Wooden worktops - a maintenance nightmare?

TiddleTaddleTat · 26/01/2022 19:03

Have the same conundrum here! I have a couple of iroko worktop samples and have been trying to bash them up and treat them badly. Tbh they haven’t stood up all that well. I’m still wavering as don’t really want laminate but it’s pretty bomb proof.

sazzt · 26/01/2022 19:04

@veneeroftheweek

We want to replace our laminate worktops and although I like the look of a warm wood worktop I'm worried that it would be a pain to maintain. We had a cheap ikea wooden one in a previous place (made up of lots of bits of wood stuck together) and it went mouldy round the sink and got very marked. A friend reckons it's because it was cheap, and that a good quality one wouldn't cause issues. Is she right? FWIW we cook a lot and I really don't want to have to dry the worktops every time I use the sink.

I spend my life drying the worktop by the sink. The house had a wooden worktop when we moved in. Having lived with it I would never install one by choice now!!

MsAnnFrope · 26/01/2022 19:06

We are redoing our kitchen and have been told unless we want to spend time oiling the wood (fnar) and making sure puddles of water are mopped up then don’t bother.
I love the look of them but I have enough to do so we are going for quartz instead.

lineandsinker · 26/01/2022 19:07

We have a solid oak worktop in our current house…

I want to replace it with marble or granite.

It’s beautiful but just not practical for day-to-day life. It stains really easily, leaving black marks. I left a gravy tin on the worktop for all of 5 minutes the other day whilst I made up the gravy and it’s left a big black ring. We have to sand and re-oil it every 3-4 months. You have to put everything on a coaster or a heatproof mat otherwise it leaves a mark.

Like I said, it’s beautiful but really not practical.

winter12345 · 26/01/2022 19:09

Mine are oiled with osmo and water etc doesn't stain. They wipe clean easily. I put another coat on four years after the first (only sanding bits I damaged by chipping or scratching the top, you can patch sand with osmo) and they came up lovely again. That level of maintenance is fine to me though, but I know others can't bear anything like that.

LizzieSiddal · 26/01/2022 19:11

We put oak worktops in our new kitchen 15 years ago, and covered them in a very mat varnish, so they look the same as oiled but they are much more robust. We’ve only “redone” them once, last year. It took me a few hours to sand them down with a hand electric sander, then added two coats of varnish and they look like new. I wouldn’t be without my wooden worktops, absolutely love them.

thisplaceisapigsty · 26/01/2022 19:12

I've had solid wood three times - twice by choice and once because it was there already. I love the look of it, there's nothing like it. But if you have a sink with taps coming through the wood, then it's a constant worry. It's not impossible, but you need to be very vigilant. Never ever have a wooden draining board!

bilbodog · 26/01/2022 19:13

Ive had full stave iroko - osmo oil - wears very well. You could have granite around the sink area. But you need full stave wood - not bits of wood glued together which is what most people have and the water does eventually get into the joins,

LizzieSiddal · 26/01/2022 19:19

This is just after I’d finished sanding and varnishing them last year. They are 15 years old!

Wooden worktops - a maintenance nightmare?

Original poster

veneeroftheweek · 26/01/2022 19:26

That's lovely.

OP posts:

Amicompletelyinsane · 26/01/2022 19:28

With a busy family mine is a real nightmare. We have a dishwasher so the sink area is fine. But it seems like it constantly needs oiling. The cat knocked something out a cupboard and there's a big dent. I feel like I can't really ever clean it that well etc. I love it when it's clean and oiled but I wouldn't buy another wood one

Original poster

veneeroftheweek · 26/01/2022 19:29

Would it look odd to have a different worktop around the sink I wonder. Then osmo oil the rest really well.

I'm just wondering if the people who don't have issues are more careful than us...

OP posts:

Original poster

veneeroftheweek · 26/01/2022 19:30

@thisplaceisapigsty

I've had solid wood three times - twice by choice and once because it was there already. I love the look of it, there's nothing like it. But if you have a sink with taps coming through the wood, then it's a constant worry. It's not impossible, but you need to be very vigilant. Never ever have a wooden draining board!

Definitely no wooden draining board! That sounds like a recipe for disaster.

OP posts:

Original poster

veneeroftheweek · 26/01/2022 19:32

@lineandsinker

We have a solid oak worktop in our current house…

I want to replace it with marble or granite.

It’s beautiful but just not practical for day-to-day life. It stains really easily, leaving black marks. I left a gravy tin on the worktop for all of 5 minutes the other day whilst I made up the gravy and it’s left a big black ring. We have to sand and re-oil it every 3-4 months. You have to put everything on a coaster or a heatproof mat otherwise it leaves a mark.

Like I said, it’s beautiful but really not practical.

That's exactly what I'm worried about. The kids are starting to prepare their own food now and are rubbish about tidying up.

OP posts:

Original poster

veneeroftheweek · 26/01/2022 19:36

@bilbodog

Ive had full stave iroko - osmo oil - wears very well. You could have granite around the sink area. But you need full stave wood - not bits of wood glued together which is what most people have and the water does eventually get into the joins,

I had to look up full stave but yes, last time we had lots of small bits glued together which may have contributed to the problem.

OP posts:

CorsicaDreaming · 26/01/2022 19:39

@veneeroftheweek

Would it look odd to have a different worktop around the sink I wonder. Then osmo oil the rest really well.

I'm just wondering if the people who don't have issues are more careful than us...

This is what we did 12 years ago. We had a solid oak island unit with Osmo oil to protect. So this is fundamentally varnish and does protect pretty well as discussed by PP above. Then we had granite for the run of units along the side which included the sink.

Personally I wouldn't do wood if you are going to have a sink in it as it is really hard for it not to go black around the taps. But 12 years with an oak island and it still looks great. We did redo the osmo oil once in that time.

I have a small glass 30 x 30 worktop saver board which I use on the island to put down hot pans etc and then use a wooden chopping board.

EezyOozy · 26/01/2022 19:49

We had an oak one installed and I'd never do it again. So much maintenance. Black marks can be got out with oxalic acid but I was forever trying to dry it, worrying of something metal and slightly wet was put on it, and we had to sand and oil it regularly. Not worth the hassle at all!!

EezyOozy · 26/01/2022 19:50

We osmo oiled ours regularly and it was still a ball ache .

MrsJamin · 26/01/2022 19:50

Good quality iroko with osmo oil, tis a thing of beauty. So nice to lean on and touch. It's beautiful if you get some sun on it, it goes kind of holographic. If you do get strange marks on it you can always sand it back.

MadeInChorley · 26/01/2022 19:57

We inherited a nearly new kitchen with a cherry work surface a few years ago. It was a nightmare and we were constantly sanding and oiling. You couldn’t put anything down without a mat or coaster (forget a bottle of red wine / there was always a drip). We had to be scrupulous about mopping water splashes from the sink and around the kettle. IMO they only look good if absolutely pristine or very worn and lovingly well used, like a patina of age.

statetrooperstacey · 26/01/2022 19:58

We’re just buying A house with solid wooden worktops, estate agent said they’d had a bad scorch mark in but it had been sanded out and recoiled and they look brand new now.
Friends are having a new kitchen fitted and have gone for wooden tops, the man who fits them comes out once a year and sands and oils them.
I’m looking forward to using them, have granite currently and it’s very unforgiving ! If you know I something over it breaks and shows every crumb and splash .

QuiteAtALoss · 26/01/2022 20:03

We are getting a new kitchen next month, and deliberated over wooden worktops. My partner is a foodie and the kitchen is her pride and joy, but with teens in the house, we couldn't possibly guarantee that they would look after it to the high standards required (waking up to evidence of midnight meals is a regular occurrence). We've gone for wood look laminate, which isn't our favourite choice but the reduced stress made it the winner. As well as being cheaper by a fair way!

fourquenelles · 26/01/2022 20:04

@MadeInChorley

We inherited a nearly new kitchen with a cherry work surface a few years ago. It was a nightmare and we were constantly sanding and oiling. You couldn’t put anything down without a mat or coaster (forget a bottle of red wine / there was always a drip). We had to be scrupulous about mopping water splashes from the sink and around the kettle. IMO they only look good if absolutely pristine or very worn and lovingly well used, like a patina of age.

Exactly the same. I have given up trying to maintain it and will replace with granite as soon as I have saved the pennies.

Classica · 26/01/2022 20:06

They look nice but they are waaaay too high maintenance. Probably tolerable if you're extremely fastidious by nature but for me, life is too short for worktops that need sanding and oiling and making sure it doesn't get wet.

onedayoranother · 26/01/2022 20:19

Yes, it is.