Don't Buy Maia Worktops - I wish I'd read the reviews

[worldgonecrazy]

We didn't have lots of money to splash on a new kitchen, but thought it would be worth investing in something better than laminate worktops.

We went for maia (from John Lewis but other manufacturers use it too).

Don't do it - it looks great when it's polished.

And then you do something terribly outrageous for a kitchen, such as putting a plate down on the surface, or putting a bag of shopping, or breathing within 3 feet of the surface, and you get a scratch which has to be buffed out.

It's crap - save your money and either go for laminate or buy something that is actually suitable for a kitchen worktop.

What colour Maia did you get? We have the brown and ours has faired ok ish! It's now 4 years old. We have 4 dcs and rubbish is constantly placed on the bench. We have one big scratch that's probably more recognisable to dh and I than others. It will need to be polished out at some point, but we'd probably wait a few years yet. Our dcs are constantly climbing on top of the bench as it is also a breakfast bar. It seems to have worn reasonably well, all things considered.

My friend in Australia had the cream colour and she loved it. To be fair, I saw it after it was a year or so old, but she was pleased. Not sure what she thinks of it now....

Oh dear - just about to order Encore as we couldn't go to Tristone or Granite - hope I'm not making a similar mistake.

Totally different experience here - we've five year old cream maia that has stood up to the worst that three small children can (literally) throw at it. DH is a keen but messy cook and its survived beetroot, turmeric, the lot! There's only one chip from a dropped meat cleaver, but to be honest I wouldn't expect it to have remained pristine from that - definitely the fault of clumsy fingers rather than the surface . . . Minor marks come off brilliantly with cif cream.

Yes, my friend said she has spilt lots of red wine on her cream Maia and it was fine!

I have lots of little scratches noticeable under a light, but only the one major mark.

Seriously, my kids like to lie down and drag their bodies across it trying to reach my iPad!

Could it be a bad batch? Happy to compare photos if that would help?

Got the mocha colour and it's fairing OK after a year (apart from 2 burns which were entirely my husband's fault). I loved the colour so chose to go with it anyway despite the risk of scratches

We have mocha. To be fair the scratches aren't noticeable from a distance, but I see them constantly and the work surface never looks clean. If I use the recommended cleaner it looks dull and when I polish it with the special maia kit, it is patchy. Maybe it will settle down after a bit?

It did take a few months to settle down. The recommend countertop cleaner makes it look patchy and greasy for a while too after use. It does have good points...no water marks at all and you can fix scratches by sanding out. For the money I'm glad I chose it but wish I could have afforded quartz.

Oh dear, I had my heart set on corian in white and I am having doubts now as I think it's a similar product.

I have Maia work tops and love them, yes they do scratch but any work top will, I always use a chopping board and pan support with hot pans and tins.
The polish that you can get is really easy to use to get rid of scratches.

I have 'black granite' Minerva and love it. It got scratched when a keg of beer was sitting on the edge of it for a couple of weeks but other than that it's been fine.