Best white worktop for clumsy people

[Callmejudith]

Can anyone advise on the new fancy worktops which looks like marble/quartz but don't stain? I'd love a white worktop but I know on day one I will spill red wine/turmeric/some other substance which would ruin it.

If you plan to be clumsy, have a laminate worktop, made in rectangular pieces, not angled or mitred, held in place with accessible screws from below, so you can unscrew it and replace with new whenever you want.

This means you should tile the wall or fit the splashback before fitting the worktop, so it is not trapped, and preferably have a lay-on sink so you don't need to cut a hole for it in the worktop.

The freedom of being able to take the worktops off at whim is very empowering.

You can't really do it with stone because it is glued down and incredibly heavy.

Thank you that is super helpful

We have an (almost) white Quartz worktop and I haven’t had a problem with staining. You say you’re clumsy - that’s ok, you’re really only going to have an issue if you don’t wipe up spills. I would steer clear of white granite/marble because they are much less forgiving.

It’s not clumsiness that stains white worktops but being unhygienic - you need to clean spills straight away and do deeper cleans with correct cleaning materials regularly. If you do wok / Indian cooking then that deep clean needs to happen everyday otherwise the spices and fat will kill your entire kitchen not just the worktops!

I had white corian which was brilliant, looked good as new after 9 years. We didn’t clean spills immediately always but if they had dried a tiny bit of bleach took anything out.

We have white quartz and it seems indestructible. We do just wipe up anything spilled as we go through.

Thanks all. Grumpy it's not about being unhygienic, I just want to be able to have friends round for a curry and wine and not be standing there with a cloth all evening ready to pounce

Get some samples and start testing with the worst stains. Sharpie, turmeric, the lot.

We have white veined quartz. I cook at lot with turmeric etc and nothing has ever permanently stained.

White quartz - had ours for 4 years and it still looks like new, without having to clean it any more rigorously than any other work surface we've had before. I use method work surface cleaner and a scouring pad for any red wine/Turmeric type spills and it comes up perfectly.

Has anyone has quartz worktop from Classic Quartz Stone? They are based near Reading. I wonder how their quality compares to Silestone.

Worktop express do thin laminate that looks v much like quartz - called Luxe Andromeda .

Not quartz (rejected as red hot pans can burn the resin in quartz) but ceramic. I’m currently putting in a kitchen for my mum. I have gone with Dekton Zenith.

I have tested a sample by putting red wine, saffron, tomato/olive oil sauce re spag bog and left Coca Cola on it for a week. It washed off with fairy liquid.
I chopped herbs with a herb wheel cutter and sliced bread. Chopped veg etc. Note it does blunt the knife.
I but my cast iron jam pan on it. And scraped pans across it from hob.

All good. It also (obviously) can take slopped water by the sink that never gets wiped up.

Can you tell my mother is very hard on kitchens 😀

I do hope it works after all my testing.

I have quartz worktops. They have speckles and veins to look like marble. Had them two years, so far no stains. I’m really clumsy and regularly spill tea and red wine. I once got lily pollen on the worktop, which did stain, but used Barkeeper’s Friend and that got rid of it.

Do people really put red-hot pans directly onto their worktops?

Bar keepers friend is magic on white worktops. Will never forget how relieved I was to find it after staining my landlord's pristine worktops- could have cried with happiness!

@EmilySpinach

Do people really put red-hot pans directly onto their worktops?

My mum has early stage dementia and is reverting to earlier times when kitchens were functional, hale and hearty rooms. I can absolutely imagine her suddenly deciding to make jam, or something, in her late mother’s cast iron jam pot and not protecting the surface. I can also imagine her making curry and being distracted before she has cleared up.

My post was just to highlight the tests I’ve put the counter top samples through. The ceramic was the only one that just cleaned up with acid, oil, wine, spices and excessive heat. It took a hot iron on it. Granite also passed, but I couldn’t find a pure white granite. My mum has requested plain white units and top, as she finds it easier to identify stuff as it clutters on a white surface (black also works, but she didn’t want black)

Did you get your quartz worktop from Classic Quartz Stone in Reading? Seen a quartz worktop I like of theirs.