Kitchen worktops. Quartz or granite. Tell me about yours please..

[Pancakeflipper]

We are extending the house. Part of the works include a new kitchen/dining area.

We have been to several kitchen design shops and we are confused.

Please tell me about your worktops. The joys, the pains, the ?wish I had done this instead..? stories.

I love the look of quartz. We can just about afford it. I have heard it?s great, hard wearing and great for a family kitchen. Then 1 kitchen shop told us it?s fixed to MDF wood so it could warp if water gets into the wood. Then disaster. He?s pushing us to granite.

I want something that will last. Cannot afford to do this again.

We have corian which I love.

Standard quartz is a solid surface - no mdf mounting - there is a cheaper version that is MDF mounted - think they may sell it at Wickes & B&Q etc but in general you should expect to buy quartz without the mdf.

Granite is more delicate than quartz in terms of acidic cleaning products, if you are in a hard water area steer clear.

We have just had granite fitted in our new kitchen. I LOVE it. It is a "leather" finish, so rather than a a gloss finish (which saves me a lot of buffing) it has a lovely texture which looks fab. No experience of ease of cleaning, usability etc as we still haven't moved back in yet.

SirenSusan - can I hire you and drag you around kitchen/bathroom/flooring/tiles and paint shops for the next couple of months? You know everything ( it was you who was on the whether or not to use Farrow and Ball paint thread?).

Ungratefulchild - have you a funky colour ? I have seen that type of worksurface in some brill colours.

Mrs Sharpe - I want cleaning updates...

- I am in the middle of a huge build - in 2 months it will be finished and I will have a head full of useless knowledge, so ask away - I will try my best to point you in the right direction - Mumsnet has been invaluable to me, I name change frequently for privacy reasons but I hang around like a bad smell!

We have just had quartz worktops fitted in our new kitchen; they are solid & very heavy and no mdf involved. Also v beautiful!
Went for quartz instead of granite as had been told that it was a more easy care option i.e. no sealing/ staining etc. We are the sort of lazy sods laid back people who will leave a teabag or a wine stain on the worktop for too long so didn't want a worktop that could stain.

We have grey. We wanted Jade but it had just been discontinued. The integrated sink is lovely and the corian is incredibly hardwearing and can be repaired.

We are looking at solid wood walnut worktops to replace our crappy melamine tops when we repaint our shaker kitchen cupboards. I am worried about wear and tear but dh swears he will oil them and treat them in the correct fashion.

We have quartz - very pale grey (almost white) with sparkly bits. I love it! Incredibly easy to keep clean and certainly no MDF - it's completely solid. I initially wanted wood tops but decided that was just too much like hard work and am extremely happy with the quartz. The one we chose is indentical to Silestone Stella Bianco but doesn't have the antibacterial thing (can't really see the benefit tbh) and was a fair bit cheaper. I would certainly go for it again.

Quartz is lovely 5 years on for us. If you have huge space and lots of light elsewhere perhaps go for granite. Looks lovely too in the right kitchen.

We have a work surface made out of something called caesarstone. It's a sort of man made granite. I'm absolutely delighted with it. It's been in over a year now and looks perfect. it comes in a wide range of colours, and is less highly flecked than granite.

Oh , our has no MDF underneath it either as far as I can tell.

BonyM - I have been looking at the Silestone ones. I do like them. Do you know what thickness it is?

Encyclogirl - very jealous you have someone to sand/oil and caress your wooden worksurface. I known darn well my DP would promise then it would be left to me. They do look good.

Siren - shall we talk how big?

What are you having done? What kitchen are you getting? Where from? And flooring doing any Karndean type flooring?

I've had this quandary. I am coming down on quartz as I've found one with the right colour ways. And I certainly can't be doing with buffing! (You don't have to buff it do you?). Another MNetter recommended diapol, so I've been in touch with them. Their quotes are considerably cheaper. If I have enough money after the rest of the work is done, then I will go with them. Otherwise it's laminate all the way.

Btw, flooring we have porcelain tiles, easy maintenance, 3 small kids. Dark grout! I love wood, but it wouldn't wear well with our family!!

Am having everything done - should have just ripped the house down! Kitchen going German - online hasn't arrived yet will let you know when it does. Flooring - engineered wood in kitchen, glued to the floor so no bounce & it feels a bit more like a real wood floor and less like a laminate - check out V4- it's lovely, with a 6mm wear layer with ply construction apparently the strongest and about half the price of the equivilent in John Lewis!

If you can't afford quartz formica do some great laminates which are about £400 for a 3m length. They really look great lots of colours and family proof!

Quartz/Silestone will usually come in 10mm,20mm,30mm - or wrapped around an mdf board to make it appear thicker.

Noddy, the quartz quote I got is about the same as that formica as this includes fitting!

I've got Silestone Stellar Blanco. It is beautiful and I love it - worth every penny