Practical kitchen tables

[SarfEast1cated]

We are not formal diners. We spend time sat at our table reading the paper, eating, working and my daughter paints, glues and makes a mess of stuff.
I would like a nice kitchen table that can handle everything we throw at it and will still look nice. Any recommendations? I would be scared for a lovely wooden table, so thought that formica or zinc might be nice? does anyone have any experince of a zinc table - or even something like this?
I don't want to spend the earth on it, but would like something that will look good for the next 20 years.
Any suggestions?
Thanks

[Sandbagsandgladrags]

You can get some really lovely glass ones these days - white glass in particular looks great. Very easy to wipe down. The one you've linked to looks nice, but I think it will date, so perhaps less good for the long term. Another thing to think about is that you can get some great extending ones these days - some double in size without much exertion.

[SarfEast1cated]

Glass makes me a bit nervy sandbags but I will fire up Pinterest and have a look in the morning.
Thanks!

[Qwebec]

A wood table can be very forgiving but you need to choose the right one. Mine has an uneven color and the varnish is a satin finish and it always looks fine even full of crumbs. I've heard that a slightly distressed wood is even better. I'd just steer clear of the pristine table that would fit in the classical dinnig room or of any ones with gaps and cracks (who wants to clean them with a tooth pick?). If wood is waht you want of course.
I've had a few other types and found that it is the most forgiving material IME.

[SarfEast1cated]

That's a beautiful piece of wood qwebec. I have wondered about tile topped tables too... They would be pretty hardy...
I guess I'm after an affordable practical design classic!

[GrubbyWindows]

Not tiles!!! Tiles=grout =manky grunge that is hard to clean out, especially if kids are painting etc on it.
I grew up with a big old unvarnished wooden table, it is pretty bomb proof. My mum still has it, it looks great and is now surviving the onslaught of grandchildren.
Every decade or so it gets dragged out onto the terrace, scrubbed to within an inch of its life, and oiled.

[cressetmama]

Go to an auction house and buy an old wooden table. Scrub it with salt and anything else you like, then oil it. You'll probably find something really sturdy for half of what you'd pay at IKEA. Then paint it, polish it, or burn it if it's not what you want long term.

My kitchen table, seats 6, belonged to my mum and was bought for £10. 30 years later it's going strong. Three dogs have chewed the base during teething, and it's been flooded with water and paint a hundred times. Wipe it clean, and it looks gnarly. It has a story to tell.

[SarfEast1cated]

Yes cresset I have been having a look at ebay today - some quite nice ones. Does it matter which wood? Oak, walnut? Not so keen on pine tbh, but are they all much of a muchness? I thought wood would be high maintenance but you and qwebek are changing my mind..

[cressetmama]

SarfEast, mine was french polished oak, and top and base are not original to one another. When DS was tiny and keen on fingerpainting, it was covered in oil cloth. It was also very (too) dark, so last year I scrubbed it with some stuff that was not suitable for polished surfaces using wire wool, then rinsed and rinsed (years of grime and newsprint as DH reads the paper on the table) and then just oiled it with some furniture oil I saw in Lakeland. Now it just gets wiped after meals and re-oiled every week, or three, and care is easy-peasy.

I think I would be careful of walnut; isn't it finer and more delicately grained, and also perhaps more "elegant dining" than kitchen table?

[OnePlanOnHouzz]

Maison du monde and loaf both have some lovely tables too !

[Obeliskherder]

I'm not convinced about oil as a finish. Ours wears off very easily so, because I don't oil it every 1-3 weeks like cresset, it's almost permanently under-oiled. It scrubs clean ok but does absorb stains a bit. Bolognese stains etc wipe up if done immediately, or if not they'll come out over time or with a squirt of kitchen cleaner left on it for a few hours. It's not bad but it's not the ultimate easy clean surface. It does take hot things well.

I keep thinking I'll varnish it for lower maintenance, then I cave and re-oil it for speed.

[whois]

We have a big wood table that was from a pub - its bomb proof. Never water marks, can get off glue, wax, paint. If it gets trashed we can scrub it down and re-oil.

Cost £30 off gum tree.

[whois]

Actually I got my last post wrong - table is VARNISHED not oiled.