Kitchen advice

longwalks1

We are currently planning a new kitchen and looking for ideas.  Will be looking online initially for obvious reasons, and venturing out to showrooms when we can.  Ive been told by a few people to get as good worktops as we can, as they finish the kitchen off.  Ive been told to avoid laminate worktops and go for 'stone' (didnt specify what stone though)

what material would you guys advise and why?  And where can i look online for them for ideas on cost etc?

FreeBear

britishboy said:  Ive been told to avoid laminate worktops and go for 'stone' (didnt specify what stone though)

Nothing wrong with laminate worktops.

Solid natural stone is porous and will sometimes stain - Especially noticeable with marble. Requires specialist tools to cut & polish, so not really suitable for a DIY install. Can be very heavy.

Engineered stone - Fairly tough (dependent on quality) and a little more stain resistant than natural stone. Still needs specialist tools to cut & polish.

Solid wood worktops - Easy to work with using hand or power tools. No need for edge trims. Can stain & mark very easily and requires regular maintenance.

Laminate - Can be worked with simple hand tools (although, much easier with power tools). Finishing of edges requires careful gluing of trim strips, and can look out of place with some profiles - Some composite laminates have a thicker "surface", sometimes up to 6mm. This allows the installer to smooth off the edges.. Some worktop manufacturers will also supply matching edge trims for some of their profiles (handy if you want a bull nose all the way round an island).

If I were to fit another worktop in my kitchen, I'd go for laminate. A good quality one.

SameOldRoundabout

Personally I prefer quartz tops. 

But I would not be spending £3000 for them on a £5000 kitchen. I’d rather have laminate and a decent kitchen/appliances if that was the choice! (ETA obv I don’t know your budget, but the point is I wouldn’t shell out for quartz if it meant sacrificing more functionality)

donemedosh

I have to agree with the privious posts. I have fitted lots of kitchens over the years & laminate worktops are easy to fit & can look great .But as FreeBear said get a good quality one. Or you could try solid wood worktops i fitted one last year & they do look nice. As for stone or slate worktops way too costly for my liking i would upgrade the appliances first.

theonlywayisup

I think you should have want you want.  

We have granite and it's nearly 20 years old, still looks amazing and it's very forgiving on the whole family having grown up putting boiling hot pans straight onto it, bashing things down and it's marvellous for pastry!  

We have a mix of granite and wood in holiday cottages and would never have wood again, but that's an issue with guests more than choice.   We have burn marks, carving marks and more.  Yes they can be sorted out but not on changeover day. 

phoebe1989seb

We've fitted granite and teak/iroko at several previous houses, ie wood on the perimeters and stone on the island.

At our current home we went for iroko (third time we've chosen this, but we are fairly tidy cooks and don't tend to splash much water about, lol!) on the perimeter and Beton Cire (microcement) on the island.

DH fitted the iroko and did the microcement himself, but he's very hands on 

The kitchens in question have all been in-frame, hand-painted timber cabinets which imho suit those kind of finishes.

Next time I'd go for carrara marble or similar but this didn't suit the look we were hoping to achieve in our current kitchen!

We did obtain samples of the newer laminates but didn't think they were right for our fairly traditional, french style kitchen.....we definitely wouldn't rule them out in a more contemporary design.

fenwick458

I've been on many kitchen jobs where the old 1990's solid worktop was removed. and refitted onto new base units 30 years later. that would never happen with laminate. 
with laminate worktop the weak points are the joints, around the sink, and the edges where the installer normally irons ion an edging strip. in my eyes they the edging strip is really quick and easy to install, but also really quick and easy for it to fall off!
I got a new kitchen 3 years ago and the quartz top was £1600 inc tempate and fitting, I got upstands right round, a 900mm hob splashback right upto the cooker hood, and windowsill all in the same finish. compare that to a postformed laminate top it would be around £100 per length, so roughly £300. plus upstands & spalashbacks £200,  plus £300 for fitting, so lets say £800 total.
£800 extra for quartz tops is worth it in my opinion, firstly the edging strip is never going to pop off(there isn't one), and secondly water is never going to get into the joints or around the sink and cause it to swell up. if me or the next owner changes the cupboards in 30 years then the tops will still be good to go, provided you don't alter the layout too much.
I have stained it several times in 3 years too, but a handy thing to have is bar-keepers friend it seems to make light work of any stains (curries or spices) and and it has also killed 2-3 of my plates or cups in 3 years if you drop anything on them then they are smashed, but I'd say thats a small price to pay.