Laminate worktops (ikea) vs compact laminate?

[Duvetstealer24]

We've just had a quote for an Ikea kitchen which we're excited about - not in the market for an expensive kitchen. I've been told by a friend who got one last year to avoid their veneer worktops as they swell with water, but wondered about their laminate worktops? Do they warp and swell too or are they OK?

Beyond Ikea, compact laminate looks like a good option and wondered what experiences people have with that? Which is more environmentally friendly in terms of production and resources? As that is a factor for us.

We're getting white drawer/cupboard doors and a dark coloured worktop (dark grey/black), then going to paint the wall in between in a vivid colour. Thanks!

Bumping as also researching ikea kitchens

Design something like this...obviously it's never going to look that empty and tidy!

I'm not sure about the different types, but we have a white ikea worktop, pretty sure it's a saljan (it's deeper than the others) and 2 years in, no problems at all. We use the kitchen many times a day too.

Ps - I love my ikea kitchen, and frankly many 'fancy' kitchens aren't any better.

I don't know about ikea specifically but I'm a big fan of laminate worktops. I think they are pretty unbeatable for practicality in a kitchen. Wood needs a lot of upkeep and as your friend says is very affected by water. I'm on a kitchen group on Facebook where people seem constantly stressed about stains on their (very expensive) quartz worktops - sounds like you can never get curry anywhere near those! I hate the thought of the hardness of stone worktops personally - I feel sure I'd break a lot of things in one of those kitchens. Disclaimer: I've only ever lived in a house with laminate worktop or tiles (nightmare - don't consider that) so I'm going on hearsay about the disadvantages of the others, but I would definitely choose laminate for my next kitchen. I'm not fashionable, but I'm practical!

Love laminate worktops! So much less work than wood. And we rented somewhere with quartz worktops and never again.

I have compact laminate. Been in nearly 15 years and totally unmarked and undamaged. Can put hot pans, bleach, whatever on it.

Yeah we love our compact laminate, bomb proof and easy to clean. Would definitely have it again but I bought it from worktop express rather than the kitchen supplier as it was cheaper.

I’m looking at Howdens Compact laminate at the moment

@SensibleSigma - we started off with a compact laminate from Howden last year. I can't remember exactly what it was called but it was one of the laminates which is much thinner than normal laminate. If you have straight runs it's probably fine but we had some joins and corners. Our builder said it was the worst surface he'd worked with. The joints didn't lie flat so he ended
up taking it out with and Howden agreeing a good outcome for us.

He was otherwise a good builder so although I can't guarantee it wasn't his fault, he won't use it again. It could just be him or the layout of our kitchen but I would steer clear of the Howden compact stuff.

I’ll check with my guy that he knows the issues. I’ll be up the creek if so though. I dislike the edge of the square laminates- the seam irritates me- it looks grubby.

Took me forever to settle on what I’ve chosen. I think I’ll be back to bullnose if this is no good, and it won’t be from Howdens as their range is tiny.

We were going to have compact laminate but ended up with wood instead.

Talking to various builders/carpenter/kitchen fitter, I would suggest that if you go this route you use someone who has experience with compact laminate. It behaves very differently to normal laminate and it’s very heavy. It’s supposedly much more hard wearing and the thinner finish is much more modern.

Our carpenter had never worked with compact laminate before so we would have had to get someone else in.

I wonder if that was partly the problem for you @GU24Mum? I gather compact is tricky and unlike regular laminate, it really does make a difference to get someone who knows how it behaves.

You may struggle to get a fitter for compact laminate. No one locally to me would touch fitting it. One said he had a nightmare the one time he fitted it and it chewed up so many blades, others just said never fitted it before so will decline a quote as they didn't want to mess it up.

We ended up with standard laminate from Duropal and it is fab. We didn't have the budget for quartz.

We have had laminate for years, about 25 and it's MFI, still fine, looks a bit dated as it's the very forgiving fake granite colour but condition is still good

We've had a compact laminate worktop for about 5 years now - it still looks like new and I'd totally recommend it. The fitters complained about how many blades it used, but it was worth it. It's completely waterproof, can put hot things on it and it looks great.

I've fitted laminate worktops in several houses and am just about to fit a Howdens laminate worktop.

As long as any cut edges are sealed (hob aperture / sink aperture etc), I haven't ever had any issues with water ingress.

We have IKEA laminate in the utility. It gets seriously soggy (dog washing zone) and is 10 years old. It's absolutely good as new.
Have had various other laminate worktops over the years and none have ever swelled. However I did have a lighter coloured one that got beetroot stains on so darker is definitely the way to go.

Ive got 3 year old duropal square edged laminate in carrera marble pattern its bombproof still looks like brand new no water ingress from the sink, obviously dont put hot pans on it

Is it not possible to put hot pans down on a laminate surface? Pardon my ignorance! Thanks

What do you mean by square laminates? Do you mean where the edge of the worktop is visible?

@Duvetstealer24 On standard laminate no because its basically vinyl/plastic based i have glass surface protectors to put hot pans on

this is square edged laminate mine is wrapped round so there isnt a seam at the front of the worktop

That looks great @Isseywith2witchycats I will look out for that brand.

This is nice, from DiY kitchens.
@Duvetstealer24 Most have a seam along that edge where the surfaces meet. Not great.

I can’t have compact laminate for two reasons- it isn’t thick enough for me to have an induction hob, given I’m not changing my cupboards, and the guys I’m using won’t work with it.

Ours was from DIY Kitchens as thats where we got the kitchen from but you can get duropal online from other suppliers r