Having had a reasonable trawl through the archives I can't find any
real concensus on kitchen worktops. I have been thinking about getting
solid wood worktops (prob. from Ikea, and prob. oak/poss. beech) but
have heard that:

a. Wood worktops stain very easily and soon look rough
b. They mark if you put a hot pan on them
c. They're hard work to fit (esp. corners due to different expansion
rates along and across the grain)
d. They have terrible water resistance (often causing problems around
sinks)
e. They require lots of regular maintenance (oiling is required at
intervals between 1 week and 6 months depending on whom you believe.)

Our kitchen is going to be used for 'proper' cooking most days - it
isn't for decoration, but I do intend to chop/prepare food on a board
rather than directly on the surface. I'm quite happy for the worktops
to look used, but don't want them to look completely trashed after a
short time. Structural damage due to water would not be acceptable.
In this respect, I'd be particularly concerned about the narrow area of
worktop between the sink and the wall (sink will be inset, *not*
undermounted, but has no upstand etc at the back). I can imagine odd
occasions when this area might not get wiped down after use by SWMBO.

Has anyone got any comments on this? One compounding factor is that
one of the corners of the kitchen is not square, which may necessitate
some creative joinery.

Any advice/direction to other resources gratefully received.

Thanks,
Jon.

'from' address is a spamcatcher. I can be contacted via user13954 at
yahoo dot co dot uk.

Nottingham Jon wrote:
Having had a reasonable trawl through the archives I can't find any
real concensus on kitchen worktops. I have been thinking about getting
solid wood worktops (prob. from Ikea, and prob. oak/poss. beech) but
have heard that:

a. Wood worktops stain very easily and soon look rough
b. They mark if you put a hot pan on them
c. They're hard work to fit (esp. corners due to different expansion
rates along and across the grain)
d. They have terrible water resistance (often causing problems around
sinks)
e. They require lots of regular maintenance (oiling is required at
intervals between 1 week and 6 months depending on whom you believe.)

We've had our rubberwood worktops for a couple of years now and we
don't take very good care of them. They still look good.

To reply to the specific points:-

a. The only things that seem to stain the work top are rusty iron and
'red' things such as wine and blackcurrant juice. The 'red'
stains usually gradually disappear/disperse if you keep at them,
of course if you remove them when they happen there's no problem.
The rust marks can supposedly be removed with oxalic acid, we've
had a few and while oxalic acid does work to an extent I had to
actually sand a couple of them off and then reseal the surface
with Danish Oil. Big advantage of wood, you can remove a lot of
material and it makes no difference to the looks.

b. True of plastic as well, not an issue we've suffered from, we have
heatproof stands but they're not always used. Most pans are only
at boiling water termperature anyway.

c I fitted ours without any problems, easier than laminate in many
ways because there's less issue with chipping. Again the fact
that the material is solid (wood all through) is an advantage if
you damage it, there's still more wood underneath.

d We've had no problems so far after 2.5 years, we're pretty
careless about water on the work surface, no marks or swelling
yet. The one place we do protect a bit is where the kettle is for
coffee making and tea making, the kettle stands on on of those
glass 'chopping boards'.

e Ours has been oiled at less than six month intervals (i.e. less
frequently) and still looks very good.


I.e. we're very happy with our wood worktops.

I can post some pictures if you like which will show up our general
untidiness!

--
Chris Green

wrote in message ...
Nottingham Jon wrote:
Having had a reasonable trawl through the archives I can't find any
real concensus on kitchen worktops. I have been thinking about getting
solid wood worktops (prob. from Ikea, and prob. oak/poss. beech) but
have heard that:

a. Wood worktops stain very easily and soon look rough
b. They mark if you put a hot pan on them
c. They're hard work to fit (esp. corners due to different expansion
rates along and across the grain)
d. They have terrible water resistance (often causing problems around
sinks)
e. They require lots of regular maintenance (oiling is required at
intervals between 1 week and 6 months depending on whom you believe.)

We've had our rubberwood worktops for a couple of years now and we
don't take very good care of them. They still look good.

In my case - maple (blocks) to match the maple cabinets and cupboards-
but otherwise agree.

To reply to the specific points:-

a. The only things that seem to stain the work top are rusty iron and
'red' things such as wine and blackcurrant juice. The 'red'
stains usually gradually disappear/disperse if you keep at them,
of course if you remove them when they happen there's no problem.
The rust marks can supposedly be removed with oxalic acid, we've
had a few and while oxalic acid does work to an extent I had to
actually sand a couple of them off and then reseal the surface
with Danish Oil. Big advantage of wood, you can remove a lot of
material and it makes no difference to the looks.

although very dubious about the durability of wood. my experience has been
that it's easier to care for than melimine-faminate laminate worktops
in the previous installation. Most spills are wiped off but occaisionally
I've resorted to stainless-steel scourer pads and washing-up liquid.


b. True of plastic as well, not an issue we've suffered from, we have
heatproof stands but they're not always used. Most pans are only
at boiling water termperature anyway.

Concur ;- stands either side of hob, in case a hot pan is put down;
big one near the oven - placing hot-oil filled roasting dishes; and under
the electric kettle.


c I fitted ours without any problems, easier than laminate in many
ways because there's less issue with chipping. Again the fact
that the material is solid (wood all through) is an advantage if
you damage it, there's still more wood underneath.

The edges on mine are square (preference to match the shaker-style
cabinets) so I didn't need to mason-mitre the panels. The panels are
butted and glued with the -)----(- shaped joienrs (off screwfix).


d We've had no problems so far after 2.5 years, we're pretty
careless about water on the work surface, no marks or swelling
yet. The one place we do protect a bit is where the kettle is for
coffee making and tea making, the kettle stands on on of those
glass 'chopping boards'.

Concur - one reason for choosing maple - the wood is tight grained
and sensiblet imprevious to water penetration from 'spills'.

e Ours has been oiled at less than six month intervals (i.e. less
frequently) and still looks very good.


Concur

I.e. we're very happy with our wood worktops.

Concur.

I can post some pictures if you like which will show up our general
untidiness!

--
Chris Green


--

Brian

Nottingham Jon wrote:

Having had a reasonable trawl through the archives I can't find any
real concensus on kitchen worktops. I have been thinking about getting
solid wood worktops (prob. from Ikea, and prob. oak/poss. beech) but
have heard that:

a. Wood worktops stain very easily and soon look rough
b. They mark if you put a hot pan on them
c. They're hard work to fit (esp. corners due to different expansion
rates along and across the grain)
d. They have terrible water resistance (often causing problems around
sinks)
e. They require lots of regular maintenance (oiling is required at
intervals between 1 week and 6 months depending on whom you believe.)

My wife had a kitchen installed 2 years ago with wooden worktops,
against my advice (I wanted granite),
and the kitchen looks great.
Visitors always express admiration.
My wife says the wood is "red alder".

The kitchen was put together by a professional carpenter;
I certainly would not try to do it myself.
For one thing, the wood is incredibly heavy,
as I know from the small pieces left over.

We certainly don't oil it more than once every 6 months,
though we did give it several coats of Danish oil at the start.

So I would thoroughly recommend wooden worktops,
though not from a d-i-y perspective.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail (80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Thanks for all the replies. Considering these, I kept a close eye on
an existing worktop over the best part of a week. Even exercising
moderate care, it was subjected to standing puddles of water and hot
roasting tins, amongst other potential problem points. We've decided
to go for el plastico - won't look as nice, but I think it's going to
be more practical in our case.

Thanks,
Jon.

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about, we have just moved house and installed 3 solid Iroko wood worktops, in our last house we had solid beech worktops which provided service for 11 years, ok they were ring marked with wet cups once or twice during the 11 years but this was simple and easy to fix, just a quick sand and then re-oiled. I gave the worktops a sand and oil session just before we put the house on the market (this took in all about 35 minutes) and the worktops looked like brand new, what other type of worktop could you say that about?

For anyone interested in hardwood worktops I can personally recommend this supplier:
http://www.hardwoodfloorstore.co.uk/index.html

they have a section all about oiling:

[url]http://www.hardwoodfloorstore.co.uk/worktops/worktop_care.htm[url]

and a really good fitting guide:

[url]http://www.hardwoodfloorstore.co.uk/worktops/worktop_installation_1.htm[url]