Minerelle worktop for kitchens

matty_hunt

Hi. I’m looking for some hints, tips, antidotal stories etc about Minerelle worktops for my kitchen.
I would have liked real stone but the cost prohibits it plus one has to pay for professional installation. Minerelle seams to be the only alternative for the price. I would have liked it to be shiny and the retailers say it can be polished but I have not seam a display that is. They are all matt, and so look a little artificial. I would also like to fit it myself so can anyone advise me if it is easy to cut. Does it scratch easily? Stain? Any comments relating to minerelle, or even an alternative, would be very welcomed.

Thank you.

PS i was thinking of Sea Salt to go with walnut units. Would have prefered ice white but they dont make it!

for those who dont know what im talking about, look here.... http://www.macypp.com/minerelle.htm

ozskin

minerelle is not shiny and can not be made to look anything like granite. it is what it is, i would go for a good quality laminate, we tend only to sell granite or corian, we have tried the rest, but only solid velstone in specific circumstances v similer price to corian, and have gone back to these two. you will not get seamless joints or undermounts, and there are some really good laminates that look like solid surface and i would say they are as good as minerelle and cheaper to boot.

matty_hunt

ozskin wrote:

minerelle is not shiny and can not be made to look anything like granite. it is what it is, i would go for a good quality laminate, we tend only to sell granite or corian, we have tried the rest, but only solid velstone in specific circumstances v similer price to corian, and have gone back to these two. you will not get seamless joints or undermounts, and there are some really good laminates that look like solid surface and i would say they are as good as minerelle and cheaper to boot.

Thanks for that. Its put big doubts in my mind now! I will have a look at laminates, which brings me to new questions. which I will post in a new thread aswell but heres one of them. Sainsburys is selling a 50mm square edge laminate called Wenge. Its a very dark brown, verging on black, matt, with a slight wood effect texture and is very plain ie there is no variation in colour or pattern across the whole surface. Is this type of colour a sensible idea? Will it show up scratches, dirt and fingure prints or would I be better going to a whiter surface?
thanks

sloughflint

ozskin wrote:

minerelle is not shiny and can not be made to look anything like granite. it is what it is, i would go for a good quality laminate, we tend only to sell granite or corian, we have tried the rest, but only solid velstone in specific circumstances v similer price to corian, and have gone back to these two. you will not get seamless joints or undermounts, and there are some really good laminates that look like solid surface and i would say they are as good as minerelle and cheaper to boot.

Have you tried silestone? Any good? Expensive?
http://www.silestone.com/uk/colores.htm

ozskin

silestone is good also there is a slightly cheaper version called luxore. the wenge worktop will scratch and show up marks but not quite as bad as shiny laminate. try solid wood as an option

matty_hunt

Thanks guys for your input. Alas these options are too expensive! Went to a worktop specialist today and looked at the minerelle. It was highly polished and looked great but the sales assistant said to me, 'it looks great in the shop and that is its only redeeming quality! It scratches very easily.' He advised very strongly against getting it. (and wasnt trying to sell me anything else) Am now going with solid walnut! Think its going to look great.