glossy laminate work surfaces and splashbacks

katejo

I looked at laminate work surfaces in Wickes yesterday and liked what I saw. Are there any disadvantages to the glossy, compared to the more textured which look harder to clean?

A colleague has told me today that splashbacks are much more expensive than tiles. Is this correct? I have seen plenty of info on prices of different work surfaces but not on splashbacks.

loracan1

Glossy worktops will scratch like mad, they look nice when brand new but quickly look shabby. No matter how careful you are, unless you never use the kitchen for actually cooking they'll mark.

katejo

loracan1 wrote: »

Glossy worktops will scratch like mad, they look nice when brand new but quickly look shabby. No matter how careful you are, unless you never use the kitchen for actually cooking they'll mark.

I thought that the all black, sparkly ones would have that problem but that those with a colour mix eg. lava would be less obviously affected

verydeeppockets

If they're a gloss finish, they'll scratch. Black would be the most obvious, wear on lava flecks or lighter colours will be less noticeable.
Darker colours also show up water marks and grease stains.
Gloss aren't cheap tops either.
Compared to Wickes high gloss laminate tops, granite from a small local supplier may not be that much more expensive. If you can find somewhere that machines the stuff themselves, they'll have a yard full of offcuts too - serious savings there if you're happy to spend time with a tape measure.
A splashback is the same material as the worktop, sometimes thinner. It all depends on the look you want, and the tiles you'd choose. A tiler and tiles would be more expensive than a kitchen fitter glueing on some splashback, but I personally don't like splashbacks unless they're full height to the wall units - and then they ain't cheap anyway!

Slinky_Malinky

I have gloss laminate worktops and they look awful after 8 years of use. I will never have them again.

jimbo_the_jetset

I have black gloss laminate worktops and after 3 years they look fine. Sure if you look close up there are a few surface scratches but nothing you would pick up if you didn't look close. Admittedly though, I think my brother had similar ones and his looked shocking.

Ours were from Homebase and were a similar price to a Matt finish, a few hundred £ I think?? Nothing like the cost of granite.

From my experience (so far) with due care they are fine. i.e. only chop on a board, I avoid hot things directly onto worktop whatever they are made of, don't use harsh chemicals or scourers (wet cloth followed by a buff dry with microfibre cloth makes them look like new again).

In terms of splashback, I understand those to match the worktop are generally only little upstands a few inches tall. So it really depends on the state of the wall. If there were tiles there the wall may be a mess and if you do not re-tile you may well need to re plaster for an acceptable finish.

markdavey

It will very much depend on the colour you get as to whether the inevitable marks will show up. We installed this about 2 years ago now. It is very light and has flecks of metalic embedded in it which sparkle with the halogen lights.

TBH I get more frustrated with the water marks (which are easily removed) than I do any scratches as they are not too obvious as to show up.

We use Micro Fibre cloths to clean ours which don't tend to smear.

We didn't go for Splashbacks (i.e. full height ones). We went for upstands which are 10cm high off the worktop. We then used Kitchen paint for the rest of the walls (example of how Upstands look in the Vanilla Quartz is on page 12 of this brochure).

Upstands or Splashbacks will need a good smooth wall to adhear to (ours was freshly plastered).

I would also say that you get what you pay for. I have no idea who manufactures the Wickes worktops but I would (and did) go for one of the specialist brands such as Duropal, Bushboard & Axiom. All these brands will send you samples FOC so you can get an idea of what they will look like.

Also bear in mind the lengths you might need. We had a run of 3.9 meters which could only be done with a 4.1m length (without a join right in the middle of the run) which narrows down which brand/colour/finish you can use.

cddc

As all above have said you have to treat gloss laminates with care otherwise they will scratch.....

There are high definition gloss ones which have a slight texture to the finish but are far harder wearing. Normally expect to pay £30-40 more for a hi-def over a plain gloss laminate per 3m length.

If you can find one you like, it is worth paying the extra for the far better wear properties in my book.

katejo

jimbo_the_jetset wrote: »

I have black gloss laminate worktops and after 3 years they look fine. Sure if you look close up there are a few surface scratches but nothing you would pick up if you didn't look close. Admittedly though, I think my brother had similar ones and his looked shocking.

Ours were from Homebase and were a similar price to a Matt finish, a few hundred £ I think?? Nothing like the cost of granite.

From my experience (so far) with due care they are fine. i.e. only chop on a board, I avoid hot things directly onto worktop whatever they are made of, don't use harsh chemicals or scourers (wet cloth followed by a buff dry with microfibre cloth makes them look like new again).

In terms of splashback, I understand those to match the worktop are generally only little upstands a few inches tall. So it really depends on the state of the wall. If there were tiles there the wall may be a mess and if you do not re-tile you may well need to re plaster for an acceptable finish.

Thanks. The wall will need replastering anyway. I thought that the upstands might avoid crumbs being caught between the work surface and the tiles.
Re using harsh chemicals: does that include well known kitchen cleaning brands? Sorry but can't remember the name of the one I currently have at home.

markdavey

I use Mr Muscle Kitchen cleaner on ours with no ill effects.

Green_box

The builder of our house used a glossy granite effect work surface in our kitchen.

After 2-3 months it was scratched so badly they removed it for us and replaced with a different type of surface.