Kitchen worktops

I know someone in Australia who has had her kitchen cupboards and worktops spray painted, white with a tiny black specled effect.... It looks fabulous and gives a lovely smooth finish. The kitchen looks brand new and at a very reasonable cost.......I am going to investigate the possibility of getting it done in the UK

We have black granite with that sparkly effect and they are great! The GC colour, paint, cut and stick - no problem. I have never had an issue with hot stuff and they clean up pretty quickly.... We had wood in the last kitchen and I did find them quite high maintenance ....

I bet you wish you had never asked ... lol

Good luck with it Anya, whatever you decide on.

Am completely happy with our modern laminate worktops, I do have some Lakeland worktop wonder, but hardly ever use it ( don't need to.)
We have a Karndean floor in the kitchen too, in a sort of bleached driftwood
Look, always looks good and easy to clean.

suey just had some lovely samples sent by Duropal.

Yes, we have faffed around; new tiles, sink, oven, hob, worktop and floor because the flippin' cupboards are such good quality.
I wish we had ripped it all out and replaced the whole lot. And had a different floor, don't like it any more.

Always compromising, me, and then I never get the whole lot done.
We can't replace the cupboard doors because they don't make that size any more. And I want one of those end cupboards with curved doors .....

[grumble]

(Work tops were replaced as well)

Ours is Axiom. Made by Formica. Supposed to look like beech block. Liked it at first. Hate it now. Want wood.

Trouble is, our house was built in the sixties so the kitchen units are all in old metric measurements. If we replaced the lot everything would now be smaller. So we had a cupboard doors and drawer fronts job done three years ago. Big mistake really. Should have ripped the lot out and had a joiner make all new cupboards from scratch. Can't be arsed now.

I would never have wood again Am getting too old to fuss about a worktop. In stead I have just had a Duropal laminate worktop in stalled: white beech in a parquet effect. It looks good and is so easy to look after,

We're also looking to refresh our kitchen. We're keeping the cupboards but changing the worktop, tiles and sink. I was interested to read about the quartz worktop, how does it compare to granite in price?

I used to work at some holiday cottages with granite worktops and with all the wear and tear they got it was amazing how they polished up quickly with a microfibre cloth and ecover spray.

I have Corian worktops and splash backs, right up to the extractor behind the hob. I chose white with grey and black flecks, the sink is moulded into the worktop and is very easy to keep clean. It was the best decision we have ever made.

I've just bought some 'Work Top Wonder' from Lakeland to use on my laminate worktops as they stain really badly. Not sure yet how effective it has been.

As far as I know, Formica is a brand name for a laminated product, probably the first one that came to anyone's attention. Some modern laminates are produced with a slightly textured finish. What I know as Formica was always smooth and shiny. My mother had a kitchen table with a Formica top (it was horrible but she thought it was very modern). Purely as an aside, I was reading recently a book about the Falklands conflict recently and apparently, after the war, the Navy replaced all the Formica surfaces in their ships galleys with stainless steel, after seeing the horrendous injuries and deaths caused by shards of flying Formica when a ship suffered blast damage in those areas.

Inasmuch as they are both man-made polycarbons Ann I'd have to say yes, but an updated and upgraded version.

I really think for value and looks laminate can't be beaten, and it is easy to keep nice with care. And now a question, is laminate the same as the Formica we all had years ago?
My "pseudo" Karndean is a joy both in looks and effort to keep immaculate, I wish I had discovered it years ago.

Well I asked the original question because I had wood and it wasn't my preferred option when I have my kitchen 'reinstated'. I've decided to go with a good quality laminate after listening to this thread, talking to a friend who had her kitchen re-done a couple of years ago and looking at show kitchen.

My original wood was Wenge and I've had some lovely samples of 'pseudo' wood laminate sent in dark colours which will complement my 'pseudo' wood Kardean floor which has also to be 'reinstated'

'Pseudo wood' never pretends to be wood, so cannot possibly be dishonest. What a snobbish attitude. And oh dear, I also have a laminate floor in the kitchen. I wonder what that says about me.

Well, all I can say is that you have very posh kitchens.

Disgruntled now.

No, kittylester I told it that it has to wait its turn, it may get a duster waved around before Christmas!

Our kitchen has dark brown/black mottled granite worktops. They cost an absolute fortune (seen the bills) but we didn't pay for them, they were already installed by the previous owners. Well, I wish they had not bothered. The only good thing about them is that you can put a hot pan down anywhere without any damage, but they are very cold and in the winter they act as a cold radiator and give off quite a chill. I have to use Viakal to clean off the water marks around the tap and where the washing up drains. I don't bother with polishing them much as our house is old and the kitchen is quite dark so it doesn't show. If I could start again I would have everything light - light units, light formica worktops. I recently advised a friend against having granite in her new kitchen but she had it anyway and she likes it. I think the new granite worktops might be different to the older ones, like mine.

Mine is a black speckled laminate type worktop. DS set a hot pan on it and it left a pale ring. It isn't very noticeable, but I know it's there. As for chopping boards, I have a glass one and a wooden one. Going back to DS. I have two lovely trivets on either side of the hob, there was no need to put the pan down on the worktop!!!!!

I hope you are ashamed of yourself roseq!

Pseudo wood surfaces are so dishonest.
I am sitting in our dishonest study, just as well I am untidy so I can't see the pseudo wood work surface. It keeps saying 'you need to clean me' but I don't believe it.

I have a beautiful blue/black starry granite. Don't polish very often and don'f find it any more difficult than previous black laminate. In fact easier as I just put hot things down straight from oven. I have to be very careful and DinL house as want to put hot things down on laminate work surface, luckily haven't actually done it yet. I have broken a couple of things on it but no more than before when I had ceramic tiled floor. I now have Kardeen which is wonderful.

'Pseudo wood is so dishonest'. What a very silly statement.