White laminate work tops - mad?

[hellohellohihi]

We're going to refurb the kitchen in the house we've just bought with the hope tat in a few years we'll have saved enough to re-do the kitchen properly.

I love pale grey units and honk they look lovely with white worktops. As this is just an interim kitchen (say 3 years) we don't want to spend a lot. So whilst I'd love corian it doesn't seem worth it at the mo. is white laminate a stupid idea? Will it look cheap and nasty? Will it be a mare to keep clean??

Anyone else got white laminate worktops??

[hellohellohihi]

Excuse typos!!!

[JazzAnnNonMouse]

My grandparents have and you have to wipe everything straight away and put stuff under stuff all the time. I think the amount saved in kitchen towel might add up to v v expensive worktops.

How about white with a speckle?

[unlucky83]

No to any kind of very pale worktop ...have lived in rented flats and they are a nightmare...I found bleach is your (only) friend ...(same true for those composite white sinks)
and gloss laminate ...seeing as it scratches easily easily ...or gloss cupboards doors and mucky children -or anything other than smooth doors - (without those dirt collecting edges)

I think practicality is more important than looks (regrets to this day getting speckled cream coloured kitchen floor purely cos a darker colour would have made kitchen too dark - couldn't have looked worse than my floor after 2s days worth of filth...

[hellohellohihi]

Hmm. Thanks, not really what I wanted to hear though!!

I say corian is too much but I've actually no idea how much it costs.

Wood is our second choice (DH is a carpenter so would be happy to do the maintenance that comes with wood worktops). But the kitchen is a bit gloomy so I think white would look better and also go with the grey units better.

What about glass???

[JazzAnnNonMouse]

Everything smashes on glass apparently.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad worktop woes! Wood would be fine if you're up for maintenance.

[hellohellohihi]

Fair enough re glass.

I think we'd need to have white units with wooden worktops and I'm in love with pale grey at the moment.

An still tempted with the white laminate... If it just needs bleaching to get it to come up clean I'm ok with that.... :-/ I think....

[unlucky83]

Guess if you wipe up as soon as you spill? - coffee/tea rings were the worst in my experience...
I was talked out of wood ...apparently also stains like mad - and even harder to get clean...but guess if your DH can keep on top of it (and wants to?)
(a friend with older DCs has dark grey/green cupboards and wood worktop - looks great and she's happy but has stains next to butlers sink - should sand out though)
After lots of dithering I settled for dark gray speckled laminate ...
only cost about £300 so thinking could always replace in future ...when childless and will have time/inclination to clean and pamper kitchen worktops - and actually great - doesn't ever look really dirty (even when in need a wipe down)
Saw a slate worktop once and that looked really good but again prone to marks...but like glass - and concrete and granite too - crockery killers!

[poocatcherchampion]

a new kitchen in 3 years after this one - are you sure you need to do it?

[JazzAnnNonMouse]

Come back and tell me that in a year

[fossil971]

If it's an interim kitchen I'd go for a pale wood or pale speckly laminate. Plain white puts me in mind of my grandparents kitchen of the 80s (white, red accents ) and that was really tea-stained. If your kitchen is gloomy spend money on some decent lights!

Personally I think grey and timbers look lovely together: this sort of look inspired my kitchen. But maybe you are not after such a country look?

[hellohellohihi]

Current worktop and floor are both really dark/black making the kitchen far gloomier than it should be.

At some point in the future we'll be extending but need to save up first, and in the meantime DH thinks we can refurb the current kitchen for £700-1000 and it'll be more or less exactly what we want so IMO its worth doing now. Plus it could end up taking longer to save up knowing us so I want something we love for the interim.

[hellohellohihi]

This is more the kind of look: greigedesign.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/grey-lowers.html

[unlucky83]

That looks like my friend's kitchen -but with wood work top...
(Those cupboard doors have the dust/crumb traps that I hate ...keep on top of them or you'll end up having to take a toothpick to them to get the grime out - but then I hate cleaning!!!)
IME dark floors are good ...pale floors a nightmare...

[JazzAnnNonMouse]

The one you linked to looked like the worktop was speckled not plain white?
If the worktops aren't much money then you could always replace them if they piss you off too much

[Boardiegirl]

Ive had wht worktops previously, with 4 children too. IMO go for it! They look fab. Just use Flash spray with bleach for any spills, it works rly well. If its like sweet n sour sauce or an equally tough colourful stain just spray and leave 5 mins :)

[Boardiegirl]

Wood is a mare to upkeep; been there done that

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Will you have many joins? Apparently the joins in White work tops stick out a mile.

[hellohellohihi]

There's a u-shape so 3 sides do I guess 2 joins then another l-shape so 1 join...

[JazzAnnNonMouse]

V true about the joins. Grandparents only have one join but looks like someone's drawn a line with dark pencil on it.

[puffylovett]

We have creamyatt speckled laminate.. Not my choice, but inoffensive and I don't find the stains a huge issue to be honest (but maybe that's because I don't care about it as we plan to replace it when we win the lottery!!)

Cream tiled kitchen floor with white grout, dog and 2 boys on the other hand.... Grrrr...