"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
news
On 9 Nov 2005 10:04:04 -0800, "Nottingham Jon"
wrote:

I have been thinking about getting solid wood worktops

Dubious for starters


On the other hand, they look great and are perfectly acceptable as kitchen
work surfaces when properly looked after.

(prob. from Ikea, and prob. oak/poss. beech)

A disaster waiting to happen.


??

Wooden worktops are hard work and IMHO more trouble than they're worth.
I certainly wouldn't oil them, I'd go for a strong surface coating like
Rustin's bar-top. Oak is particularly troublesome for staining.

If you do go for wood, then you need to do it carefully. Decent timber,
decent jointing technique to put the boards together, decent framing to
hold it flat. Simple finger jointed cheapwood is just asking for it to
warp and probably split - so avoid Ikea. If you're going to do it at
all, you really have to do it properly or else they're a nightmare. This
isn't cheap. Nor is it trivial DIY if you're inexperienced with joinery.


Good points. However, i feel the end results are well worth the minimal
effort involved. One day to fit a surface and then an occasional (twice a
year - takes about half an hour) re-coating of the oil to replace any lost
during cleaning of the kitchen.

Just make sure the surface is properly fixed to the units and warping
shouldn't be an issue, make sure that there is silicon where there should be
silicone (ie around inside of sink hole) to protect against water and
discolouring of wood won't be an issue. The thing here is to do a 100% job
first time.

We fit our kitchen ourselves and despite it being v.small it sold the house
to the first people who looked. But then, we look after our investments. -
Hot pans on a wooden suface indeed! :-) This is why it's advisable to use a
large wooden work block in a kitchen as it protects the surface.