Innovative kitchen worktop idea - travertine tiles under glass?

RankAmatuer

Hi everyone.

As part of our complete flat refurb starting next month we'll be putting in new kitchen and reckon almost settled on design, except for worktops.

The base units will be white gloss with light grey wood grain effect, probably benchmarx monaco range.

Wall units will be white gloss carcasses with lovingly refurbished (hopefully) 1970s retro modernist Poggenpohl solid mahogony doors we found on ebay (can't post links to pics yet annoyingly, but google '1970s poggenpohl mahogany kitchen' and it's ones in first listed page).

Given that the floor is most likely a light strand woven bamboo and the kitchen is in an open plan basement living area we don't want anything too dark for worktops, and ideally something reflective without being a nightmare to keep clean and non-scratched. Anything wood effect would be overkill with different wood surfaces already in room and having spent ages trying to match worktops to white doors in showroom reckon some sort of mid grey colour best, but really want something with natural stone texture.

So here's the potentially very daft idea...

We really like the rustic look of some of the travertine stones, but they seem totally impractical for worktops. So were wondering if it's possible to put some large format 600mm tiles onto a chipboard base, then top the whole thing with a clear glass worktop and finish with a brushed aluminium edge profile. Have seen similar glass over tile effect done on splashbacks, but never as a worktop, which leads me to suspect may be problems involved. Has anyone ever done / seen something like this, or see any reason why can't be done? My suspicion is that unless the glass is completely flat against the tiles there is a risk of cracking due to the uneven pressure, but if glass thick enough and tiles are honed flat then maybe this isn't a problem? I'd presume weight of glass on tiles will keep them pretty well anchored without needing normal thickness layer of adhesive so should ideally be pretty even flat surface anyway. Perhaps.

Thoughts anyone?

Meepster

My honest opinion?

There is far too much to go wrong. I seriously wouldn't go down this route, unless you had someone manufacture them professionally...

Doozergirl

You'll get creepy crawlies under it and there's the potential for liquid to leak in between the trim. Yuck. Plus it's going to scratch way before granite does. We've got a stunning heave glass, expensive table but it still gets slight scratches in it.

Why not do it simply and buy the right coloured granite or composite surface? You can buy that in any colour you like.

tpt

i think your 2 main problems would be cost and weight. plus popping the glass over it would lose the trav effect that i think your after.

have you looked at either corian or stone worktops?

Leif

I think there are worktops made from recycled glass, but they cost a packet. You could use thick laminated (for safety) glass, decorated on the underside, either painted or with a decal. Look up GlassEco for one example. You can also get non recycled glass.