Brian Sharrock wrote:
"Stuart Noble" wrote in message
...

wrote:

big snip

Tatty and tired equals "natural". If you want a "smart" look you'd have to
use a heavy duty varnish, and then they'd look like Formica anyway.


What an emphatic statement ! Your experience of fitting and using
a kitchen is ... ?

Considerable, though it wouldn't need to be to understand that you can't
seal a wooden surface to the point where it could be classed as "wipe
down" without radically changing the appearance.


most people, that I've encountered do _not_ have
'a heavy duty varnish' on their kitchen work-surfaces.

Good for them. You either adopt the butcher's block approach where you
scrub it down now and again or the hygienic total seal approach. What
doesn't work IME is anything in between (e.g. massaging it weekly with
nutcase oil)