Kitchen worktop stress, can't decide

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We are in the process of a DIY kitchen. We've taken the units out are are living with a temporary setup while we have some electrics and plastering done, paint the walls and wait for the units we ordered.

We're happy with the units we ordered (formica laminated plywood) but just can't decide on worktops.

We are hoping this will be a long term kitchen, but are doing it mostly ourselves so it is affordable.

We would pay someone to do the worktops if necessary, but we just can't decide what we want.

I feel strongly that I don't want worktops that are stuck to the units, as it makes it very difficult to replace them in the future without damaging the units.

We are investing in good quality units so we hopefully won't have to replace them all in 10 or 15 years, even if at some point we ever want to replace the doors or worktops. Although we are hoping to get something durable that lasts.

As far as we can see this rules out any stone/composite/solid surface worktops.

Although I love the look of wood, I know from experience we are not good at wiping up.

My heart and head say stainless steel but DH is worried that it will show up marks too much.

We currently have a simple stainless steel basic freestanding sink unit with stainless steel worktop we got from Ikea for the next few months while we do the kitchen refit. I like it, DH thinks it shows up water marks, but that doesn't bother me as long as it's clean. We have stainless steel saucepans and baking trays that are decades old and still look great to me.

The only other options I can think of are laminated chipboard, which I really don't want with our lovely units, or formica laminated plywood like our units, which looks lovely but I just don't think is durable enough.

We thought about having a mix of wood and stainless steel, but as our kitchen is basically a 3m x 3m L shape with an 86.5 degree angle at the corner, this already makes it difficult. In addition, joining the two different types together is proving tp be complex, having contacted various worktop suppliers.

I also think this whole process is complex enough and would prefer to get one stainless steel worktop company to manufacture the whole lot, including all the butt joints.

Commercial kitchens have stainless steel, worktops, Ottolenghi even has them in his home kitchen. Would I really regret them or would they be OK?

We have had samples of both orbital sanded stainless steel and brushed satin. We've been tested them both out and to be honest, the water marks and scratches show up on both, so I think the brushed satin might be better for durability in the long term.

We always use chopping boards and DS18 and 21 would do too when they are home from uni.

Advice please! Anyone have stainless steel worktops and love or hate them?

Why don't you ask on the FB DIYK group?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/381845813632207

Do you mean the company DIY Kitchens?

Sorry, I didn't make that clear. We're not buying units from DIY kitchens, we are doing our own Do It Yourself kitchen renovation!

Hey OP - I put a new kitchen in about a year ago. After much dilemma, I went for wooden worktops, even though I was warned against it.

Honestly, I love my worktops. However, we went for iroko wood rather than traditional walnut etc and I think that's what made the difference.

When I was researching, I found that iroko is much more resilient to damp and wet because it's a tropical wood. So it has to be able to withstand rainforest conditions, monsoons etc. It's got a high natural oil content and is really dense. Just to illustrate the point, iroko is often used for boat-building. It's water-resistant and also resistant to rot etc.

The other thing about wood worktops is that you don't need to worry about any scrapes or bumps. If you get any dings on it, you can literally just sand it out and re-oil. Even if you did get any damp, you could do the same.

A year in and we don't have a single damp spot anywhere, no black spots, nothing. And we have two clumsy teens in the house that are prone to spraying water everywhere and dumping plates/cups on the side.

Given the choice, I would 100% get iroko wood worktops again. They are beautiful!!

Have you heard of the company called Mirrl. https://www.mirrl.com/product-mirrl/ I love their stuff. Pick your own colours.

Would granite be in budget? I took my granite to my new kitchen as we loved it so much, still looks like new but it’s 18 years old now!

If you want to take stone worktops off again in future, they’re held on with sealant. Stanley knife between cabinet and worktop to cut sealant, lift worktops off. It’s like replacing the seal on a bath - definitely a faff but very doable. So don’t rule them out just because of that, given you’d change them say once in 30 years!

You don't need to stick stone/composite worktops to the units, they are heavy enough that they stay put.

Like @SpidersAreShitheads we're getting iroko for ours - because we've had it in two previous kitchens (and teak in another) and have always been very happy with our choice. As Spiders says, it's a tropical wood so used to damp, humid conditions and therefore ideal for use in a kitchen. We've always oiled regularly and never had issues with black spots/splitting. I love the way it darkens to a rich, deep tone - much nicer than oak or other obvious wood choices.

At our last house we fitted iroko in 2018 and it looked as good as new when we sold the property in late 2024. We combined it with an island topped with microcement (DH DIYed this) which is another option along with concrete.

I love the look of that, but they only do very large sheets and we would probably need 3 of those, which would make it very expensive, especially since we would need a fitter to cut and install it as well.

It is, but I'm not that keen and it really wouldn't suit the style of our kitchen we are planning.

I would have a look at ’plykeakitchens’ on instagram for some inspiration, they have a bunch of different plywood kitchens with different worktops

We have compact laminate. It was originally a stop gap intended to be replaced with something like Dekton eventually, but I’ve been suitably impressed in the five years it’s been in that I doubt we will now. Ours is matte white, but it comes in all kinds of effects. It’s much sleeker and more durable than regular laminate and works with an undermounted sink.

I wouldn't go with steel. I know the look youre going for, but I think it only works if its immaculate. So no water marks/finger prints etc and that's really hard with stainless steel. Especially as you say you're bad at wiping down.

Plykea have somw great looking ideas. And i just saw a terazzo style one that looked cool

www.instagram.com/plykeakitchens?igsh=NTk3bXBrYXNiMGhj

We had compact laminate in our last house and have just fitted it again in our new place. I’ve been very happy with it in both kitchens.

Your reason for not wanting composite is utterly bizarre. You’re more likely to replace the units first. And it’s not that hard to get them off. It’s just sealant.

Fair enough! The units are solid plywood, so we are hoping they will last better than laminated chipboard. I just hated the way everything was stuck together in the old kitchen we have been removing and how it was impossible to get even the worktop off the units without sawing sections off in bits. I would like it to be more modular so if one part ever needed replacing, be it a unit or a worktop, we could unscrew the worktop from the unit and replace either one of these.