Good looking but affordable kitchen worktops: suggestions?

andyhop

brownbake wrote: »

Ikea - basic lovely looking worktops are £25 - see if ya DIY shed does them at that price. Real wood starts at about £95 from memory.

Think the lengths are standard 2.4m.

only downside to ikea kitchens are the worktop lengths, there too short

on the fake butchers block it is almost impossible to add length as the laminate is put on out of alignment

there solid wood may look good when new, even when kept oiled and clean i have seen many break up

moike

Has anyone ever tried/considered any of people on ebay selling Granite at a fraction of high street prices, mind you a fraction of a lot is still £900 but that is for 3 lengths and includes fitting, am very tempted myself as it can make a cheap kitchen look very good.
Regards

Scoobs72

Take a look at Duropal laminate worktops. They're about the best laminate you can get, much better than the Wilsonart rubbish that B&Q and the other sheds sell.

brownbake

moike wrote: »

Has anyone ever tried/considered any of people on ebay selling Granite at a fraction of high street prices, mind you a fraction of a lot is still £900 but that is for 3 lengths and includes fitting, am very tempted myself as it can make a cheap kitchen look very good.
Regards

y
Yes it is very very good. The best quality granite available. I would suggest Vince - he is really kewl.

Scoobs72

brownbake wrote: »

y
Yes it is very very good. The best quality granite available.

Can you provide evidence for that? I remember reading a thread somewhere about the poor quality of the granite from one of the ebay suppliers.

Stevie1

I'd be interested too (although I'm pretty sold on the Caesarstone stuff):rolleyes:

jaspercat2002

I haven't used these so can't recommend but have come across this company recently and wondered if they would be any good. We have a granite effect worktop that looks good but has chipped badly on the edges so I have been looking for solutions.

http://www.granitetransformations.co.uk/index.html

roncay

granite is good only for walls not for kitchen used i believe.

majjie

Granite is beautiful - but variable in quality and ... absorbtivity ( ). Pale granites will stain unless you seal them and regularly re-seal them. The best way to choose granite is to go to the supplier and choose a slab, especially if it's a very variable, veined colour. Ask for some samples, take them home and test them with a couple of drops of lemon juice. If the spot darkens immediately - the granite is too porous to be practical in a kitchen - if it darkens after a few minutes - then sealing it will make it ok for a kitchen - if it doesn't darken and doesn't leave a pale etched spot - snap it up and hope it's not too expensive. On a showroom sample, a pale spot could also just be removal of previous sealant - so treat a larger area of the sample with lemon juice and try the spot test again in that area. (I found this test on an American granite web site - but can't remember which one).

Silestone, Caesarstone, Compaq, Pianoforte, Zodiaq, Luxore, Artestone, Arenastone, Apollo Quartz ... and others ... are all quartz composites. They're more practical than granite - because they're not porous - but some people think they're less beautiful. You treat them like granite and they're mostly a similar price to granite - depending on the colour.

"Solid Surface" worktops such as Corian, LG Hi-Macs and Avonite are acrylic resins - they're the ones with seamless joins and integral sinks. They can be made into lots of shapes - so you can have raised edges to stop liquids running off the surface and upstands at the back. The surface layer is around 12mm thick - very hygienic - but susceptible to scratches and heat (they recommend that you don't pour even boiling water into the sinks). They are repairable, though, and the scratches can be sanded out. They tend to be more expensive than granite - especially if you have any extras like the waterfall edges and upstands.

There are some cheaper versions of "Solid Surface" tops: Maia and Getacore and also Artis Smartstone and Minerelle (which are polyester resins) ... and others ... but they only have a 2 to 3mm surface layer. That means that they don't need templating and the fitting is cheaper. Some people love them - some people think they're too likely to crack. MFI sell Maia - so they must be fairly convinced they won't have too many problems with it - and it's a good place to go and see it.

"Granite Transformations" is a cross between a quartz composite and a "Solid Surface". It has a 7mm surface layer with seamless joins but is very scratch resistant and temperature resistant to 150 degrees C. They market it for renovating old laminate worktops - by fitting it over the top - but it can just as easily be made into new tops. It will be more expensive than something like Maia - but cheaper than granite. It's main disdavantage is that you can't form tight rounded corners with it; only very shallow radius curves, or bevels.

Some timber worktops are cheaper than the Maia type worktops, some more expensive (like maple, walnut, wenge and teak). The disadvantage of wood is that you have to look after it and keep it oiled. If you're prepared to do that - it can be beautiful.

Sorry ... this has turned into a lecture :eek:

I'd agree that gloss laminates are a nightmare for showing little scratches. I've not had much experience of the matt ones. The toughest ones are the textured ones (but preferably not tooo bobbly, otherwise they're difficult to keep clean).

Duropal, Axiom (who now own Formica) and Getalit are all good quality laminates and, personally I also like the ABS/acrylic edged worktops. IKEA do them and so do this company - but only through the retail showrooms they supply:
http://www.cotops.ltd.uk/acrylic.html

This site is good for comparing worktops because it has quite a lot of prices:
http://www.worktops.uk.com/browse/Worktops

Phirefly

majjie wrote: »

Sorry ... this has turned into a lecture :eek:

What a brilliant post, thankyou.

http://www.worktops.uk.com/buy/Glass/Glass_Worktops huminahuminah... drool... thats got Phirefly written all over it....