If you have a white kitchen, can you tell me what counter surface you have

[Sw33tR3d]

Thanks, going round and round in circles

wood- needs oiling and been told to steer clear
wood laminate- worried it will look a bit cheap
white granite- will it stain, look too clinical
black granite- might look too severe
grey granite- a possibility

Such a gorgeous green! Just lovely.

I have Emerald Pearl black granite, i still love it 9 years on! It’s granite with large pearlescent flecks of mica so not a solid colour.

I got it direct rather than via a kitchen company so was reasonable price.
https://dalesofthirsk.co.uk/

My kitchen is cream rather than pure white. Counter top is a mottled black grey and brown granite. The brown really works to make it less severe.

I had white, and the worktop was quartz in a deep wine red.
Saw it when searching on line for inspiration, and asked a local marble/stone/quartz supplier to source it.
It looked fabulous, and didn't show wind stains, which was a bonus.

Forgot to add pic…
unots are Ikea and floor is Harvey Maria vinyl tiles which I would really recommend too.

I have wooden worktops and I love them. We did the kitchen about 4 years ago and have oiled the worktops once in that time. The only slight problem I have is keeping the wood dry behind the sink but I usually stuff a tea towel there if I'm washing up then remove when I've finished.

@Housebuildhelp they supplied and fitted the worktop. The only thing I would avoid are their appliances

Wood is really only a pain around the sink. A friend has a good set-up with wood everywhere then marble (or marble-esque) just around the sink, cut and fitted very precisely so it butts up against the wood without causing a gap for grot to get into. Looks amazing and means she’s not doing endless wood upkeep.

I’ve got wood everywhere but not by choice; when we redo the kitchen I’d like real marble, leather finish. I’m not bothered about stains, I think eventually it adds to the been-here-forever charm of marble.

Worktop Express does a good compressed laminate: thin and waterproof all the way through so you can have an undermount or Butler sink, shapes and cutouts if you need them. We had the concrete effect in our last house.

Howdens said laminate isn’t heat proof. 😫

Loving all the pics and info! Thankyou!

Which one was it?

I have white composite with quartz. It makes the light dance around the room. Installed in 2015, it's still pristine.

We've got a vanilla quartz laminate, it has a lovely slight sparkle. Laminate has so many more options than it used to, is incredibly tough and hard-wearing, and is so cost effective. The picture attached isn't mine, but just to show the colour.
We paired it with solid wood flooring, I'd not put that in a kitchen again - too paranoid about water damage and it gets so many dinks from the kids dropping cutlery. It has lasted 9 years though.

We have brownish granite - it’s called “Labrador antique” (named after the greeny blue flecks of labradorite in it, not because it’s dog-compatible).
We felt wood would look great but we’d inherited wood in a kitchen in a previous place and we definitely weren’t able to look after it well enough, it went horrible around the sink and was a PITA. Other more minimalist organised people than us might have managed. We knew our limits.

It’s beautiful - lovely colour overall, beautiful crystal detail, doesn’t show up every last smudge, v easy to take care of. We got it from a worktop granite fitting place and it was pretty good value.

We've an older Magnet kitchen with their laminate worktops, and find you can put hot stuff on the laminate with no ill effect. However I try to use a trivet as it's good practice - might be tempted to forget at someone else's!

Is there anywhere online I could get more white kitchen inspo pics?

White units, white granite worktop, with a bright red glass splash back. The splash back wasn't supposed to be so big but it covers a mistake made by the kitchen fitters and actually looks better. Floor is oak Amtico. It's 6 years old and we don't have problems with staining on the worktop and rarely use the special cleaner it came with.

Our previous kitchen was white and we went with blue composite worktop.

We've got white Howden gloss kitchen, pale oak worktops. We have 3 IKEA counter savers that we put a pot stand on or use to chop etc. 10 years on and none of it looks dated, no marks on wood which is waxed I think, not glossy. Bought the worktops online, thick and much cheaper than kitchen suppliers, 'worktopsonline' maybe.

We have wood effect laminate. It came with the house but I’d probably choose it again - I’d never go for actual wood because I can’t be bothered with the upkeep and it’s a north facing room so the wood look warms it up a bit compared to granite etc. I haven’t had any problems with the laminate not being heat proof but we have some cork mats and magnetic trivets (as all my pans are magnetic) from IKEA we normally put hot stuff on.

@Sw33tR3d Pinterest or Real Homes sites.

Wood laminate it looks much better than my sisters real wood work tops.

Browse Houzz for inspiration.

We have black sparkly granite on white units and I love it.

We have black but with a speckle a bit like tbis pic. Looks lovely against the white. I don't think a 'flat' black would work so well

Wood is by far the nicest to look at IMO. And it actually isn’t at all difficult to maintain. Have had wood surfaces for 10 years. Never oiled them, never had a problem. It’s true you should keep the bit behind the sink dry, but I rarely do and even that has been largely fine.