Kitchen worktops, granite/quartz?

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Don
Joined
14 Jun 2004
Posts
17,735
Location
Newcastle U/T
Just wondering if anyone ahs any expreience of these.
were looking at either a gloss white, or dark gloss kitchen with a nice worktop of the opposite white/dark.

Either white (not cream/beige) or Black with flecks

We've seen some really nice quarts ones but they're fairly hefty priced.

ATM I'm looking at a 3.2m and a 2.2m length, straight runs, will need cutout for sink/tap and draining grooves but nothing else.

Contemplating some of the faced type, the one with the cm or so depth of stone/quarts with a wooden core as externally they look pretty much the same.
 
My parents recently had their old kitch works tops faced up with granite and I have to say the people who did have done a wonderful job. you would never know the tops weren't solid and they feel really good quality and have a ridiculous long guarantee and i have to say it feels and looks like they won't ever have a problem with it,
 
Granite is fine as long as you are aware of the pitfalls of it, it is porous and you have to be careful of thermal shock.

We have quartz worktops, they are a touch more stain resistant than granite.
 
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Look at engineered stone, its crushed quarts and mirrors in a resin bond. Its everything proof and doesnt need bi-yearly sealing line stone does.
 
Big mistake having black worktops, had them at a previous place, never looked clean, showed every mark.:(

Composite Stone worktops are great, they don't stain, but they are very heavy, & not cheap, but will last a lifetime.
 
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If you're still looking at choices there's also the likes of the solid surface products such as Corian, Himacs and so on, they can look well in the kind of kitchen you describe although some colours aren't recommended for kitchens, solid black is possibly one of them.
 
quartz all the way, as others have said its much easier to take care of.

I think I paid £3200 for my island, its 4.2m x 1.2 with end panels down to the floor silestone is about 20% more expensive then other brands.
 
httk said:
I'd go quartz over granite.
Click to expand...

The quartz ones look really nice, there's one called Alpen Ice or something, pure white with silvery flecks in it, looks nice :)

LOAM said:
Look at engineered stone, its crushed quarts and mirrors in a resin bond. Its everything proof and doesnt need bi-yearly sealing line stone does.
Click to expand...

Everything Proof? :p
Any suggested manufacturers of this?

We've looked at a few kitchens in the stores and stuff now.
Definatley going high gloss, undecided on handles or handleless.

Thanks for all the input so far :)
 
I had a look at what was meant to be faced quartz in homebase.
Scratched to hell and thats just the one on show, tried to scratch it with my keys, huge mark :(

The stuff at wren has an extremely high gloss finish which looks far better, but is around 3k :/
 
I can't remember where we got ours from, it was supplied by Sheraton who made the units, it wasn't there own product though it was a 3rd party.
 
Was looking around this morning and came across a local guy
Found a nice compromise :)

Technistone, starlight white or black.

£1100+VAT cut/grooved/polished and installed.
 
We got composite quartz, and it's great. Consider if you want a splashback & upstands. We had some specific requirements, the right type of worktop can span two 700mm units without support in the middle.

We went with a kind of grey/white/duck egg light blue worktop in our glossy white kitchen (white floor, ceilings, walls, units, etc). The white reflects the light from the worktop, so it takes everything down a notch and looks really nice.

Even the kitchen fitters and designers (we had to go bespoke), were impressed. Nearly everyone who puts in a white kitchen puts in a black worktop, and everyone wasn't sure about our very white kitchen, but the worktop affects the light in the room, and it really works well.
 



The weird light patterns are from the camera flash bouncing off the glossy white bits. It's only a smallish kitchen, hence the trouble getting stuff to fit and the need to have bespoke cabinets made (didn't actually cost much more). There's two eye-level ovens/microwave, a fridge-freezer, dishwasher and washer-dryer out of shot on the right. We needed a white kitchen because there's not a lot of light in there, so we didn't want to put in a black worktop and deaden it all down again.

The make of worktop is ArenaStone which is one of the more reasonably priced composite quartz worktops. We needed three lengths (IIRC they come in 3 meter lengths), and with the upstands and splashback was just under £2800 with holes cut for the sink and hob, and the piece on the window sill was gratis (London prices through). Upstands add the best part of a grand to the price because there are a lot of cuts involved in manufacture. We had guys come in beforehand and cut plastic templates on top of the cabinets with the extractor in place and the sink and hob to fit to size to make sure everything was a perfect fit.

Three times the price of a wooden worktop, but pretty indestructible. No oiling or treatment necessary. Clean it with glass cleaner, don't chop on it (you'll ruin your knives), and none of the crappy damage you always get around the taps. Because it's basically resin and crushed quartz, there are no weak veins or anything that should suffer from thermal cracking - the structure is too even.
 
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