Run out of money for worktops - do we get laminate??? Help!

[Ipanema01]

We've spent 90k trying to get our house finished and we've run out of money for the Quartz worktops we wanted. I've seen an ordered a sample of b&q veneto laminate, which has the look of the Quartz we want - any thoughts on this?

We plan on staying here for the foreseeable future so it's not a do up and rent out kind of thing, and I'm so worried we are going to buy something that's going to cheapen the whole house. The cabinets are Ikea and I feel like we need to luxe them up a bit with stone! We also have a completely open plan ground floor so the kitchen is the focal point of the house.
My OH wants to go for the laminate for splash back and worktops, and get the Quartz just for the island (it seems to match). I'm so worried it's going to be a big mistake.

Help!

If you plan on staying there for the foreseeable future why not fit laminate temporarily and make sure that it is feasible to change it later if you wish. Personally I think plain laminate that looks like laminate is preferable to laminate posing as something else.

I used laminate as a temporary measure and loved it. I did change for granite in the end but would have happily kept it. It was a honed finish with slight sparkly flecks. The surface was very slightly textured but still super easy to clean.

It was an axiom lustre citrine worktop. I think one of the grey'er coloured might be more contemporary.

You have to see it in real life as the photos don't do it justice.

The photo isn't my kitchen

I found the choice of laminate at home base etc wasn't great. I think You can get samples direct from the manufacturer.

Another vote for Axiom laminated worktops.

Axiom will send you an A4 sized sample of the laminate top.

Mine honestly looks like a more expensive worktop than it is and I went with the matching upstands.

Have a look here scroll down for the different styles. We wanted quartz/corian but we were skint after the kitchen extension

If you can't find the money for stone, howdens glass effect laminate looks v clean and I got loads of compliments on it. We put it in a kitchen to do up to sell but stayed another few years and it wore well. I've got quartz in the new place and it brings its own pros and cons anyway!

Can someone tell me how much the Axiom is (just roughly) per metre? It does look good.

namechangedtoday15 - what paint did you use where you didn't tile? I'm also going for a no-tile look.

Axiom crystal worktop 4100 X 600 X 20 is @ £100.

dailymail - thank you so much!

Sorry, I'm being thick - is that per metre or for the whole length? It seems far too cheap to be the whole thing!

bobochic we just have normal paint - we've done this twice now, in previous kitchen and in this new kitchen.

Thanks!

I love the no tile look!

We have an laminate worktop from Howdens, slightly sparkly honed black, with a bit of texture in it. I absolutely love it, not too noisy either.

Caution. When you have a big open plan kitchen, too much matching worktop can be quite overpowering. We have a country style kitchen in the sense that not everything matches, ie island has wooden worktop and worktops around units are black sparkly laminate, cream gloss cupboards, blue aga, pale wooden floor, cream brick tiles with red band. I adore our kitchen, it is light and airy, and never bores me. I think when you sit in a room, you don't want to have acres of hard gloss surfaces, smart as they may appear at first. It is so noisy too.

Have you considered having wooden worktops on part of kitchen, ikea do a very nice dark wood one, easy to change if at a later date you crave quartz? Despite loving my formica, I do miss the softness of wood everywhere (old kitchen worktop)

I wouldn't do upstands in laminate. Will date very much. Second idea of paint and some glass if necessary.

If you look on Rightmove at the done up kitchens in every part of UK you get so bored of seeing the same sleek look everywhere.

We have the Bushboard Omega Vanilla Quartz laminate and I think it's fab. It has a sparkle in it which gives it a nice depth and it looks very like a composite type surface.

ShoveTheHolly. It's for the whole piece not per metre.

Try googling your local suppliers. It's cheap!

We have got good quality laminate as DH was being tight by then and it has been mistaken for Corian. Am not sure how but it does look really good and is easy to maintain / keep looking nice.

We have Duporal Glacial Storm with square effect.

Bloody hell! This thread is a revelation, thank you all so much! Especially dailymailjournos for posting the details.

We wanted stone and ended up doing wood as it was so much cheaper! Am actually really happy with the wood as we have cream painted units so it goes quite well.

You could do wood and then upgrade in a few years time or just upgrade some and keep the rest wood.

I have an axiom worktop, fitted 8 years ago because there wasn't anything left in the budget for granite back then.

I thought I'd replace it in a couple of years but it's amazing, not a mark on it.

Another question (sorry OP) - what is the difference between laminate and formica please?

Formica is a trademark. Rather like a Wellington Boot or Bakerlite, or Pyrex. Laminate is the generic term. In the old days all laminate was Formica.

Bakelite.

Ahhhh, thank you knitting, that makes sense!

I think I got confused because I remember hearing 'formica' used to refer to those ancient worktops from the 70s where they glued a top on and then a separate piece for a square side - and water always seemed to get in between the two and warp them! Things have moved on quite a bit in the area of worktops, haven't they? (Ooof, and I am getting OLD!)

well, that is still the way they do it! It is just that the board comes ready glued together, but it is still what happens in the factory... It is not Laminate through and through, still just a layer on top of chipboard or such like.

I had a Formica formica worktop about 20 years ago in my old house put in ( a bit of nostalgia really as my mum had red formica and I wanted to recreate it) It really did come in a sheet, and was glued on or welded (cannot quite remember) quite clever really as you just bought the sheet of red stuff.