Worktops - please help!

[Teacherteachernotapreacher]

I’ve been internet browsing forever and looked in many shops and feel maybe I’m missing something
we need a kitchen worktop for our new kitchen. Ideally either white or wood. we’re on a limited budget so high end not an option. I’ve looked at so many laminates and all the edges just look bloody awful. Even in the showrooms they’re already peeling off and looking crap. We’re having a breakfast bar as part of it and I think it’ll look really bad quite quickly. (3 small kids bashing around too)
is there a middle ground between laminate and quartz?! Would real wood be horrific?

We went for Quartz and not a cheaper one and it chipped after only one week. I think next time I would thoroughly investigate the options as the quartz was horrendously expensive (although it does look lovely and easy to keep clean) and the laminate we had before was a workhorse! As you say though there isn’t a great choice I feel.