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Original poster

Right. Which one of you ponces has a welsh slate worktop?

24 replies

SpringHeeledJack · 13/10/2011 16:17

...I am looking for something hardwearing (the other occupants of this house spray water all over the place and never wipe it up ) -which leads me to stony stuff, but I don't want something mined abroad by kiddies on a shilling a day

if you've got it-

1.was it eye wateringly pricey?
2.is it nice?

OP posts:
midnightexpress · 13/10/2011 16:19

I am so sick of rotten wood around my sink and love the look of slate, but I want to know the same things as you, and how it deals with watery sink area (I'm thinking it must be good if they put it on roofs, but what do I know?).

inmysparetime · 13/10/2011 16:26

We have welsh slate flooring in the bathroom and utility room, it was about £25/sq m. There are a lot of small quarries, we got ours from "the welsh slate co." they do work tops etc. as well. We got a granite worktop, it was about £1300 for 5 metres with sink cutout, drainer lines, splashbacks and window ledges.

Original poster
SpringHeeledJack · 13/10/2011 16:39

it's the drainer lines

I LOVE the drainer lines Grin

midnight- same here. The last worktop we got was solid wood and it looked fab- for about a year. Now it's all spore-y

OP posts:
moondog · 13/10/2011 16:41

Had one in my old house, commissioned by me, complete with draining lines and a slate floor too.
Very nice but dark oh so dark.
Don't do it unless kitchen high ceilniged and full of light.

Original poster
SpringHeeledJack · 13/10/2011 16:44

the kitchen is tiny

it will be light, though. Even if I have to take a lumphammer and smash the wall out myself

OP posts:
vixsatis · 13/10/2011 16:45

We have this and I love it; but it is expensive. I think mine was from the Welsh Slate co as well.

If you can afford it is is nice: (a) to know that there was no child/generally exploitative labour involved, which will generally be the case with Chinese or Indian alternatives; and (b) to support a small local business

Original poster
SpringHeeledJack · 13/10/2011 16:49

that's what I thought, vix

I was made to visit a Welsh slate mine in my yoof

it made a great impression on me. The grey. And the wet. And the cooooooold

I loved it

OP posts:
vixsatis · 13/10/2011 16:57

It doesn't make the room dark at all (and that's with a slate floor as well): it just looks really solid and stylish and timeless and contrasts well with lots of light/bright colours which you can choose for your paintwork.

minipie · 13/10/2011 18:10

Welsh slate is gooorgeous. (I too have visited the mines SHJ, very grey and foggy and dramatic they were too).

Parents have a greeny slate worktop - dunno if it's Welsh. It doesn't seem to have a problem with water. I think in theory oil is more likely to mark it but theirs seems to have been fine so far - I would guess you just need to make sure it's well sealed. Oh and it's not dark (but their kitchen is light).

inmysparetime · 13/10/2011 18:22

Green slate is most likely from Honister in the lake district, welsh slate is blue-grey.

BonyM · 13/10/2011 21:59

Does it scratch easily?

amistillscary · 13/10/2011 22:25
teta · 14/10/2011 17:35

We have slate worktop on either side of the cooker.It does scratch but these can generally be wiped away with a cloth.We seal with olive oil and do this when required -this also hides scratches.Ours was 110 year old slate from our original pantry that has been repolished and cut -cost about 300 pounds.I think must be welsh -as we live next to wales.I am really happy with ours.It doesn't look cold.The only thing was ours was quite fragile and difficult to cut so we needed an upstand along the wall to cover the gap left.The carpenter dribbled a bit of silicone when installing the upstand and it seems to have beem absorbed into the slate.

Themumsnot · 14/10/2011 21:12

We have just had a slate worktop installed, but Brazilian not Welsh - from www.ardosiaslate.co.uk/ these guys. I love it, but early days yet to know about scratching etc. It was about midway between laminate and granite pricewise.

Original poster
SpringHeeledJack · 15/10/2011 18:58

thank you for your great work here, slate ponces

I will produce this thread in future when dp faints at the quote

...and Envy @teta and her 110 year old slate. In Wales

OP posts:
Yankeecandlequeen · 31/10/2011 10:22

I'd love to have more Welsh slate in my Welsh cottage but for the price its ridicilous! I live near one of the biggest slate quarries in Europe & it was cheaper for me to buy Brazilians slate for my inglenook than Welsh! Where is the justice in that!?

I've had to use Welsh slate on the roof but its brazilian as window sills. So Welsh slate as a worktop would cost me an arm & a leg.

Have a look at this: www.inigojones.co.uk/

Yankeecandlequeen · 31/10/2011 10:30

Oh to add there are different colours

Slate from Penrhyn Quarry is a heather blue colour. Then Ffestiniog is another shade. You get blue/grey & a lavender colours.

lugo40 · 10/05/2015 20:39

anu update on this?

we are currently choosing between slate and conrete

LAGWAFIS · 10/05/2015 20:45

We've got slate. I also wanted concrete but a) it was £££ and b) I heard of problems with cracking / crumbling

Love the slate, although ours is cheapo Brazilian

lugo40 · 10/05/2015 21:48

That's interesting. Is your slate easy to care for? Heat proof scratch proof stains etc?

LAGWAFIS · 10/05/2015 22:00

Not had any problems with it. It gets a white mark if you drag stuff across it, but they wipe off. There are no deep scratches and I think, because the surface is honed and a bit rougher they'd not show anyway

I olive oil it occasionally and wipe over with a microfibre cloth to clean it. It's dead easy. Although it is dark (our kitchen is pretty small and dark, so with hindsight perhaps not the ideal choice) and everything you drop on it breaks, although I suppose that's the same for any stone surface

lugo40 · 11/05/2015 06:10

Thank you. I love the thought of slate and how it looks. We have a pretty light kitchen so might be ok dark.

Thanks!

LAGWAFIS · 11/05/2015 22:27

We got ours from a reclaimation yard. It wasn't 'reclaimed' though. It was in 2m lengths, each was about £200 though we bargained a bit and got delivery thrown in. We got a local stonemason to cut it, which was about £50 and he did upstands too, so for us it was actually a fairly cheap option and wasn't much more than oak would've been.

paxtecum · 12/05/2015 06:08

There is green slate in Wales too.

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