Granite, fake granite or Wood?

[HinnyPet]

A real granite worktop is going to cost about £900 in our kitchen, a "laminate granite effect" one about a quarter at £300 and a solid oak one from IKEA was £470.

Which would you have? Kitchen units will be white, not glossy, the oven will be black and huge fridge will be white.

I really wanted coloured glass splashback but now it's sadly out of budget, so need something really nice instead on the worktops in the kitchen!!

With your units I'd go for the wooden worktop, although this can be a pain around the sink area. I definitely wouldn't have the laminate one. I like granite, but I've assumed you mean a black colour granite? If it's black, I think that would be a bit too harsh with white units. I think black would be ok with cream units though.

Yes, I liked the black granite but it is sooo expensive!
this is the IKEA kitchen we love

We have wood and its the best decision we made in the kitchen.

Got cheap tiles for splashbacks but no-one notices them cos of the gorgeous oak worktops. We sand them down lightly about once every 6 months or so and oil. Careful round the sink - and away you go.

Tip - if there are offcuts, keep them, round off the ends and use for chopping boards, pot stands etc.

Yes I'd go for wooden with that kitchen, I'm not a fan of black granite with bright white units.

i have granite - a brown one, with wooden floors and white cabinets. looks great.

would not go for wood because not good with water and you'll spend your time constantly maintaining it.

i wouldn't go for granite because it shows scratches ~(so does wood) and many suppliers will supply only if you pay for installation too (due to the possibility of it being broken during fitting)

do so much as change hob or sink after instaling it and you risk breaking it again...

wood is easier to fit, though harder to look after as someone else said

fake granite is a good option in many ways! though possibly wood would warmth to a white kitchen...

i have £80 b&Q worktop in fake slate, and it looks good, hides marks well, and if i ruin it...it's £80 to replace.

wood looks old very quickly. go for granite if you can.

We are having Corian in our new kitchen,it will be black/dark grey and the cabinets are grey green.DH wanted wood,and it looked lovely,but I can't be doing with watching where hot/wet pans go and all the sanding and oiling.The corian is meant to be seamless,which appeals,as my current horrible kitchen is a nightmare of grooves and dirt traps.

I have plain white (not gloss) with ikea oak and red tiles Looks great!

If you're having wood, iroko is what you need, not oak or anything else. Iroko is much oilier than other woods, so needs less maintenance (oiling only every 6 months around here!). We have shiny white units.

Try a kitchen fitters just for worktop?

Hey thanks! I would love corian... it isn't cheap though is it?
I will look into the other suggestions though .. thanks again

I think it depends a lot on you - my DH is increadibly good at creating pools of standing water all over the kitchen, so wood would never do for us, for example. I think you have to be realistic in a kitchen about your current behaviour, and choose the worktop that suits the way you cook.

try here - thin layer of granite or glass on top of the cheapest worktops you can buy

www.granite-transformations.co.uk

Trust LadyGaga!

The best investment you can make is granite. It will last longer than any other part of your kitchen.

I currently have wood and I will never ever ever again have it

It looks great for a while but you have to be extremely careful with sauces stains, oil, WATER- around my sink area is truly rotten- totally yucky, hot pans.... etc etc

If you don't really like cooking and have a show kitchen- go for it but if you want a fully working kitchen surface.

There is no contest GRANITE all the way!

Have you looked at solid surface worktops - we have this in Flint. It's cheaper than granite or corian, the colour is softer than black, it's low maintenance, has higher heat resistance than laminate or wood, and you can buff scratches out.

It is more expensive than the laminate though.

We have a matching upstand all the way round instead of a splashback and haven't had any problems, even with my messy cooking!

i had a quote for granite that came in at over 2k....am very interested in this granite transformations thingy....anyone else had it done?

Mine is wood. Love it.
Bought it online from Barncrest. Excellent service and pleased with price.

Look at my profile. I have white gloss units and black oven too.

Lauriefairycake they look fab - have ordered a brochure....

Wood is absolutely the best choice. I would always try to avoid "fake" anything if I can, and granite - once damaged - is irretrievable, plus it's massively expensive.

Yes, wood needs care and maintenance, but there is almost nothing you can do to it that can't be sanded out followed by re-oiling. And little marks here and there just add to the character over time.

Just get a worktop saver and a couple of pot stands and you'll be fine. Put many many coats of oil around the sink area and make sure you mop up water in good time. Better still get a dishwasher so you don't have potentially wet dishes sitting around on the worktop. Oh, and don't put tin cans onto oak - they seem to react with a dark ring, but again this can be easily sanded away.

Oh, and I do loads of cooking btw - it's definitely not a show kitchen!

Ooooh gaelicsheep I am so undecided now!

My friend advised me against granite - becuase every splash and water mark shows up so she said she's constantly cleaning it.

On the other hand, my sister has an Ikea solid wood worksurface which was installed by the previous owners of her house and she's been there 10 years and it still looks great

I also think that granite is really, well, obvious. Everyone seems to have it (or something that looks like it). If you ask me, there's a good reason why wood's been our material of choice for pretty much everything for thousands of years.

Lol - well I am off to bed and I shall dream on it I'm sure!
Thanks again for your suggestions. I am still no nearer to making a choice and DH is more indecisive than me.....