Wooden kitchen worktops

[Blonde0nBlonde]

Assuming we don’t get talked out of these by horror stories of mold and Rot, does anyone have any recommendations on where to buy from, or alternative suggestions that might convince me to leave the wooden dream alone

We got ours from woodworktops.com

They were really good, quick delivery and they pre oiled them so I only had to do a couple of coats.

You can get samples from them too

I love mine. Had them fitted just over 10 years ago and they still look lovely. But I was single for most of that time and was pretty adept at buying Tesco ready meals, so they haven't had a hard life! I was also pretty strict at re-oiling them. Not so much any more though as I've got lazy (and have a DH who doesn't treat them with the same love as me so I've had to stop caring about them as much myself ).

Sorry - can't tell you where I got them from I'm afraid - I bought them via my kitchen fitter.

I am a self-confessed clean freak, and even my oak worktops got staining around the kitchen tap. I think unless you are single (when you can be 100% certain that all drips are wiped away instantly) it is inevitable that you'll get that black staining which looks horrible. We now have granite (in a toning colour) either side of the sink area and wood for the other surfaces. It looks fab.

Bought just before Xmas from worktops express. I opted for the 400mm oak and they are beautiful. My kitchen fitter oiled them with 3 or 4 coats and I will have to do them 3 montly then 6 monthly then yearly (so I'm told !) I have not had any problems whatsoever. Would recommend this company. Reasonable prices and quick delivery.

Our builder advised against them as you have to keep in cleaning and drying them constantly. With young children, we knew that wasn't going to be possible.

Glad you have asked this question as I also love them. DH is terrible at spilling tea and coffee so I too am worried about blackening worktops. I wondered about putting wood on one run and Corian or similar on the other. Would it look weird? Next to the wood run is a pine dresser. The units are going to be shaker style in off in Ivory.

I’m having duo-line, which is a really realistic wood effect laminate. It has the look and feel of wood, it even has the grains.
Loads cheaper and none of the upkeep and worry of ruining it. Here is a pic o ours I took in the show room today.

We inherited ours when we bought the house so don't know the source.

They've been in 20 years and after we sanded and oiled (Osmo) they look amazing. They had gone black around the taps but with sanding and wood bleach we got them sorted.

I'm not particularly precious about them and they are still looking fab a year after the sanding

Oh that's good to know.

Osmo Polyx oil is a waterproof hardwax oil for worktops, you can pretty well treat them as any other worktop if you use it. With timber worktops the protective finish is everything, try to find out what people used that didn't perform or what the supplier recommends.

Osmo oil works wonders, but they are still high maintenance. Can't you go for light quartz instead?

Norfolk oak have a lovely range of wooden tops

We replaced ours as they had gone horribly black round the sink. I found them far too high maintenance and would never have wood again.

Do you need an electric sander to restore them? And what is wood bleach. I hate ours but can't afford to replace them

Had ours removed. Couldn’t bear them.

We inherited ours and they're hard work. They largely look ok 4 years after we moved in but had a couple of horrible black marks where I've not noticed a bit of standing water. Definitely wouldn't go for them again!

Ours are in our flat and they are awful after a few years. The builder put them in. I would readily have paid him to put in granite or corian or quartz. Unless you love diy and continually having to think about what you are doing in the kitchen, don’t go there!

I got mine (in block form, rather than single slabs of wood) from b and q - it was 27mm birch and about £80. You do have to avoid leaving standing water on them though, really. The main risk area is the sink - so if you can make sure you won’t drip on the wood when you switch the tap off (eg tap is within the metal/ceramic surround, rather than outside), they should be able to be kept fairly okay.

Lots of good advice. They will be good quality if we go with that kitchen fitter. It is a local bespoke firm but I might think about putting something else on the sink run of worktop if they are that much hard work.

What have you decided blondeon blonde?

Osmo oil is amazing, we can get anything other than extreme heat on our worktops and it has no effect. Sadly the previous owners badly mistreated them, they didn’t use a very good oil, have varnished bits and burn marks. The varnish means that the oil won’t take in those places, I’ve tried rubbing them down to remove the varnish but it’s too hard by hand and we daren’t use an electric sander because the worktop edges are ridged and we don’t want to take that off. We’re thinking about trying to get professionals in to sort them out as the undamaged bits are beautiful walnut and probably were quite expensive. My advice would be to use Osmo oil from the start and to have a plain worktop edge so that you can easily use an electric sander!

Agree on the osmo oil recommendations. That's what my kitchen worktop fitter recommended and I've used it ever since - it's some sort of combination oil/wax.

The type of sink is definitely a factor, a sink with the tap and drainer all integrated means much less water dripping on the worktop than the undermount style.

We’ve gone for a Belfast sink! So possibly the worst choice? I’m so in love with the wood I’m trying to convince myself it will be fine. The kitchen is quite small, so not much chance at having a separate type of worktop around the sink.

We have wooden worktops they are only 6 month s old but we love them. They cam from worktop express who,were very good. I can’t remember what wood they are but they are lovely