what's better - great quality kitchen units and laminate worksurface or average units and granite surface?

[reastie]

Just wondering.

Have 2 kitchen places comparing with. One is handmade units which are excellent quality and made to measure. Solid oak under counter units and painted cream wall units (our combination choice) but can only afford laminate worksurfaces.

Other unit is much cheaper painted 'wood' (I use inverted commas as it's probably laminate or MDF or whatever it is they use) units not the perfect size (eg not right up to the ceiling etc) and no oak units, but lovely granite worksurface.

We want something lasting. We are picking quite a classic/traditional kitchen so it won't date too much (hopefully). We are also having a big storage unit matching for the dining room with display units/floor cabinets etc all in the cream painted units. With top quality unit place this will have solid oak worksurface on it and with the cheaper units there will be no display cabinets, just regular wall units but matching granite worktop.

Good units and cheaper work surface units take the brunt of wear and tear ope king slamming shut etc, plus the bigger unit display will belovely. U can always upgrade the work tops another time

I'd say the opposite! Go for the good worktop and change the doors later if you need to

Oh no, what to do!!

Neither kitchen is standard size so would be tricky to change doors easily at a later date.

Expensive units have a better design of kitchen and allow us to hide a non integrated washing machine rather than having to buy an integrated one. But cheaper units allow us to have a 2nd oven (although it would be very tight for space).

All too much to work out, I just want it done! They are both approx the same price.

I went for good quality units and laminate worktop. Couldn't afford both, so decided to pay for the thing I needed to last well and then I can replace the worktop when I am ready.

your solid oak hand made kitchen will almost without any shadow of doubt whatsoever be made of chipboard carcases with wooden doors fitted.

Yes piglet that's right, although the current kitchen we have which is over 20 years old is the same and has lasted a long time, and it's not the chipboard carcases which have given up, it's the hinges (although because of leaks etc we have some mouldy/falling apart units).

If you go for granite work surfaces do make sure the units are strong enough to hold the weight.

I have something called Getacore in my kitchen and I love it.

I agree with Pigletjohn - My sister has just had a bespoke kitchen from one of the luxury / bespoke kitchen companies mentioned on here regularly (its costing in excess of £50k). The cupboard carcasses are mdf with an oak veneer .

There are lots of options in between granite and laminate - could you find something in between the two?

What about a quartz composite. Cheaper than granite and quartz.

Personally, I went for good quality (real wood) units with a laminate worktop. It's just been fitted and it looks fabulous.

And with the £'000s I saved on worktop, I've bought two very flash ovens, which I'm already confident are going to give me far more pleasure and satisfaction than granite would have done.

Am just looking into other worktop options. Our budget is nowhere near the 50k of mandys sisters ( ).

I estimate our worktop budget for the handmade kitchen to be max £500 for 6 metres, we can easily do this with laminate but haven't yet found an alternative which is in budget to go with this kitchen. If you know of anything please let me know :)

On the subject of laminate, now I know alot of people stay clear or the gloss laminate as it scratches easier, but it looks IMO much nicer when I see it. We are all very careful with our worktop - always use chopping board, never put hot things directly on it etc etc - is it really a bad idea to get a gloss laminate surface??

korms lucky you with your fancy ovens!

laminate really is extremely popular (hence its popularity) and if you want to take the old top off and put a new one on one day, it is one of the easier jobs.

I am quite keen on the newish "slab" worktops which appear to be made of a thick layer of the hard plastic or reconstituted stone.

laminate really is extremely hard wearing (hence its popularity)

I've known people replace it after 20+ years, not because it was worn out, but because they were bored with the colour.

Have you looked at high definition laminate?

Maia or ezystone are other options

Cheaper than granite but you would be looking just above 1k for 6m of either

We saved loads by buying our granite direct from a granite importer in and then getting a stonemason to make the worktops. It also meant we had a huge choice of different types of granite and that we could choose the actual slabs. Buying the granite from a kitchen company can be more expensive. We used a company called Pisani in Feltam, London but I am sure their are lots of other importers.

I previously had THIS TYPE OF LAMINATE and I loved it. It has a lovely finish with subtle shimmery bits in it. It was extremely hard wearing.

reastie I don't think many people have that budget, I wasn't saying it for that I was just making the point that its top of the range and some of it is mdf which I was shocked at.

We have gloss laminate at the moment (black mottled) and I think it looks nice as a budget option, but it has scratched. I wouldn't class it as particularly long lasting but we've got the very low budget option.

I wouldn't get gloss laminate as the scratches will show. There are lots of different finishes including matt, honed and semi-gloss.

Oak veneer or any veneer carcass are expensive and classed as top of the market.
The reason a lot of bespoke companies use these are because they are water tight. A lot of bespoke companies also use higher end moisture resistant mdf with abs edges again as its water tight.
with a wood carcass if you have a leak it can ruin your whole unit.
neither of these are poor quality when buying from the more upper end of the market.
The differences between carcass, although you dont actually see it is vast from ikea/bnq to higher end with board density and finish.

Thanks everyone. We are off to look at worktops today at Wickes and Homebase to see what they have. I really don't think we will be able to stretch to 1k for worktops to get anything better than laminate, will have t make sure the laminate we do choose is as durable as possible I guess. That is assuming we go with this kitchen!

I had a generous kitchen budget of £20k - I still opted for ikea units to allow me to buy quartz worktops and the appliances/gadgets that I wanted plus I did not have to skimp on the floor and wall finishes nor the lighting options. We have an architect and a furniture/product designer in the family and both of them recommended this/done this. It does not look like a budget kitchen - indeed, it isn't but the quality worktop makes a huge difference. Plus it allowed me to have pan drawers galore! The ikea fittings and hinges are extremely high quality being from blum. You can just buy the ikea carcasses and then have bespoke doors made to fit which is another compromise. Btw, i know hardly any keen and certainly no professional cooks who would opt for solid wood doors due to it's porous nature and even more so for a worktop surface. Oil and water will inevitably be splashed onto the surfaces - it's just more impractical IMO although I do realise that there are many who like the look of wood and its price.

Thanks myron . I should have made it clear the oak worktop is just on a display cabinet unit in the dining room, not kitchen worktop. We have decided against oak worktops for just this reason in the kitchen! We had an ikea kitchen in our last house but weren't happy with the quality (it seems people are divided with ikea kitchens - they're a bit marmite). I'm a bit about floor wood cabinets being a bad choice though . I can only see as I find but our kitchen currently, like I say is over 20 years old and the oak has worn very well. I'm a keen cook (teach cooking as a job). The advantage of oak on the floor units is it won't show up spills nearly so easily so less cleaning/maintenance on a regular basis. I hate mucky foot boards in kitchens (is that the term??) and I'm worried I'll be driven mad by this if we had a complete painted kitchen (we don't wear shoes inside but it still gets mucky!).

We have quartz composite work surface and love it. Personally I'd always go for the option that allows cupboards right up to the ceiling - I have a horror of greasy cupboard tops, and it gives you more storage (always good). You can upgrade the surface easily later if you find the money.

Agree with LadyIsabella - definitely get cupboards up to the ceiling. I can't believe the difference in the amount of storage space I have now, plus no greasy dusty cupboard tops to clean.

Block wood top looks better than laminate IMO & is much cheaper. It's what Sarah Beeny used to always recommend on her shows. Enjoy shopping today.