On Mon, 24 May 2010 20:51:05 +0100, John Rumm wrote:

Regular formica/chip - always has problems with the formica
(whatever)
never being very robust. Either water gets in and lifts it or it
stains
(OK, I cook curries) or it doesn't like the odd bit of heat...

Must admit to never having had a problem with this - pick a decent one
and it seems robust enough.

Same here. I did singe a laminate worktop once but that was taking a
pan that had boiled dry off the hob and straight onto the surface.

Not had any problem with stains either

Do you cook curries? Tumeric can stain *anything*. B-) But even
that normally fades after a week or so of the daily wipe down.

--
Cheers
Dave.