"Engineered" worktops.....

R.O.S.S.I

R.O.S.S.I

R.O.S.S.I

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Does anyone know of anywhere that sells them other than Ikea?

I'm not even sure if this is the right name for them as I'm merely copying the naming of engineered laminates which are a thin top layer of real wood over some hdf/particleboard.

I've only seen one place that sells them and it's Ikea - their Karlby worktop is 3.5mm of solid walnut over particleboard. We really wanted solid wood counters for our kitchen but they are mad expensive and these Karlby tops look like a good compromise but i'm struggling to find anywhere else that sells anything similar/viable alternatives.

Anyone ever come across them anywhere else or know if they go by a different name? My Google skills are failing me atm!
 
How much are you looking to pay? I got 8m of Oak worktop from Magnet £750 with traders discount.
 
Are you certain you want real wood? Whilst some prefer it aesthetically, it's real wood, so will come with all the oil and care burdens of real wood.
 
I would highly recommend you do not go for a real wood countertop - floors are one thing, working on a wood countertop which has food on it, chopping marks (where bacteria gets into and grows), join marks etc will make for a very unattractive and possibly unhygenic work surface shortly after installation.

Go with laminate, moulded corian (composite of acrylic and resin) or silestone (man-made quartz stone) for hassle free, hygenic and elegant options.
 
We have a solid oak worktop on our island and love it to bits. ~£180 from Howdens.

But we do have granite on the main L-shaped section and our joiner used a nice large square of granite to machine us a larger chopping board/worksurface that sits on the island next to the induction hob. It ties the two worktops together well, lets us have the nice wooden surface for the rest of the island when chilling around it and gives us the hygenic surface for food prep.

Will get a photo up if I remember to get it off my camera/phone.

Also have the laminate we got with the kitchen, but it's horrible vs stone or solid wood. We'll be using it to build a desk in the study and for putting into the utility room, so no wasteage there.
 
Since when has wood been unhygienic?

(From experience, I'd say it's crap as a kitchen surface due to the care requirements and staining, but unhygienic it isn't)
 
cheesyboy said:
Since when has wood been unhygienic?

(From experience, I'd say it's crap as a kitchen surface due to the care requirements and staining, but unhygienic it isn't)
Click to expand...

Wood has always been an unhygenic surface when used for preparing food...

The reason being if you damage or cut the surface, say when you're chopping vegetables for example and you cut sharply down and into the surface of the wood - this creates an indent in the wood and pierces through the various varnishes or coats used to protect it from moisture and other substances which can potentially damage the wood.

What this means is you now have a portion of the wood which is no longer protected and is susceptible to dirt, bacteria, and anything else small enough to get into those cuts and grooves. And it's also the same reason why corian makes for a better surface than granite, silestone, laminate or wood (because there's no joins, it's a seamless moulded entity - if you don't believe me just have a look under a granite or silestone worktop where there is an integrated or slot-in sink next time and see the grime and muck that builds up in the little nooks and crannies over time)

And if your idea to re-seal it each time well then you have potentially issues with harmful chemicals getting into the food you're preparing. Wood is great looking, terrible as a worktop surface though!
 
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They wouldn't make chopping boards out of wood if it was so unhygienic :p. Plus you really shouldn't be preparing food directly on top of a work surface anyway.

Only issues I see with wooden worktops is around sinks, where the wood can swell, crack and discolour. Plus the oiling can be a hassle. I'd use a decent oil like Osmo, rather than generic danish oils as it'll last longer and perform better.

Ebay seemed to have the best prices when i bought a piece a while back for making a desk. 40mm staves are worth paying the extra for as they look a lot better than 20mm imo. Also prime oak costs more, but will be more uniform in colour and have less natural defects etc. i went for the cheaper oak as i actually prefer the more rustic look.
 
cheesyboy said:
Wood is a naturally anti-bacterial material. Even when gouged and old, it's still very hygienic.

There's plenty of studies to illustrate this. Here's one for a start;
http://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/opinion/blogs/kitchen-hygiene-a-cutting-question/11103459.blog
(Chopping boards, admittedly, but the principle applies to surfaces too)
Click to expand...

"It seems that bacteria are absorbed into wooden surfaces. They may remain alive within the wood for some time, but they do not multiply and they gradually die."

Therein lies the issue imho. You're using the surface every day, so every day the wood is absorbing more and more bacteria. Not so bad if you had a flat surface where you're able to wipe off all surface bacteria, but how often do you see that in a wood surface? Not very. Furthermore, wood being a natural product means that it can have crevasses internally where they act as a sort of valley for bacteria or other substance falling in and discolouring, cracking, or deteriorating the wood.

Don't get me wrong, I love wood. It's beautiful and works wonderfully as a flooring. I just wouldn't put it as a worktop surface, or if I did, I'd make sure it was never ever used without chopping boards I could buy for cheap and throw away every year.

Silestone, Granite, Caesarstone by comparison do not have these issues at the surface level but they do have it under sinks and in joins. Corian doesn't have the issue at all but its prone to staining (though it can be easily repaired as it's a man-made composite). Oh the woes of home design!
 
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Honesty, you've got the wrong end of the stick on this one.

On top of the studies showing how wooden boards don't allow the growth of bacteria (and it's the multiplication of bacteria which makes it dangerous - everything has bacteria on), there are plenty of studies showing how unhygienic the average non-wood kitchen surface is.

As I said previously, I don't like wood surfaces because of the upkeep and durability, but they're hard to beat for hygiene.
 
We have a custom made pine kitchen and there is no way we'd chop straight on the wood, even if it was oak we would still use a wooden board (we use an old butchers block which is brilliant).

As for wooden kitchen worktops themselves, be prepared to maintain them. Mine is in serious need of stripping back old coating by previous owners, fine sanding and then full oiling. It's going to take me weeks as it's a huge kitchen.
 
Who the hell chops straight onto a kitchen counter? Please correct me if I'm wrong but I believe chopping boards are the correct surface to prepare food on.
 
The Ikea one incidentally comes pre-waxed/oiled so maintenance shouldn't be an issue, I know it will need revisiting in a few years and i'm OK with that.

I've also heard of some hard wax oils that you can use for worktops which give it a extremely good protection from water, dust, dirt etc, and like most have said I wouldn't dream of chopping food directly on our worktop anyway!
 
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