We've recently had four different types of worksurfaces in our last
three houses. In our first house we had laminate. This was cheap,
fairly hard wearing and did the job fine.

In our second house we had wood (block beech) this wasnt great because
it stained in places where it got wet eg around the sink and over time
this became pretty unsightly.

In our current house we inherited laminate but when we changed the
kitchen we changed to a product called Minerelle. We were advised this
was a poor man's corian and that it was hardwearing, stain and impact
resistant.

I can't say enough how dissapointed we were with the minerelle. The
major problem is that it scratches really easily. We were very careful
with the surface to start with but any sort of abrasion leaves a mark.
The supplier and the minerelle rep came around and "refinished" the
surface. This involves getting a random orbital sander and filling your
kitchen full of dust. Within days of the refinishing scratches begin to
reappear. If you dont believe me about this get a sample of the
material for yourself and try just gently to scratch it with keys or
similar. The supplier himself admitted that he had to refinish his own
every month or so.

We've now changed to granite which seems great. Its really hard
wearing, scratch resistant and heat resistant.

So my advice would be the best surfaces are either laminate (but avoid
the high gloss types as these scratch easily) or if your budget
stretches that far, granite.

Anyone got any other thoughts?

Patrick

In article ,
patrick wrote:
So my advice would be the best surfaces are either laminate (but avoid
the high gloss types as these scratch easily) or if your budget
stretches that far, granite.

Anyone got any other thoughts?

I've got mosaic tiles with epoxy grout - and inset but removable chopping
blocks at suitable intervals. Hardwood surround easily removed for
re-varnishing when needed.

Cleaning is easy - simply run the hose from the vacuum cleaner over it to
remove crumbs etc then wash down. It's survived well, and to me looks fine.
Any uninterrupted surface like granite, etc, probably needs a higher
standard of cleaning not to look tatty.

--
*How do they get the deer to cross at that yellow road sign?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
patrick wrote:
So my advice would be the best surfaces are either laminate (but avoid
the high gloss types as these scratch easily) or if your budget
stretches that far, granite.

Anyone got any other thoughts?

I've got mosaic tiles with epoxy grout - and inset but removable chopping
blocks at suitable intervals. Hardwood surround easily removed for
re-varnishing when needed.

Please clue me up about this epoxy grout. It surely can't be like araldite
but -- couldn't possibly work with something like that. I wonder if it's
more like http://www.gluelines.co.uk/milliput.htm? I don't know if you know
the stuff, but you mix (with your fingers) bits of each part which are the
consistency of cold plasticene. It can be smoothed over with a wet finger
(or other tool) and some of the stuff actually seems to dissolve off in
water (until it's set, of course).

I've got laminate with a pattern of kind-of brown spots on it. Seems
pretty hard wearing, and cause it's got quite a random pattern you
don't notice dirt (and the v odd scratch) much at all

Jon

patrick wrote:
So my advice would be the best surfaces are either laminate (but avoid
the high gloss types as these scratch easily) or if your budget
stretches that far, granite.

Anyone got any other thoughts?

Porcelain tiles wth expoxy grout suit me. All laminate looks cheap.
Solid wood is nice but not for wet areas not cutting unless you want a
butchers block. Marble is nice for rolling pastry but not food acids.
Granite would indeed be nice but very expensive especially when cut to
fit a very small kitchen and not a DIY job either.
Tiles suit me: they were cheap enough, give a solid 40mm surface set on
Aquapanel over 18mm ply, and were a lot less trouble to cut to fit and
awkward corner that anything else.


David Clark

$message_body_include ="PLES RING IF AN RNSR IS REQIRD"

On Sun, 17 Apr 2005 23:39:25 GMT, quisquiliae
wrote:

Granite would indeed be nice but very expensive especially when cut to
fit a very small kitchen and not a DIY job either.

Granite's easy enough as a DIY job - the stonemason does the hard
stuff for you. "Professional granite fitters" aren't adding much to
the deal at all. It's not even that expensive, compared to
commercially laid tile or wood.

Of course, local accessiblity to a good stoneyard is an advantage.

--
Cats have nine lives, which is why they rarely post to Usenet.

"patrick" wrote in message
m...
We've recently had four different types of worksurfaces in our last
three houses. In our first house we had laminate. This was cheap,
fairly hard wearing and did the job fine.

In our second house we had wood (block beech) this wasnt great because
it stained in places where it got wet eg around the sink and over time
this became pretty unsightly.

In our current house we inherited laminate but when we changed the
kitchen we changed to a product called Minerelle. We were advised this
was a poor man's corian and that it was hardwearing, stain and impact
resistant.

I can't say enough how dissapointed we were with the minerelle. The
major problem is that it scratches really easily. We were very careful
with the surface to start with but any sort of abrasion leaves a mark.
The supplier and the minerelle rep came around and "refinished" the
surface. This involves getting a random orbital sander and filling your
kitchen full of dust. Within days of the refinishing scratches begin to
reappear. If you dont believe me about this get a sample of the
material for yourself and try just gently to scratch it with keys or
similar. The supplier himself admitted that he had to refinish his own
every month or so.

We've now changed to granite which seems great. Its really hard
wearing, scratch resistant and heat resistant.

So my advice would be the best surfaces are either laminate (but avoid
the high gloss types as these scratch easily) or if your budget
stretches that far, granite.

Anyone got any other thoughts?

Patrick

I put granite tops in our last kitchen. Biggest advantage for me was I could
get the tops made in one piece without joints and polished on all exposed
edges which for a corner hob and a corner sink was impractical in anything
granite or corrian.

Only problem with granite is unless its really clean it looks dirty. You can
DIY it, I templated the tops, got them cut and polished, then fitted them
myself (with 5 others to lift each piece).

Any ideas for suppliers and costs?

"legin" wrote in message
oups.com...
Any ideas for suppliers and costs?


Heres a website that might point you in the right direction on price.

http://www.granitesolutionsdirect.co.uk/

patrick wrote:

We've recently had four different types of worksurfaces in our last
three houses. In our first house we had laminate. This was cheap,
fairly hard wearing and did the job fine.

In our second house we had wood (block beech) this wasnt great because
it stained in places where it got wet eg around the sink and over time
this became pretty unsightly.

In our current house we inherited laminate but when we changed the
kitchen we changed to a product called Minerelle. We were advised this
was a poor man's corian and that it was hardwearing, stain and impact
resistant.

I can't say enough how dissapointed we were with the minerelle. The
major problem is that it scratches really easily. We were very careful
with the surface to start with but any sort of abrasion leaves a mark.
The supplier and the minerelle rep came around and "refinished" the
surface. This involves getting a random orbital sander and filling your
kitchen full of dust. Within days of the refinishing scratches begin to
reappear. If you dont believe me about this get a sample of the
material for yourself and try just gently to scratch it with keys or
similar. The supplier himself admitted that he had to refinish his own
every month or so.

We've now changed to granite which seems great. Its really hard
wearing, scratch resistant and heat resistant.

So my advice would be the best surfaces are either laminate (but avoid
the high gloss types as these scratch easily) or if your budget
stretches that far, granite.

Anyone got any other thoughts?

Stainless streel sheet.
Tiles and epoxy as the man indicated.

Block wood and marine two pack epoxy varnish:-) :-)


Patrick

John Stumbles wrote:

Please clue me up about this epoxy grout. It surely can't be like araldite
but -- couldn't possibly work with something like that. I wonder if it's
more like http://www.gluelines.co.uk/milliput.htm? I don't know if you know
....

see http://www.ardex.co.uk/ardex_wa.asp

I suppose its a bit like aradite but with a gritty filler. The
instructions are a bit daunting as they imply the need to work fast, but
in a cool room, working in managable sections, with a good firm squeegee
it is not really difficult.

--
David Clark

$message_body_include ="PLES RING IF AN RNSR IS REQIRD"

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message ...
In article ,
patrick wrote:
So my advice would be the best surfaces are either laminate (but avoid
the high gloss types as these scratch easily) or if your budget
stretches that far, granite.

Anyone got any other thoughts?

I've got mosaic tiles with epoxy grout - and inset but removable chopping
blocks at suitable intervals. Hardwood surround easily removed for
re-varnishing when needed.

Cleaning is easy - simply run the hose from the vacuum cleaner over it to
remove crumbs etc then wash down. It's survived well, and to me looks fine.
Any uninterrupted surface like granite, etc, probably needs a higher
standard of cleaning not to look tatty.

I agree that you have to keep granite very clean to avoid it looking
smeared and this is a slight disadvantage, but I still think its the
best worksurface avaliable. I'm interested in the idea of using tiles
on the worksurface. I'd alwas thought tht the grout would become dirty
and discolour over time. Is this a problem?

On 21 Apr 2005 13:17:16 -0700, (patrick)
wrote:

I agree that you have to keep granite very clean to avoid it looking
smeared and this is a slight disadvantage, but I still think its the
best worksurface avaliable. I'm interested in the idea of using tiles
on the worksurface. I'd alwas thought tht the grout would become dirty
and discolour over time. Is this a problem?

Yes. Tiles looks awful after only a short time.

And regular tiles are very fragile. If you were to put a pan or
something down heavily it would most likely crack the tiled surface.
Then you'd have to replace/regrout the whole lot (you can never
satisfactorily regrout a small area).

Andrew

--

Please note that the email address used for posting
usenet messages is configured such that my antispam
filter will automatically update itself so that the
senders email address is flagged as spam. If you do
need to contact me please visit my web site and
submit an enquiry - http://www.kazmax.co.uk

In article ,
Andrew McKay wrote:
I agree that you have to keep granite very clean to avoid it looking
smeared and this is a slight disadvantage, but I still think its the
best worksurface avaliable. I'm interested in the idea of using tiles
on the worksurface. I'd alwas thought tht the grout would become dirty
and discolour over time. Is this a problem?

Yes. Tiles looks awful after only a short time.

You mean the grout? I used grey grout with green tiles. Still looks fine.

And regular tiles are very fragile. If you were to put a pan or
something down heavily it would most likely crack the tiled surface.
Then you'd have to replace/regrout the whole lot (you can never
satisfactorily regrout a small area).

You use tiles designed for the job. Most mosaics are fine - if you can use
them on floors etc as well. I've not had one break. El cheapo basic tiles
designed for walls only of course will break.

--
*Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Andrew McKay wrote:
Yes. Tiles looks awful after only a short time.
You mean the grout? I used grey grout with green tiles. Still looks fine.


Same here. The important thing is to use expoxy grout, it will resist as
well or better than stone. Tea is the worst for staining on any
surface, occasional scrubbing with a nail brush and a strong solution of
bicarbonate of soda works well

And regular tiles are very fragile. If you were to put a pan or

You use tiles designed for the job. Most mosaics are fine - if you can use
them on floors etc as well. I've not had one break. El cheapo basic tiles
designed for walls only of course will break.

use porcelain tiles


--
David Clark

$message_body_include ="PLES RING IF AN RNSR IS REQIRD"