Hi, at Ocean home designs we are a kitchen studio who sell kitchen worktops. We Sell Corian, Silestone, granite and Quartz and we would recommend getting a corian worktop. It is probably the obvious choice for your kitchen worktop solution due to its hygiene, resistant to staining and all round durability. It can be seamlessly curved and moulded into almost any shape which gives you endless design possibilities and it is non-porous and resistant to most chemicals and physical hazards. It will not delaminate nor will it rot, is very difficult to stain, has excellent impact resistance and is very easy to keep clean and maintain. And with over 100 colours available you can have it exactly the way you want it. If you would like to see our selections or get some more advice on which one to choose please call 0208 543 5100 and see if we can help you pick the perfect worktop!

I have recently done a kitchen top in waxed concrete (more suitable than polish plaster), the client wanted it in turquoise, not cheap (same as granite) but just amazing!

My next kitchen (soon) will be reclaimed stone waxed or grey granite (doesnt show marks as much) or waxed concrete (if i can convinve other half, which i will!)

When choosing a worktop, make sure 1. you really understand how you cook and how you ll be using your kitchen (i ve done great kitchen where nobody cooks, it is just for show) and 2. look online (cheaper), go to stone factories and choose your slab (so you have the veines you want), go reclaim (so nice to re-use as then you have an history with the stone).

More importantly HAVE FUN that is what I say my clients all of the time and don't be afraid to mix materials and colours. Sx

JThomas, I am sure you will enjoy the corian smooth feel. The reason I really hate it sometimes is white corian sink as that it where it stains most.
Otherwice paste of 2 above mentioned ingridients covered by cling film and left for 30 min will get rid of any stains without scrubbing.

Just wanted to say a belated thank you to everyone. We went for corian in the end. My research tells me nothing is totally bullet proof. And the corian sample stained much less than the composite sample. Plus I like the fact that it can be repaired/sanded. But I accept it will scratch. And best dig out the bicarbonate on the basis of the penultimate post! Although the sink is stainless steel which should help....

We have just installed Silestone's recycled glass (in their eco range). It looks like granite but not as pretty and has that problem with a polished surface when you want to wipe it all the time. We went for recycled glass because it is eco-friendly, like Richlite, and hard wearing but I prefer the look of granite. Honed/leathered granite looks and feels great... was very impressed when I saw it in a showroom.

We have white corian worktop with white corian sink incorporate. Hate it with all my hear, the sink it it. You can see every little crumb and there seems to be constantly in teh sink. Also if you peel beetroot, cook with tumeric, forget about offee stans they tend to stick. Every other week I have to use "grandmother" recipe of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide to get rid of them.
It does scratch easily as well.
Never left hot pans, but don't think you can for more than a couple of seconds.

Hi – we find composite is our clients’ most popular choice (and we have it ourselves in our kitchen). It’s a stone/resin compound and comes in 3m lengths. Granite is a natural material and the hardest wearing; Corian is essentially a plastic, made by Dupont, and can be used to seamlessly incorporate a sink. You can put hot pans onto granite and supposedly onto composite but we advise people to err on the side of caution and always use a trivet or mat.

Granite and corian are jointly second most popular choices, and relatively few people choose laminates or wood although it’s worth pointing out that, looked after properly, they can be incredibly hard-wearing (although wood does tend to wear near the sink) and are less expensive.

Handy link: http://www.silestone.co.uk/quartz/what-is-silestone.asp

Friends of ours recently installed Richlite which is pretty groovy – it’s a pulp that’s turned into paper and transformed into a dense composite that’s very eco, can be tooled like wood and is used for a variety of things including worktops and sinks.

http://www.richlite.com/about/

Whatever you choose, do get a beveled edge to reduce the chance of chipping.

Hope this is helpful!

Elizabeth
West London Kitchens
www.westlondonkitchens.com
07970 450 138

Haven't actually got this myself, but I'm considering stainless steel for my next kitchen revamp. I figure that as it's used in professional kitchens it must be really sturdy. My main concern is fingerprints so I guess that would mean looking for a brushed, rather than polished, steel.

I was considering glass worktops as I know you can get them in a massive variety of colours and I've seen some beautiful examples. However, I've heard they scratch very easily so maybe not such a great option in practice....

We have white corian and like it very much. It doesn't show stains and you can put pans down with no marks. Basically it's very easy. We inherited it five years ago when we bought our house and it hasn't chipped or marked at all. I would highly recommend as I know friends with dark granite that find it beautiful, but very high maintenance...

I hope that helps a bit!

We have silestone, a type do quartz. We have had it for almost 4 years and are really pleased with it. It hasn't chipped, and has no stains. we don't tend to put hot pans on it, however we had the sink cutout made into a permanent chopping board on the side and we put the hot pans on that and it seems to be ok so far. It is anti bacterial too.

We have a grey colour which we love, and it doesn't stain (like black granite) we just wash with it soapy water.

For us, it was the cost which put us of, but were very particular with our work surface, I don't like laminate, and wood is a nightmare for maintenance although it is softer and cheaper than stone. We researched and really wanted stone. I found silestone online.

We found a great, much cheaper company online (cheaper than the kitchen company- who were unable to price match) who were able to supply and fit our work surface quickly and efficiently.

We are so pleased with the decision we made. We love cooking and a good work surface for us was worth investing in.

I hope this helps.

Good luck

I have granite and really don't like it. Every little water mark shows so to keep it looking clean and shiny you have to buff it up with a special spray aftwr every time you wipe it down.

have granite, and like it very much.

If so, what is it made of.

Lots of people are saying quartz composite (bit like granite), but I don't like how hard an unforgiving it is. And apparently you aren't meant to put hot pans on it anyway!

We were thinking about Corian, but it seems to scratch/stain easily. Plus we only have a straight run broken by the cooker so you don't get the funky seamless look.

We have wood at the moment and its a nightmare.

Everyone seems very down on laminate....

Thanks all!