Worktop question

reggie

Our kitchen is almost done; unfortunately the worktop has been done pretty poorly with quite a few scratches and in level joins and so we are going to get it redone. It is Magnet premium laminate 38mm. My question is this:is duropal better laminate than this? Or should we go the whole hog and get quartz? What are people's experiences?

cddc

This is a gloss laminate I presume?


If so, will be prone to scratching. They all are. Matt laminate and high definition (textured) laminates wear much better. Buying Duropal gloss will not really be much better. It is the nature of the beast.


Quartz will probably be at least 10 times the cost of laminate, so pricewise it is in a whole different ballpark. Though it also is in terms of wear properties too.....

reggie

Is actually a Matt laminate!

cddc

Then I think you have been a bit unlucky, or have a hamfisted and clumsy fitter. In my experience, matt laminate generally wears quite well, as long as you are sensible with it of course....and don't use it as a chopping board for instance.

phill99

Duropal is a very high quality product, as is Axiom (Formica). It sounds as though the issue is with your fitter and not the laminate. the fitter should be taking care not to scratch the top or damage it in any way. Also, he should be competent at doing a decent masons mitre.

reggie

Unfortunately it is a case of a hamfisted fitter - he even used one of our new unfitted units as his bench!! As we have yet to pay the balance for fitting we are re assessing our options. We will deduct from final bill the cost of fitting this laminate and either look for a good worktop fitter to fit same type of laminate or duropal or go quartz. The question is how to find a good fitter and how much to deduct for paying a good fitter....

ian103

We have the durapal woodblock laminate work top - looks superb but scratches easily - just resigned ourselves to the fact it will be replaced in a few years time. It was well fiited, but the fitter scratched one whilst fitting (he told us and replaced it without being asked).

reggie

Our fitter knows about the scratches but carried on putting sink/hob in etc saying he would sort it later....not sure how. He is bringing final invoice today so will see whether he acknowledges need to redo. Looks like we will either replace with same product or go the extra mile with quartz....is hard to get recommendations for good fitters though.

ian103

Yes very hard to find good reliable fitters / installers who work to a standard that's acceptable to each client, we were very lucky. We recently moved and used him again to install a new kitchen, retile floors etc as we knew we could trust him to turn up and do a job to a standard we would be happy with. He is also very fair with the extra, even giving us a credit for works he didn't do, we didn't buy the cheapest quote but it was good value for the product.

reggie

Our fitter actually got this guy in as he had the better tools for cutting worktop - to give you an idea of the level of workmanship-he used one of our new wall units (yet to be hung) as his bench, leaving it scratched and covered in adhesive! We accept there will be join lines, but not gaps and scratches. So any decent fitters near Cardiff give me a shout!