Minerva Avis 

DO NOT GO BUY MINERVA WORK TOPS!!!!

We had them fitted in September, the full house was covered in dust from the fitter recommended by magnet cutting and buffing them in my new renovated house!!!

Then the chips and scratches started to appear we aren’t hashy and no kids, you couldn’t so much as place a plate down without noticing where you had put it down. One night I was standing doing when I heard this almighty bang looked up the top of the kitchen and a massive crack right down my breakfast bar appeared. By this point I had had enough spent the good part of £10k on this kitchen and hated everything about it, contacted magnet, who just blamed Minerva, I didn’t buy them from Minerva so shouldn’t be passing the buck. Asking for more and more photos eventually I told them just come out and take as many photos as you like I’m not sending anymore, they aren’t fit for purpose. Well 5 months later still not sign of anyone, now magnet is blaming the fitter , which they recommended! I’ve had enough. Just want new work tops and not minvera!

We have had our Minerva worktops for a year so I think I can write a fair review. We have the carerra white marble. This stuff scratches like you wouldn’t believe. And chips too, as I discovered when a shot glass fell out a cupboard leaving a small white chip out of one worktop. Using the buffing kit you get with the worktop just leaves patches that look even more scratched and removes the sheen from the worktop despite following instructions to the letter. Most stains do come out with either Barkeepers Friend or bleach though. For me, the very worst thing about when we got these worktops was when (like so many others) a crack appeared from off a join when we had a slow cooker on our worktop. Despite having registered my guarantee Minerva refused to take any responsibility and blamed it on not being fitted properly (the fitting is fine). To be fair the crack is hairline and you would only ever notice it if you were REALLY looking but after spending so much money on these I was gutted. They do still look good from a distance but I would not EVER recommend them and I wish we had just gone for a good quality marble effect laminate instead but a year ago when we got these there were very few reviews online to sway my opinion...I can only hope to stop others making the same mistake!

Our Minerva worktops were installed three days ago and already they are staining and have a chip.
Magnet ought not to supply something which is not fit for purpose.
And the fitters hate them as they are too heavy to handle.
Please choose something else.

We were advised to buy Minerva worktops by our kitchen fitter as we had a vast amount of worktop space to fill and it worked out less expensive than other options.
We went for the white marble sparkly top and although it’s not always obvious, in certain light you can clearly see the shimmer - it’s subtle but I like that.
Our fitter was very good and the result was flawless. Perfect joins and a sumptuous look and feel to the surfaces. We had a free standing 12’ island and I wanted the Minerva to continue down the sides also. Hard work for him but what a triumph. It looked fabulous.
Five years down the line and I’m still happy. The surface has dulled slightly but it’s nonsense that you can’t get stains out of it. Literally EVERYTHING comes out with Cif!
I am a voracious cook and spend copious hours in the kitchen and the Minerva has stood up to everything.
I also have a polish that I can use to bolster the original finish but just have not felt the need.
I love it and cannot recommend it highly enough.

Six months on I have to agree with many of the reviewers. My white marble Minerva worktops looked fabulous when fitted, still do from a distance, just close up they are finely scratched and have lost their sheen from cleaning. I am a careful user but the slightest movement causes a scratch. A supermarket delivery man shoved a plastic basket onto them and caused deeper scratches (not his fault!). And just don't get turmeric anywhere near them! My fitters did an amazing job with excellent joins which are still holding up.
They are expensive and for only a little extra I should have chosen marble............. I didn't read the reviews and wish I had.

I might wish to review my review in twelve months, but if so,I will do. So far, so good and I felt I needed to put an alternative view. I had read the Trustpilot reviews prior to purchase, but discussed Minerva with our very experienced kitchen fitter, who was updating the kitchen he originally fitted over sixteen years ago; the stainless steel fronted units are almost as good as new, so new surfaces, sinks, hobs were all we needed. Like others, we spent quite some time thinking about the tops and, despite the horror stories, went for white Minerva.
Firstly, the fitting: not sure if this was wholly down to the skill of our fitter, which we do think is pretty high, but it seemed to be quite easy. These are heavy tops, but he followed the instructions he had, having never previously used this surface and they went in beautifully. The join really is invisible, very smooth and as they are in a kitchen with a lot of natural light, I think we’d easily see anything that was wonky. The look is super and the feel is excellent, very smooth, cool to the touch but very solid.
I do cook a lot but am careful. I have bought a smart stainless steel trivet (which I would have done, whatever surface we had chosen) but I am long used to being careful with excess heat in a kitchen. There are no marks on the tops so far and certainly nothing that others are describing with simple daily use. Because of this, we have not had to try the repair kit so I cannot report on its efficacy. What I can say is that the look is exactly what we wanted and has enhanced our existing units quite superbly. We are so pleased so far! It is only because we have not had the tops for long that I have not given them five stars. I will add a further review in approximately a year when the durability may be more evident, but definitely, so far, so good and they look far more expensive than their actual price tag might suggest.
Each to their own, but I do wonder whether our kitchen fitter’s skill and experience was a big part of the success of this venture? As he had not used Minerva before, it was very much following the instructions given by the company and he did not seem to have any problems.

Had my Kitchen fitted late last year by a very experienced Kitchen fitting team, when the worktops were finished you could clearly see a dirty grey joint not seamless as they claim, this was brought to Sylmar (Minerva's) attention which they claimed was a fitting issue and sent out new jointing kits to refit, the joiner came round and we tested on an off cut in a completely sterile environment cleaned and cut the joint exactly as stated in the instructions provided and got the exact same result , we informed Minerva but to no avail they are ignoring the issue completely, I just want the product that i ordered and paid a lot of money for which was seamless joints!!!!, Do not buy from this company avoid it at all costs the product is sub standard and not fit for purpose and the customer service is probably the worst I have ever encountered,

Update Jan 2021 - had worktop over a year now and it just gets worse, its stained, scratched and chipped absolutely awful product, will be swapping out later this year still no response from them and can see lots of similar reviews

Noticed all the 5 star reviews are by 1st time and only reviewers, come on if you are going to create fake reviews to bump up your score at least make them realistic lol, good luck trying to get anyone to fit them as fitters will no longer touch them they are that bad, noticed also quite a few kitchen suppliers no longer stock it

What a load of rubbish the joints are not seamless .scratches all over it. One joint has a black line down it. The scratches are just there and we have hardly put anything on it. Apparently it doesn’t stain, ours stains very easily and if you don’t wipe it ASAP it’s a nightmare to get stain out. We should have gone for granite. Saying that if it didn’t have all these problems it actually is a stunning looking worktop.

Only left one star as there is no zero option! This product is expensive rubbish chips really easily my work top edges are full of chips and I consider myself careful
Do not buy unless you want to be horribly disappointed product in my opinion not fit for purpose.

I wanted a real stone effect worktop and decided to go with minerva on the advice of others including the sales rep who promised a near invisible joint. I was told to check colour match of different worktops before fitting but that's not as easy as it sounds. The worktops were delayed by about a month because they couldn't get a colour match and they wanted them to be perfect match when they sent them out. This gave me confidence they were checked thoroughly before being sent out. When the arrived it turns out they weigh an absolute tonne!! And at 3m long it's very difficult to just take them outside and put them next to each other in the daylight to check colour match. Given the fuss made about "sending them out perfect" I wrongly assumed they would be fine. Left fitters here and went to work. When I came back the near invisible joint I'd been sold was a clear line down the middle of my breakfast bar where 2 different colour worktops meet. And it quite frankly looks rubbish!! And now non-refundable as they have been fitted. Surely they should quality check a product of this value and weight before sending it out!?!? I really wish I had gone to have them professionally templated and fitted with quartz. It would not have been much more money on the scale of things and I wouldn't have ruined the look of my kitchen with 2 different colour minerva slabs. To add to this about a week or two after fitting a crack developed diagonally across the worktop about 9inches long. Of course the supplier accepts no responsibility for this either, claiming from a few photos that they were inadequately supported being laid on kitchen carcasses!?!? Is this not their intended purpose?? Dont expect this company to honour any kind of warranty or accept any liability for any problems you might have with the worktops. Once paid for it's all your problem.

This is the only review of a product I have written in my 53 years. I recommend you DO NOT use this product. I bought the white sparkle worktops with fitted sinks. There is no sparkle to the worktops they look like plain white boards sitting on my kitchen units and it scratches very easily, awful.

The sink is even worse! It can’t have been coated with a heatproof product so the surface is cracked and stained, awful awful.

A new kitchen is a considered purchase and I don’t think it was too much to expect products offer quality and are manufactured from materials that are suitable for their intended purpose.

This product is awful, awful and awful.

Can’t give 0 stars
It’s basically cheap plastic resin
Scratches easy and very expensive

My only wish is that i could turn the clocks back and I wouldnt have gone near this product with a barge pole
3 years ago the fitter put my super white kitchen together after id' waited 20 years for a new one it was over the moon and only after hed left id noticed they were all different shades of white ! he came back and after a haggle and the rep saying he'd replace them he begrudgingly gave a days labour to replace apparently its a common problem with the white?...all fabulous...then 8 months later the joint completely came apart near the corner ..we never use hot pans on it to be honest its more of a show kitchen i couldve cried ..the fitter yet again after a few heated calls came back begrudgingly and did the joint ....then Monday morning i awoke to find THE JOINT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CORNER PIECE HAS COMPLETLY SPLIT OPEN ....the rep Graham said oh he cant think how its happened ..the fitter said 'oh im really busy ...I have never put a heated anything near it and for the 2nd joint to have split right down the middle has to be a joint compound problem ..there are numerous cases on the internet how the same thing has happened i only wish id' seen them before i bought this inferior product.
I was lured into its lovely lustre feel and how expensive it looked to find i know have a gaping joint in the middle of my tops that neither Minerva or my fitter want to put right or take responsibility for ..
DO YOUR RESEARCH look at the pictures do you want to be in my shoes I spent all my savings on this to be left with a joke of a kitchen..find another product and avoid Minerva at all costs..

Looks amazing but impractical as chips and scratches ridiculously easily. Square edge of sink unit has 3 chips in already and only been fitted for 2 months. ( 3 runs of carrara marble).

We have two worksurfaces from Minerva. The grey is fine but wow the black is TERRIBLE. The only thing that has been on this worksurfaces is paper and the scratches are awful. Its like they appear overnight and no amount of CIF gets them out.

I rang minerva to complain and they said it's a dark colour and it scratches. They are fully aware of this. Apparently it's been signed off as a fine surface by the fire regs people. Clearly not signed off as a practical everyday work surface. Maybe they should ditch the WORK element and just call it a surface?!

Poor service and response from Minerva. The lady just did not care.

Conclusion: don't buy.

I am nearly 80 years old and lost over £400 to this company as only 3 of the 4 worktops were needed and Sylmar (Minerva worktops) refund policy deducts 50% of the cost and charges hefty carriage charges for collections - even though the package containing the worktop hadn’t even been opened.