due to an undelivered email, they were now looking at a further delay of a month before the work could be done. By this time I was beginning to think that they were trying to extend the matter until the ten year guarantee had expired !!

So, what exactly was the “refinishing and repair” work which was undertaken eleven months after Sylmar had been notified of the bad crack in my Avonite sink ?

If you have any experience of sinks which are integrated with the worktop, and moulded invisibly in the same material, you may think (as I did) that the entire section incorporating the sink would have to be replaced. So what transpired ?

A gentleman arrived, scratched his head a few times and then, with a very fine paintbrush, just painted over the scratch to hide it. I was staggered. Just under a year of constant chasing by me – and that was the worth of a ten year guarantee from Avonite Innovations.

Within a couple of weeks the paint had disappeared and the crack was showing again. Then another crack appeared at an angle to the first one.

THEN, just a few months later, a very large crack appeared in the worktop to the kitchen……I knew when I was beaten.

So much for my own experience of the claimed “durability” of Avonite Innovations solid surfacing and their ten year guarantee.