Kitchen worktop

[Saz12]

I’m trying to decide on new kitchen worktop. The island is 1.2m by 1.8m which rules out most
options, leaving me with:
Maia - DH could fit this. Could have matching splashback, undercount sink, built in draining grooves etc so would look sleek. Softer than quartz so easier to scratch but can be repaired and not actually “soft”. About £2k.
Corian - too expensive compared to Maia, don’t see an advantage over Maia for the ££ for what we’d be doing.
Quartz - lovely but SO expensive and am not convinced worth it, given economic outlook and amount we need to do to house. About £6k.
Wood - on island with something like Minerva on rest (where the sink and hob is!) so it doesn’t get trashed. About £2k.

Kitchen is big, will have wooden table but a tiled floor, intend to be in house 10 years or so by which time the kitchen will hopefully still be presentable but probably the cabinetry etc realistically won’t be much of a sales feature.

So... spend 3x as much as needed to have quartz?

I have just done my kitchen and after all the options I had to go with quartz, It put an extra 6k on the kitchen but I knew if I had gone for a cheaper option I would have regretted it. I agree its expensive but when it comes to the kitchen it really is the heart of the home (for me anyway) and I i have zero regrets of paying the higher price for something I love.

Just to add, hopefully this is or forever home so that was a big factor in deciding.

I also have the windowsills, splash backs and cooker spashback in the matching quartz.

My parents have black corian - it’s horrid completely flat and dead looking. I never recommend it. It’s also scratches really easily

We have loads of wood (Iroko) worktop and love it. People fuss about maintenence but I don't find spending 10 minutes oiling it every 6-12 months a big deal.

Have you shopped around for the quartz? We found a small independent firm who worked with the local kitchen firm cheaper than big online companies and we went and chose the exact pieces we wanted. It has been fantastic and when polished up looks like new. I had Formica before. Love the quartz every day. I also have a chopping board so it is easy to disinfect. £6,000 seems a lot though.

It totally depends on what the difference in cash means to you. Would it be a holiday, or desperately needed roof repairs? The difference between owning a car or not, or the difference between a posh-ish car or a slightly posher one?

We went with expensive laminate. I don't love it, but I can live a perfectly contented life without loving my kitchen worksurfaces and I would 100% make the same choice again to put an extra £4k towards our next house move. Equally there will be people who would consider it cheap looking, and would go for the quartz, every time.

I have quartz. Fabulous stuff
I've recently sold the house and the EA said that people just don't want laminate now.

It depends on the house. A 2 up 2 down 100k terrace no one is expecting quartz. A million pound house then people expect quartz or granite etc.......

We have chosen compact laminate as a good inbetween choice for us. This house does not justify the cost of quartz!

See, we could afford it. And the house value should warrant it. But we’re not planning on moving for 10 years or so, and by then what’s a desirable kitchen will have changed.

So it’s not really an investment in the house.

Whereas putting that £4K against the mortgage would save us around £3k in mortgage interest, so the real cost of upgrading to quartz would be nearer £7k (obviously I don’t know what interest rates will actually do so am guessing). Its just so much money!

My current thinking is wood for the island and acrylic (probably Maia or Minerva)for the area on the wall around sink & hob.

You have answered your own question op

Quartz all the way. Don't buy one of the big name brands like Silestone though, shop around with local independent stone masons. We needed a lot done five years ago and cut the initial quote of £7.5 k to £3.5 k this way. All this time later and it still looks great.

Laminate worktops are really disappointing, imo. It’s such a letdown when you touch one expecting that lovely smooth, cold texture and instead it’s a bit warm and sweaty. I always check when I view a house, and laminate wouldn’t be a dealbreaker, but it would be a negative where any kind of solid surface is a big tick.

I couldnt agree more tbh

For those who are bored enough to have an interest in my worktop indecision: I got samples of the Maia surface and they’re fairly easy to scratch, stain, and melt. All the acrylic worktops are a similar material...so I’m definitely not going with any solid surface option!

The “white-with-bits-in” quartz is “appropriate” rather than something I love, so I’m probably going to go for full stave ash.

@LoobyDop - I’ve fallen into kitchen salesman speak, who refer to acrylic coated worktops (Maia, Minerva, Corian, etc) as solid surface. I think you were using Actual Human Being language and meant quartz or stone...

I have white Corian, it has been in for 18 months and it's still absolutely perfect. We're not particularly careful so I'm really pleased!

@Saz12 I think I’m using sales-speak as well when I say “solid surface”. I’d include silestone, corian and that kind of thing. We currently have something called silkstone which is basically the same as silestone but a cheaper brand. It looks and feels great, but because it’s white with beige and metallic flecks, it has mega staining potential, which isn’t something I had considered. Anything citrus, tomato, paprika or god forbid bloody turmeric has to be cleaned up within MILLISECONDS to avoid stains.

@LoobyDop 'Barkeeper's Friend' lifts the stains right off.

Good to know, thanks @AltheaVestr1t