Kitchen worktops... real wood?

[dancingqueen345]

I know this has been done to death, but none of the existing threads have helped.

In the process of refreshing my kitchen (new worktops, tiling and flooring) and I feel like I'm being pushed down the real wood worktop route by my fitter, and specifically Howdens ones.

Now I love a real wood top, and it's only a small kitchen so the cost isn't prohibitive, but I just think that maybe I only think I need a real wood top, rather than because I actually do love them, if that makes any sense!

Anyone care to recommend me their laminate (with pics if possible)? I like oak.

My units are white gloss, tiles will be sage and floor will be oak laminate.

Probably unhelpful but we have real wood and I love them!
I sand and oil them once a year and haven’t had any problems with them; (the sanding and oiling takes an afternoon one day and a morning the next day for me)

In my old house we had them. Agree you need to re oil ( and a light sand if needed ) at least once a year. I was however, very careful never to cut anything not put a hot pan directly on it.

I had oak laminate worktops from wicked in my last house and loved them. Looked lovely and no maintenance. I have wood in my new house. Absolute pain in the arse. If you are not careful and someone happy to do maintenance then don't. I find sanding and reselling a kitchen worktop a pain because kitchen is out if action for a period and sand gets bloody everywhere so the whole kitchen including all the cupboards need to be cleaned out.

I'm not dead against the maintenance, but equally I'm the sort that probably would forget/not bother, which makes me think it would just be a waste of money!

@MiniMum97 did you get them in the curved edge? My fave think about the real wood is the straight edge

My first thought is slime! Ive never had a wooden worktop but my cousin has one at great expense and the whole sink area is nasty looking and definitely slimy when wet.
Yes, you can reface it and seal it etc etc - but why bother when there are multiple viable options available.
Personally I am always wary when a workman tries to push me for his favourite option and I would suspect its because he has lengths taking up his workshop from a previous job.But thats me as a deeply suspicious person.

@KarinVogel I'm with you on the suspicion. I know he'll be getting some sort of benefit from using Howdens but I'm of the view that that's just how it is!!

What are all these other options you speak of?? I thought my only other option was laminate!

@dancingqueen345 I didn’t put them in they were here when we bought the house. They have a straight edge.

I've laminate and wood in my kitchen as I live in an old cottage. We recently installed integral fridge and freezer alongside each other and rather than trying to match up the horrible black laminate we chose oak from worktop express. They were brilliant. Cut it to size and the off cut was large enough to be made into two shelves which they did. Total cost £150 I think inc delivery. The wood never looks dirty the laminate always has streaks on.

I'd go with wood every time. Yes it has to be oiled but it's well worth the effort!

We had a duropal laminate installed in our new kitchen in October. It's looks nice, I didn't want real wood because I knew we wouldn't keep up with the oiling and sanding and no splashing around the sink and granite or quartz was way out of our price range even though I loved some.
This is the only picture I've got on my tablet with a bit of worktop sorry

I think they look lovely but I wouldnt get them again, because of the up keep especially the sink area, You have to make sure water is always cleared up around the sink area or you have to sand it all back down again and re oil. I left some pans on the side not realising the bottoms of them were wet and it made ring marks, In my next house I am getting laminate ones because its annoying having the kitchen out of use when dh sanded them down and oiled them, Plus the oil stank. Ours needed sanding and oiling every 3months or so to keep them looking good and to reduce the marking. Never again.

I've had my oak worktops for 8 years. Never sanded or re oiled. They still look lovely, but we are vigilant about water and don't put things directly on them

We have wood - it's lasting well, but you do need to be careful about water. We have used Howdens laminate before and have been surprised by the quality, I thought the marble look was really good and it was pretty much bulletproof. However I'd never do wood-look laminate, as to me that always looks really cheap and tends to date.

Just to update, I went for the wood and so far I am absolutely in love. I'm being incredibly precious about anyone being in the kitchen and I've just told my mum (a solid laminate woman) she's not allowed in for a couple of weeks because I don't trust her 😂

Hopefully I'll settle into them as time goes on, although I pity the first person to spill red wine etc on them (likely to be though to be fair)

I came to say we've just had oak square edge laminate installed and I'm delighted with them. Arlington Oak from b and q. Chose them because they are a cooler tone.