Wooden work surfaces in the kitchen - good idea or maintainance nightmare?

[DANCESwithLordPottingtonSmythe]

Sorry, been on the rubber floor thread and it's got me thinking about my 'dream' kitchen! I LOVE the look of painted units and wooden worksurfaces but I'm sure I've read the upkeep is a nightmare. Any opinions?

they go soggy round the sink if you are not careful

imho - nightmare, don't go there.

Why Stig's friend WHY??!

especially a nightmare if your dh is paranoid about keeping them pristine! ok if you are prepared to accept that they will get a bit Rustic pretty quickly

I love our wooden surfaces but they definitely do not stay pristine, which I am relaxed about. We have sanded and varnished once in the last 3 years, which wasn't TOO hellish.

Red wine and curry stains come out eventually.....

Love ours, beech and treated with oil once a year by DH, had them 3 years and still looking fab

Mine have gone vile around the sink, shall I take a pic? It'll put you off.

Hmmm...dh not likely to be paranoid or me BUT then again I don't want new kitchen to look tatty straight away. What's a good alternative then?

anywhere but round the sink I reckon. Am slovenly about oiling too

Oooh yes Scanner! Dh calls those home magazines my 'porn' collection Your photo could be the anti-porn i guess!

if you have recently won the lottery I think a granite top is nice if you have rooma big butchers block table (Ikea has one for about £100) gives the wood thing with relatively low maintenance

So Sophiewd - why are yours not soggy round the sink?! Do mugs leave ring marks? How about grease stains?

granite ,corian,raustone all better easier alternatives

if you are a nice clean tidy girl maybe you'll be fine.

Unless you keep it well oiled (do you want to take everything off your kitchen surfaces, rub in oil, leave it for hours to soak in every 4/6 mths?), it stains REALLY easily - red wine, tomato based sauces etc. Yes, you can rub them out, but lordy, is it worth it?

Plus the area round the sink (where the surface gets splashed) ends up getting yucky.

Ours was put in my the previous owners & I loathe it (was very excited about it before we moved in)

To be fair, if we looked after it betterm maybe it'd be OK

Oh, thread moved on while I wasn't watching
I can also take anti-porn sink photos if you want to be totally sunk...

Please do. My husband will love you if that helps. Hmmm as previously mentioned am a slattern so maybe this is a bad idea. But I wantthis - bottom left corner

Footnote to kitchen photo - but not that floor, proper aga, a mismatching welsh dresser and lots of spotty crockery (what, specific, me?)

I tell a lie, 6 barely visible cup stains, no idea, DH good at putting things in sink rather than on surface possibly may be the answer.

awful awful awful

do not do it
granite is so easy and non ruining

wood is a nightmare

I am forever screeching at the kids not to drip on it
cutting is a nightmare unless you are prepared to do as mr oliver says and just chop freely all over it which would be nice but i am too straight laced

the water aspect is the worst - PLUS you cannot even put ot things on it

not a natural option for a kitchen just not durable

We put hot things on it all the time and nope doesn't mark it at all.

mybestfriendiscalledstig - i am a tidy girl and we have only lived here 9 months - it is ruined

did i mention i dripped some caustic soda on it whe i was cleaning off all my le creuset dishes - did nOT help the overall look!

i too was excited about it but have given up on it now

Ok, ok.

No - wood is fab! Admittedly we have granite where our sink is in a separate area but rest is beech and is wonderful. V lax about oiling but it's fine (once in 5 years ) and you can put hot stuff on it. It weathers, it has character and looks lovely.

Are diff. types of wood more or less resilient? How come some of you can put hot things on and some not. It's very confusing!

probably agrree that if water is not involved it would be ok -warm and mellow