Family-life proof kitchen worktop?

[Ellie78]

Would love a recommendation on this - we're thinking quartz (actually milestone) but it's stupidly expensive. Happy to invest in it if it is going to last the distance but we're hoping to gain some insights from experience of others. nothing better than tried and tested.

We're on our way to having birch ply cabinets (with a family life proof varnish) and a concrete floor. So I was considering stainless steel but was surprised that this - too - was expensive and not immune to damage.

So - any suggestions welcomed! Don't mind if it gets marked, as long as it does so with character. We cannot be trusted to maintain it with special potions. From our current experience with an oak worktop, which we inherited when we bought our flat, Oak and Us don't get along.

I'm sure this has been talked about, but I couldn't find the thread! So apologies if I'm just repeating ...

[Monkey]

Work is starting on our kitchen next week and we chose quartz. Like you, the wooden worktop we inherited put us off wood for ever. We looked at acrylic but after seeing a nanny put a hot pan on our current worktop without hesitation (all the kitchens she works in are "heat treated" apparently) we thought the only thing that would survive the onslaught from childminders and our accident prone in-laws was quartz.

[LondonMix]

quartz, no doubt

[KatDew]

We had solid oak in our old house which we put in. 8 years old and it looked good with a very intermittent sand and Danish oil treatment. (And I mean very intermittent.... Max once per year)

New house has black granite. Initially looks good but an utter pain. We have three kids and it shows every smudge, finger print going. You have to polish it dry to make it look good and then gets stuff on it minutes later! Would avoid.

[EDmummy]

If you're interested in cooking then I would def recommend stainless steel - and it doesn't have to be expensive. We got ours from an industrial kitchen supplier fitted by our carpenter. I've have friends that rave about marble and I would have loved it but we have a big kitchen to kit out. We also have counters of cherry wood in lower "traffic" areas but I would agree it needs dedicated care.

[devsdev]

We inherited a corian worktop (we had NO idea what it was or how expensive it can be). We generally make sure we don't put hot pans directly on and have cork coasters out for that purpose. The occasional hot dish hasn't damaged the surface. We wipe down the sink area after washing and last thing at night. Am guessing it's been treated, but it looks great and is easy to maintain.

If you think about the kitchen as one of the rooms you will use the most in the house and how much a less-than-perfect worktop would aggravate you (plus spread the cost over the number of years you plan to have the kitchen before upgrading) then the cost of the ideal worktop may not seem too high. Good luck!

[LondonMix]

I have to say that marble is very high maintenance and etches terribly. You can't get lemon juice or anything acidic on it and have to use specialised stone cleaner on it (most other cleaners are too acidic and will permanently etch or even leach out the colour in the stone). I love marble but if you want it to look like it does at the outset its a lot of work.

[Dun]

We have quartz and love it. Had granite for the past 17 years (2 previous kitchens)and found that great too. Wanted a change this time, looked into wood (not for us) and stainless steel which found expensive, hard to find fitters, don't mind the patina it gets over time but thought it would be too echo-y and cold in our kitchen so went with quartz. Bought it from Bells on Lordship Lane and they have a fab supplier with very good prices. After 2 years it is still immaculate and takes a beating : )

[Ellie78]

Thanks so much! Interesting how these things work out for everyone. Yes, i think Quartz might be well worth the investment then....

But I am now actually tempted by copper - seem to have found a fitter For reasonable cost.

Anyone gone that route?

[Piaf]

I thought we had Quartz but just asked and it's actually composite stone, white with a sparkle (sounds naff but looks great!) and it is really hard wearing. Two yrs on with two small children and various relatives nannies etc who are not v careful with it and it is totally as new. No staining no marks and can take hot pans etc. good luck and if you want to save money we ended up deciding against glass splash back and went for washable scrubbable paint. We got the worktop (and kitchen) from Dulwich Design Kitchens

[littlemissindulgence]

Composite - NEVER any regrets and is cheaper than quartz. Looks fabulous, doesn't chip and cleans soooo amazingly well. Can put hot pans on, doesn't stain and so easy in every way!

[treehugger]

We chose zinc - liked the idea of the retro French bar feel. Although it was expensive, it has been a great success. After about eight years it has aged beautifully with a lovely patina and aged feel. You can shine it up if you want to, but we never have. Really recommend it.

[BeccaL]

Mr Worktops (http://www.mrworktops.com/) in Camberwell is very good for Corian and Corian-type tops - we've got one from them 2 years ago and looks good. is a little scratched now but we specifically chose the colour (black with tiny white flecks) so that wouldn't show up and it looks fine. They are really helpful there as well - would recommend their service.

[Henley01]

We just installed this. I love it and it came in a long length so no joins.

http://www.lunastone.co.uk/

So far so good, went for a light grey. Only issue is it does show up light stains tea and coffee but I use CIF cream to clean it ( I tried lots of expensive stone cleaners but CIF is the best).

[Monkey]

Just a word of warning on IKEA Quartz worktops, which I previously talked about on this thread. They just aren't worth the money. The company which fits them is appalling. First of all, they left a tap open after fitting mine and flooded my neighbours. And second, it's badly fitted: the joint looks bad and I even saw a chip on one side. Really not worth it.