white worktops - anyone got an opinion?

[Katz]

do they always look dirty? do they stain badly?

What colour kettle ect do you have?

I had cheap white worktops, ended up with lots of curry stains on them

Just buy your extra thick bleach by the container load

were looking at getting the resin solid-surface worktops. Have a couple of small sample pieces, so need to test tea, coffee, red wine and curry on them and then try bleach to clean it with.

Mine were laminate, cheap ones the builsers put in.
I used lots of thick bleach!

Worst stains IMHO are tomato (curry/pasta sauces) and turmeric (paella/curry)
I've always found Milton to be an A1 stain remover - draining turmeric rice some long while ago brought a magnificent yellow glow to the plug surround of my (then new) sink and none of the bleaches, thick or otherwise, came close to bringing it back to white again! That said, even Milton takes some long soak to shift tomato stains in the sink.

For worktops I went for 'granite look' and have in the past had 'wood look' - very forgiving!

elbowfan - hadn't thought of tomato stains. I really liked the look of the walnut cupboards with the white worktops but i'm not a very tidy cook and these worktops will be part of my open plan dining/kitchen/living room. hmmmm

guess it's just a case of test test and test the samples.

I'm thinking that a stainless steel undermount sink will be better than one made of the same stuff and therefore white?

I use Milton on mine too. I seem to have problems with things like slightly damp plastic bags printing onto mine, as well as tea, coffee, hot chocolate, curry and 99 other top stains.

I used to have cheapy white worktops. I really liked them TBH, because you could actually seethe dirt.
I used thick bleach too.

Now I have black, and I wonder if I'm just missing patches of grub.

Once upon a long time ago I had a proper ceramic white sink and I loved it! None of the pseudo variations now available come near its practicality. My present sink is one of those cream ceran/supposed to be stain resistant and oh so hard-wearing but tea and tomato are the worst issues. I went for 'limed elm' - a lovely pale wood teamed with 'grey/white/pink granite effect' worktops - as I said, very forgiving! Stainless steel sinks come up a treat with the cleaner for ceramic hobs - I think it may be the lemon juice content...
Your walnut cupboards sound lovely - would wood-effect worktops be too much?

I have white corian sinks and worktops. I love them - I always seem to be saying that on here! - they don't stain, even with wine, coffee, curry etc. I started off ( 2 and half years ago) using Flash bleach spray on them now and then but I haven't bothered with that for a couple of years and they still look fab. Would look great with walnut I should think.

I had white laminate in a rented flat about 15 years ago and that looked nice until we burned a hole in it with a hot pan...

barbara - how expensive does corian work out at?

We have a corian-type white kitchen worktop with walnut cupboards. I think it looks great! We've had it for 3 years and it's been sooo easy to keep clean, no stains at all.

The first thing that came to mind was curry stains. I have a white sink which shows dirt up. I know I wouldn't be tidy enough to cope with white, but i think if you are, it would look lovely with a walnut kitchen.

Katz - Corian isn't cheap ( comparable to granite I think, but the price depends on the thickness you choose) but it comes with a ten year guarantee. I'd never have anything else now and I am a veteran of far too many kitchens! Unlike granite you can put a glass down hard without it shattering, and unlike wood it doesn't need constant re-oiling, and it just performs better all round than laminates. I have the sinks moulded out of it too in a seamless stretch, which I have to say is brilliant.

Same here Barbarapym.

You can 'cheat' and make it look thicker by having it laid on to some mdf , as it blends seamlessly to itself.

I am so pleased to read about your corian worktops and sinks as I am about to go for a corian top in my new kitchen but was panicking about stains and how to clean them. What do you use for everyday cleaning and can you use bleach/milton safely on corian?

Yes you can use bleach. Flash spray is best for me.

the worktops were looking at seem to be generically called solid surface - we got given some samples to take home so DH is currently investigating how they perform! We've been given an approx guide of £2000 for a 3m 90cm wide lenth and a 1.5m 60 cm length.

how much are people being quoted for the corian worktops?

i've had a kitchen quote which i am very happy with apart from the corian and i don't know if it is the going rate or v.expensive.

I've been quoted £3800 for straight run of 3.3 metres with sink, drainer, hob cut out and upstand.

I know corian is expensive, but this works out to be more than £1000 per metre!!!!

I was quoted £5,800 by Magnet for about 7 metres including curves and sink but it looks like there are lots of deals if you buy direct online. Has anyone done that?

i've just spotted that tesco do the worktops we're looking at as do focus, for the 3.6m .9m wide breakfast bar and 1.8m of worktop is seems to be about £1500. I;m going to phone tesco and see if they will do worktops only or if i need to have a whole kitchen. Magnet said they don;t only do worktops when we asked.

I have gorgeous quartz silestone pure white worktops. No stains. Very easy to care for. Whole kitchen cost about £2500 incl fitting, for a 1m stretch and a 2m island.

I got mine from here

...and ours is mixed with stainless steel and elm units/table/shelf

brushed steel kettle and toaster

...and our sink is flush with worktop - brushed steel again. much cheaper to shop around IME and get stuff from different places, ours is a mix of stone supplier for worktops, Sainsbo's for appliances, Ikea for some units, local joiner for the rest.

like those worktops - will investigate thanks!