What type of kitchen worktop do you have and why?

[chelseamorning]

What type of kitchen worktop do you have? Please tell me about the pros and cons.

Stainless steel. Easy to clean. Gets lots of scratches but they look good. But it's a bit dated now - I wouldn't do it again.

What would you have instead, Squeaver?

Granite. It's called Afghan Gold which sounds like weed, I know. It's a gorgeous dark gold with little bits of red in it. John Lewis.

Not sure. Maybe marble. Or wood.

Every time I go into someone else's house I get worktop envy.

I have one that slopes into the corner of the room so all the water from the draining baord pools there and becomes stagnant if I don't keep on top of cleaning it up.

Why? Because the previous owners were idiots who obviously thought a spirit level was something from church.

A regular laminated woody one from b n q - liked the idea of granite but a friend has onw and it streaks and she has to really go at it to make it shiney and nice - mine is black with flecks and hides the grunge well

Dark grey granite look alike (corian?) Tis fab and hides the dirt well

Draining board is wood and needs oiling regularly to keep it ship shape

Why ?

Cos when we bought the house we were offered the choice

I have part stainless steel (ok is slightly dated now) part wood (don't go there; it stains dreadfully). I'd look at granite or one of the granite substitutes.

Looking at your other thread, you ain't gonna like this..

.. we inherited a wooden worktop in our house. We know it cost £'000s. It has black bits where it gets wet, it is scuzzy where it joins onto the sink. The oil runs off and drips down the sink (when I can be bothered to do it as it smells so foul). It was installed by the fitters who did KayHarker's kitchen, but this time they thought a tape measure was an intestinal parasite and decided not to bring it with them. Even the tannic acid trick to get rid of the black bits does not work with our black bits.

Please do not come back in a year's time and say nobody warned you

Black granite. Tis the most expensive thing in the kitchen. Worth every penny.

we moved so now have really horrid grey worktop. in my old house we had black granite.. i love love loved it but it was a bugger to keep black because we live a very hard water area. my next (dream!) kitchen when we get round to doing it is going to have a marble worksurface...

Granite - Giallo Veneziano - goes lovely with oak. Maple island - I am too precious to really have this as it drives me nuts.

Formicre me thinks.
Cheap and tough, cleans well.

Okay okay, Catinthehat1, so I won't be going down the wooden worktop route!!! LOL at the tape measure joke!

I was thinking that maybe corian composite would be a good financial/practical compromise between granite and corian proper. Anyone have one of these?

Oak It looks great and I oiled it 4 times at the start and every couple of months since installation and it looks great.I wipe it over with wire wool put on a layer of linseed oil and polish it off a few hours later.

What? - Glossy black granite with silver flecks in it.

Why? - It came with the house

Verdict - Very durable, hygenic and still looks brand new after 3 years. The only downside is that it is gloss so you have to dry it properly when you wipe it over or else you end up with big water smears.

Friends of mine had wood in their kitchen and around the sink it was just a nightmare. Utterly disgusting.

If the sink is well sealed and you dry it after use its fine.We do have a dishwasher which probably helps.Give the area around the sink a few extra coats of oil.very satisfying!

black star galaxy granite (black with flecks in).

It is beautiful when clean, but you do have to put in the effort to clean it ie wash/dry/polish because otherwise it has water smeers on it.

But I love it.

black speckly granite
faberooni
but you need to wipe it over with e-cloth to keep it shiny
takes about a minute

def worth the money.

I love the look of wood but am way too slobby to keep it nice

Black granite - love it.

Have previously had wood, which I also really liked, but more maintenance than granite.

Plain black granite around the sink, maple everywhere else. You need to be fairly anal with the wood, but I am anal and 18 months on it still looks beautiful and new. We had maple around the sink too at our last house, we did manage to keep it nice but it was a big hassle, hence why we changed to granite at this house. The granite and maple combination looks great, and ties in nicely with our black range.

Yes, mine is star galaxy. I couldn't remember the name

Granite.

But wished I'd gone for upstands now ...

Brown-beige speckled Corian - it is great although pricey. If you decide to go for Corian or one of the other man-made resin/stone composites, make sure the fitter is qualified for domestic fitting, not just for contract work. We only found out that there a difference in the industry standard after a lot of problems.

Decided against Granite as I felt if was too "hard" and cold. Somehow Corian feels sl more forgiving, IYKWIM.

In old house we had butcher's block oak and I loved it: looked better with time and did not need half as much faffing looking after as I thought.