What Work-tops Should You Choose?

Your choice of work-tops is fundamental not only to the look of your kitchen, but also, its durability. Choice of work-top is pretty much down to the look you wish to achieve, the use the kitchen is likely to get (the amount of food preparation / work-top use and subsequent cleaning) as well as your budget.

However, your choice of work-top is something that needs to be considered early on in your kitchen project plan since it has a bearing on the colour / finish of the kitchen cabinetry as well as the rooms wall colours and even accessories such as blinds.

These days, there is a multitude of choice. In our opinion, stone is easily the most hardwearing. Within the stone kitchen work-top category, you have natural stone such as granites as well as engineered stone work-top products.

Granites have a natural random pattern that only nature can achieve and these patterns range from subtle patinas through to visually impactful - heavily veined patterns. Depending on the rarity, prices - rather like the finishes themselves, can vary tremendously. With some granite work-top finishes you can even see rare fossils within! Popular and reasonably priced granite work-tops include ‘Steel-Grey,’ African Black and for a little bit of a sparkle ‘Star Galaxy,’ whilst Ivory Fantasy, Kashimire Gold and Bianco Sardo offer a lighter colour tone.

Engineered stone kitchen work-tops, to include quartz, still makes use of natural stone, however, the stone has been processed. Basically, the stone has been crushed and bound together with a resin. This gives a stone kitchen work-top a more even patina and sometimes vivid colours are added to create ‘zingy’ - eye catching finishes. Engineered stone work-tops offer a more modern to contemporary feel and can be more expensive than granite - depending on brand and finish.

Also available is a range of what’s known as ‘solid surface’ kitchen work-tops. One of the most popular and flexible (in terms of finishes and product possibilities) is ‘Corian.’ These surfaces are made of an acrylic polymer and are bonded onto a substrate. The advantages over stone is that you can achieve truly seamless joins and can integrate basins and upstands in the same or a contrasting finish. They also enable you to achieve an even, consistent colour and finish. These sorts of worktops can be expensive, but again, vary in price depending on brand.

Laminate kitchen worktops have been seen as the poor relation, compared to stone or solid surface work-tops, but Laminates have greatly improved in quality and variety and shouldn’t automatically be ruled out; times have changed and so have laminates! Todays laminate kitchen work-tops are not only extremely resistant to scratches, cracks and stains, but also, a broad selections of finishes, patinas and colours means that you can achieve a fantastic look to suit your tastes BUT without blowing a huge whole in your budget.

Whatever style and look you are seeking to achieve, Fisher & Noble offers the design and product flexibility to achieve it - all within a given budget.