Wooden worktops - a maintenance nightmare?

[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.

We have wooden worktops, if we had known the amount of upkeep we wouldn't have bothered!! That being said, they do look lovely.

I had a timber surround - solid expensive timber - for a bathroom vanity. Never again - it was perpetually damp and tending to mould. My created stone benchtop in our kitchen is a dream compared to that timber nightmare.

I found ours fine. Yes, you don't want water to sit on it, bit it's really no big deal to get Into the habit of a brief wipe of splashes around the sink once you are done.

I got rid of our solid wood worktops. They were installed by the vendor. Very good quality, but they never felt as clean as a quartz. So now we've got lovely shiny quartz.

A PP said up thread that her wooden work surface would become tacky to the touch, and almost had a sticky feeling. That was our experience too. I couldn’t get rid of the slight tackiness, despite boiling water, fairy liquid and scrubbing. Only sanding would get rid of it. It may have been residue from the Osmo or over-oiled. Never felt properly clean.

@PriamFarrl

We have an Iroko wood work top. It gets oiled every 6 months or so. It’s got a couple of marks but nothing dreadful.

But it turns out DH is allergic to iroko sawdust! Full allergic reaction swollen up face etc. It’s not a problem day to day, only when sanding it.

Oh no! Not a nice way to find out! I am allergic to lots of environmental things so you are making me think twice about Iroko. Maybe if we never sanded it? (hopeful) Btw I always fancied a bamboo floor, too, until I bought some eco friendly bamboo loo roll and reacted to opening the packet It must be the dust.

The reason I'm considering wood is the echo factor, I would prefer a quiet kitchen with sound absorbing surfaces.

The reason I'm considering wood is the echo factor, I would prefer a quiet kitchen with sound absorbing surfaces.

Ha! I have a few glass protectors dotted around to protect the wood and lord they are noisy! I front of the kettle where I make the tea in particular. Even placing a spoon or a cup on them hurts my ears so be careful you don’t just end up creating more noise

@Zinnia

We had reclaimed Iroko lab bench worktops in old kitchen, over mounted ceramic sink & draining board so the taps went into that not the wood. We were slapdash with the oil and the worktop did wear around the sink but didn't get mouldy or black.

Just put in a new kitchen and have quartz on the side with the sink on it and reclaimed lab bench Iroko on the island. Osmo oiled it and it looks fabulous.

@Zinnia That's exactly what I'm thinking for our next kitchen (as we've moved, and I really miss the wood). Can you possibly post a picture so I can see what it looks like with two different worktops in one space? OP - literally don't listen to people who A) didn't oil it properly in the first place B) have never oiled it since or C) got anything other than iroko. Oak is especially a tricky one as it's a lot more porous. Iroko has been used for Science worktops for decades - i.e. its excellent!

@GrandPrismatic

The reason I'm considering wood is the echo factor, I would prefer a quiet kitchen with sound absorbing surfaces.

Ha! I have a few glass protectors dotted around to protect the wood and lord they are noisy! I front of the kettle where I make the tea in particular. Even placing a spoon or a cup on them hurts my ears so be careful you don’t just end up creating more noise

Eek! I will avoid those, then. Thank you!

Bane of my life. Always look crumbie. Pen leaked on it the other day. Never again.

Argh. Quite mixed reviews here. Not sure what to do!

Maybe compromise and have loads of wooden features/units except the worktop! Sounds like with kids, it’ll get butchered - but then I suppose each mark will tell a tale!

Ours held up pretty well but we oiled them every 3-6 months and kept the sink area dry.

As nice as they looked, I don't think I'd get them again.

They are an absolute nightmare. We moved into a house with wooden work surfaces - you have to make sure to keep them dry and stain free and oil them regularly and, no matter how careful you are, you end up with discolouration around the taps. I would never have them. We intend to replace at some point with composite.

We moved into a house with wooden work surfaces - you have to make sure to keep them dry and stain free and oil them regularly and, no matter how careful you are, you end up with discolouration around the taps

This is what happened to us. We changed our worktops to composite 11 years ago, and it gave a kitchen a fresh new look, and it is so much easier to look after.

Nothing is as practical or cheap as laminate. I bought dirt cheap bottom of the range laminate worktops (from MFI!)
They were still immaculate when I removed them thirty years later, in order to extend the kitchen, having brought up a family and cooked every day.

We are speccing a new kitchen just now @Babdoc, and are looking at compact laminate worktops.

We had one in our last house, it was an absolute nightmare!

It needs a lot of maintenance and stains/marks really easy.

We now have a wood laminate, it doesnt really look any different and so much easier

I have been looking into Formica, very retro indeed bit extremely robust. I believe it is based on paper.

I was hoping to get iroko but based on these comments I’m not so sure now. I don’t think I want to add more hassle to my life with the oiling etc. To be fair our current kitchen is absolutely falling apart (DIY B&Q job - badly - by previous owners) and while it is e colour of vomited up doner kebab, the laminate worktops are still in immaculate condition. They have outlasted all of the vinyl wrapped cupboards etc.

I wonder if environmentally laminate is a positive , if it lasts a good while?
Not sure how sustainable iroko is tbh

Thanks to another Mumsnet poster we put sadolin p67 Matt varnish on our oak island and it changed my life 😆
It’s scrubbable and totally impervious

Yes we have a nice wood laminate now too and it’s brill. Looks great doesn’t require a thing but a damp cloth. Much better for me, the slattern.

I've always chosen wooden worktops as I don't like any other style. Our current ones are solid oak from Ikea. They've been down for four years and look fantastic. If there are any marks/scratches they can be sanded out.

We're selling our house and had a viewing today with a guy who commented on how lovely they looked. In my experience you have to do two things; get a sink where the taps sit in the sink surround, not in the worktop itself and use osmo hard wax oil. It's bomb proof - water just sits on the surface rather than sinking in.

Sorry @MrsJamin just seen your post - I'd rather not put pics of my own kitchen up (not least because it's a total mess!) but when we were planning I used Pinterest a LOT to test out design ideas and found pics like the ones below really helpful. My island is 2/3 wood 1/3 quartz which I love (a look much used by Plain English kitchens and the like)

If you search for lay on kitchen sink/commercial sinks you'll get a few options that would save the splash issue. I had them in one house with an inset sink and they were awful. But this house has a full width ceramic sink so it's fine. Can't find that one online any more but something like this would solve your problem:

www.olif.co.uk/products/alveus-classic-premium-110-sit-on-sink-1?variant=24174845511