What colour work top should we go for?

[mumat39]

Hello

I've attached a couple of photos of our kitchen to my profile and was wondering if anyone could recommend a colour for a new worktop, please.

I've always wanted a 'twinkly' one and am not keen on the look of granite.

We had the kitchen done a few years ago and went for a laminate worktop witha view to replacing it when we'd saved enough. We're not there yet but slowly getting there so I'm starting to think about this now so we know how much we need to save.

The kitchen units are a white gloss, the floor is an oak laminate and the tiles are [[http://www.firedearth.com/tiles/suitability/wall/lido-blue these] They look brighter in the picture than they are in real life.

There is no natural light in the kitchen so it is quite dark, so I was wondering what colour worktop might work with this. WIth hindsight I wish we'd just gone for white tiles we have to work with what we have now.

It doesn't have to be a twinkly work top but has to be something that is hardwearing and easy to maintain.

Many many thanks in advance
:)

link again here

White Starlight Quartz Mirror Fleck

Thanks myron :)

Do you think a plain white one would work? I'm not sure about all the flecks in the one you linked to, although I will go and see if I can see it in a showroom.

Thanks again.

plain white marks easily, especially tea mug rings, but also black marks if an aluminium pan ever touches it, or rust from a tin.

Presumably this not an absorbent stone surface, so you can polish marks off?

Id order some samples esp if your looking at quartz etc.
The quartz dont stain though. we have blanco stella, had it 3 yrs and i dont tidy/wipe behind myself as much as im told i should.
Each white has a different tone, we had the same top off each quartz company and each was different.
Also if doing a white top with a gloss door the door will be alot brighter than the top making the top a little off white/grey look.
always best to get a few samples to view or depending on what colours you like there are plenty of vibrant colours around that can lift your kitchen and also many that will blend and not add dullness

oh, those seal photos are identical to mine, confused me for a minute.
Were they taken at St. Ives?

Sorry, forgot to think about worktops.

Thanks everyone. I hadn't really thought of tea cups staining surfaces. I'd sort of assumed that all these modern work tops would just be easy to keep clean.

I also didn't realise that the same name would be different from different suppliers. If some of these are that different does that mean that there is a chance that we order based on a sample but then get a slightly different colour when we order?

What is silestone like? Is that hard wearing?

Our current laminate is brilliant for someone like me who is a bit clumsy. I wouldn't do well with anything too fussy or fragile. But it is really not very nice looking as it's just too dark.

Bamaluz, good guess. Yes it was taken in St Ives while we were crab catching. Maybe we were there at the same time in the last week of August.

There were 2 that came up quite close to the stone pier we were standing on. They're such beautiful creatures and such a thrill to see them so close. Have you got your pics on here?

No, they're on my laptop but have no idea how to put them on here, but when I saw yours I thought they were mine. I briefly wondered how that could happen before I realised.
Last week of June mine were taken.

mumat39
what i was meaning in the example with quartz is....
there are a few brands, Silestone, Technistone, Caesarstone, Cimstone and so on.
these all offer a white sparkle top, each top from the different brand will be a different tone of white.
Any quartz is hard wearing, i would prob say its the most hard wearing in the kitchen industry.

Thanks Annalouise.

I thought silestone was something different to quartz. Thanks for the clarification.

Do you think a pale grey would work with the colour tiles we have?

Many thanks again.