Help needed please with replacement worktops and new kitchen island top colour

[MelanieFrontage]

Hi all,

We are planning to revamp our kitchen this year. It’s quite a large room at 27’ x 13’, The kitchen end is slightly longer than the dining end. At present we have a black freestanding wood burner in the dining area plus a large oak dining table and chairs. We also have a kitchen table and six chairs in the kitchen end which looks ridiculous and as though we run a b&b 😂

The kitchen end has perfectly serviceable cream shaker units (which we won’t be replacing) and a lovely large black range. The range and woodburner are opposite one another at each end of the room.

I’d like to replace the kitchen table with a 900 x 2000 (approx) island and also replace the kitchen worktop which is currently a really horrid brown laminate.

I’m stuck on what surfaces for the worktops and island, do we go for wood for both or wooden worktop and granite island? I’m thinking of wood and granite because of the dining room table and the range and wood burner being black. Would all wood be too much?

What would you do colour wise? Thanks!

If it helps the room faces west and has double doors outside at the dining end and a lovely big window in the kitchen. It’s a nice bright room.

We have oak everywhere apart from the island which is big and shaped which has Tristone (composite like Corian but different manufacturer). There are no joins. The colour is light and goes with the oak but is not a match iyswim. The island has the sink in it which was one reason for not having wood there. The floor is a wood effect LVT. Units are cream painted.

If we were doing it again I'd go for a pale marble look for the island top. Black granite can be lovely, but it's a bit dated. Have a look on Pinterest for inspiration.

Thanks for the response @wowfudge, a pale top sounds good, will look on Pinterest for ideas!

Will the island cupboard doors match or will this all look very disjointed? I think cream looks more dated than black granite!

You also have to consider that the existing cupboards might be damaged when the work surface is removed. Do you have tiles? What will happen to them?

Having looked at kitchens for DD recently it’s difficult to match with cream. Lots of work surfaces are now white or grey. DD is having “solid surface” which has to be templated. I’m not sure I’d spend thousands of £ on new work surfaces with “perfectly serviceable” units. The only cheap work surface is laminate.

Just to update, we are now going with a pale worksurface all round that will hopefully complement the existing units.

Island cupboards etc will be graphite with the same worksurface as the rest of the kitchen.

@BubblesBuddy we are also factoring in new tiles and hopefully no damage will be done to existing units (my mum has previously replaces wrk surface and tiles with no issues) but if there is any damage done we will replace any units, existing units and doors can still be bought.

I’m very excited and can’t wait to get started, the superfluous kitchen table and chairs are going into storage this weekend and so that will encourage us to actually do something to replace them!

It makes such a big difference to make changes to a kitchen or bathroom. I hope the work goes well and you are pleased with the result.