On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 13:36:10 GMT, David McNeish
wrote:

I'm wanting to replace a beech worktop in our kitchen which is past its
best, particularly where it's been wet, like around the Belfast sink
(exposed edges of worktop around the sink, which is mounted beneath the
worktop).

Looking in the Google archives for advice, it seems that laminated
chipboard worktops are a Bad Idea for that style of sink, because of the
ease of water getting into the chipboard.

You're dead right about this! I took extra special care to seal the
cut edges around the aperture for my Ikea ceramic sink. I first
applied a copious amount of white silicone sealant to the sawn faces
of the cut-out in the chipboard, really pushing it into the surface
with a putty knife, then I applied the mastic sealant strip that came
with the sink and pushed the sink in firmly.

Nevertheless, over the last year since the sink was installed, water
has obviously managed to get into the chipboard somehow, as the
worktop is already showing signs of warping and the melamine surface
lifting.

MM

And even if we replaced the
sink with one which is mounted from above the worktop, from past
experience I have doubts about how long the worktop would last before
getting damaged elsewhere.

Other materials I've looked at are Corian (expensive), and marble (only
slightly less expensive). And we don't want another solid wood worktop.

Are there any other solutions, priced somewhere between the cheap-and-
nasty and the how-bloody-much options?

David