Oh please help me with my worktop again

[PersisFord]

I’m useless. I have ordered a matt white handleless kitchen from DIY kitchens and was so relieved to have made that choice...but now I am TOTALLY STUCK for worktops and floors and everything. I have just about got the budget for quartz worktops and was thinking of a pale grey concrete look....but the kitchen is north facing and I’m worried it will suck in all the light like some kind of Dementor. But the sparkly ones are all so....sparkly. And the non-sparkly grey ones look like the skanky laminate I have just merrily waved off in the skip. And I have lived in about a million rental properties and the mid-greys all look like the standard worktop put into a BTL property. And I painted this whole house grey when we moved in and have FINALLY got rid of it so I have a bit of anxiety about grey again.

I wish I had gone for coloured units so I could have a white worktop....but I didn’t.

I want to love my worktop. Other people love theirs. I have spent MANY HOURS in showrooms looking at near-identical squares of quartz. Pinterest is failing me. Please help!!

Have a look at bamboo.
We're pleased with ours - hard wearing doesn't stain with water unless you submerge it for hours. Very easy to look after and good with children.

That's because they probably didn't use pv67.
Ever seen a mouldy bar top? Those things are constantly covered in spills that sit there. On holiday atm so can't take a pic but this one shows our sink area 4.5 years in....

What about wood effect laminate? It can honestly look really good.

The owners had used something similar to you (vaguely remember them wittering on about it) and the rest of it was perfect...but the tap had leaked under the varnish.

Having said which, yours looks gorgeous and if it comes with a cute dishwasher loader like in the photo, I’m sold!

I’ll go and look at more laminates perhaps. We originally thought we would have laminate and save up for a nicer worktop. Then because the kitchen cabinets came in under budget (!!!) we thought we would just go straight for quartz. I’ve always loved it in other peoples’ homes. But I just can’t find the right one for me....

@Abstractedobstructed does you worktop look varnished or does it look like natural wood?

I can’t find a kitchen I want it’s driving me nuts! I want a slab door with blackboard paint look finish but I don’t want the spray painted look I want it to look hand painted

Ifvthe hnits weren’t in such bad shape I’d just paint them, but they have to be replaced

If I can’t get what I want I’ll go back to looking st white again, but the worktops is where I got stuck. Thus kitchen doesn’t warrant the expense of silestone or corian etc

Urghhhhh everyone keeps saying how lovely or what fun etc, but it’s really not I’m well over it! I just want it done!

He would love wood but I know we wouldn’t look after it and it would be nasty.

We have iroko wood. We’ve not oiled it in over a year and it’s lovely.

@Abstractedobstructed I love your dishwasher, I haven’t yet found one that comes with such a cute filler!

@BasiliskStare my kitchen is small too 😢. Any chance you could post some photos? I’d like to see a ‘real’ brushed SS worktop. I’m very tempted

Pic of oak laminate. Kitchen is quite traditional but I think it also looks great with more contemporary units, particularly with the square edge. Under cupboard lights are warm white, which dies make it look a lot warmer in tone than in natural daylight

I hadn’t realised people have SS worktops. Is this a new thing? I don’t think it’s for me but can see the practicality of it

I’ve got the exact same kitchen - I just went for plain white quartz, nice and thin so it looks really sleek. Samsung Radianz was the brand we went for because it was so much cheaper than the Silestone / Caesarstone equivalent. It’s been in five years now and all still looks flawless. The benefit of all white is that you can change it up a bit with accessories etc, it’s just a blank canvas.

We've got plain white Corian over white and grey units and I love it. It's just so easy and satisfying to clean, and feels reassuringly solid and hard wearing. I've never had a surface you can just put hot pans down onto, so it's not something I miss. It was here when we moved in, and I don't think I'd have chosen plain white, but I really like it now.

We had oak in our last (north facing) kitchen, and I loved the warmth and look of it, but found the upkeep stressful. I oiled it regularly but still managed to get some water marks and it always felt vaguely sticky, so not very clean.

(Excuse the clutter in the photo - I've never been able to keep my kitchen clear of stuff!)

@IncrediblySadToo
Found a better pic. I don't think it looks "varnished" in that it doesn't look shiny or orange.

T your kitchen is gorgeous (and completely clutter-free by my standards!!)

That waxy feeling is what I don’t like with the wood as well - does your have that Abstracted?

I think what I like so much about SS is that it’s a very honest material - what kitchens should be made of! And it’s a beautiful warm colour. I’ve been spamming DH with photos all morning but he does not see the beauty!!

No, the wood is smooth and warm to touch, never sticky or waxy.

Interesting Abstracted....

I have light wood cupboards and a white worktop and I love it. Most kitchen examples have it the other way round and it works well. I also have white tiling so it meant I could change the wall paint on a whim and it would all go!

And wood worktop doesn't have to be wood wood (I also would not be arsed with the upkeep!). It can be laminate looking like wood.

E.g. www.worktop-express.co.uk/wood_worktops/oak_3M_620_40mm_worktop.html?
(picked entirely at random)

FWIW, I also had a strong preference for square edged worktops. I have grown to actively hate the round-edged ones since looking at dozens of worktops! This made my search harder, but I ended up with ones from Ikea, which was even better budget-wise!

oops, wrong link in my pp. This is the one I meant!

www.worktop-express.co.uk/laminate-worktops/walnut-block-laminate-worktops?

I'm veering toward white now. I particularly like the first picture you posted Persis, white quartz might be the way to go although I think my kitchen could handle grey because it is quite a large, light space.

This is not fun at all!

I like those two pics you posted last night @PersisFord What are those worktops? White and grey granite / quartz?

Wading in with a question — people who have white worktops of any kind, do you find they’ve stained from anything?

We have a composite in an oatmeal colour and I think it looks good

@CarpetMeCarpetYou - I found the Corian stained quite easily with tea/turmeric/anything wet left to sit on it... but I got some Barkeepers Friend, which is recommended by the manufacturer www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/295789670 and it cleans up beautifully. I've not yet found a stain it can't shift!