Corion worktops

[Burlington Bertie]

My blockwood worktop is looking seedy and due for replacement, but what options have I got?

The last time I did a laminate worktop it was really hard to keep clean, though it might not have been a very high quality laminate.

I checked out Corion which looks good and performs well I'm told, though have been quoted =A33500 for the job. Granite comes out at =A33000.

B&Q do something similar which may be cheaper but they won't sell me a top unless I buy a full kitchen.

I need something that can make into an L shaped corner and not have a big obvious crack down the join.

[Andy Hall]

McDonalds uses Corian.

It still looks like plastic.

You can have an L shaped piece cut in granite with no join as long as the dimensions are reasonably sensible.

[Adrian]

Andy Hall ( [e-mail]) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

And any decent granite fitter should be able to fill a join, if one is needed, to the point where it's Not Very Visible At All.

[Adrian]

Burlington Bertie ( [e-mail]) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

The price difference we were quoted last autumn was *FAR* bigger than that

- the Corian was over twice the price of Granite.

If you're anywhere near Watford,

did a corkin' job of the granite worktop we decided on.

[robgraham]

I have a contact that works in Corion - it would be interesting to get an approximate cost from him - what size are you looking for?

Rob

[Icky Thwacket]

The only problem I've found with granite is that it is porous. Spill vegetable oil on it and its a real pig to remove the stain.

I think a good quality laminate worktop is still the most practical hygienic solution for a well used kitchen, or stainless steel if you like the look.

Icky

[Pete C]

Hi,

One option might be possible to sand down the blockwood worktop with a random orbital sander and refinish it, or do you just want a trendy black worktop?

cheers, Pete.

[Andy Hall]

This can be entirely avoided by treating it, as recommended, with a suitable sealer.

There is such a thing?

[The Natural Philosopher]

Wow. Must be really big then..have you checked your local 'monumental masons'..ours is about half the price quoted in the ditz shops.

Go granite..you may well have to accept a join tho.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Vegetable oil works quite well. ;-)

[Icky Thwacket]

Rotting vegetable oil is hardly hygienic

[Stuart Noble]

If you achieve a total seal it will look like plastic anyway. I was looking at some trendy terracotta floor tiles at the weekend. They had been treated with umpteen coats of sealer but water still soaks in.

[Icky Thwacket]

In a busy family kitchen after paying an absolute shed load of cash for an unsuitable work surface, I have to then treat it to make it useable?

What exactly is your problem with laminate. As a cost effective work surface it ticks all the required boxes.

Perhaps it is not expensive enough?

If it was £3000 per square metre I expect you would then recommend it as the dogs bollocks?

[Andy Hall]

If you use the correct material for the job it seals properly and does not look like plastic.

Then the wrong material was used.

I have a small area of terracotta tiles, treated them as recommended with Lithofin. They don't look shiny and neither does water soak in.

I wouldn't describe the tiles as trendy though. They were bought from a very ordinary tile shop in Normandy, and no I don't mean the one near Guildford

[Andy Hall]

Granite is highly suitable as a kitchen worksurface. It certainly doesn't cost a shed load of cash considering the durability, longevity and maintainability. In the context of that, giving it a very occasional coat of sealer (once every few years at most) is a trivial exercise in terms of effort and cost.

Because it looks nasty.

It stains and dents and is not that attractive. Those are pretty serious shortcomings.

In general, I would say that laminate is way too expensive for what it is.

Not really. Then one gets into Corian territory and plastic worktops all over again. Yuk.

[Dicky]

The last time I did a laminate worktop it was really hard to keep clean, though it might not have been a very high quality laminate.

I checked out Corion which looks good and performs well I'm told, though have been quoted £3500 for the job. Granite comes out at £3000.

B&Q do something similar which may be cheaper but they won't sell me a top unless I buy a full kitchen.

I need something that can make into an L shaped corner and not have a big obvious crack down the join.

have a look at maia worktops.Similar look and feel as corian but normal laminate construction inside so cheaper to buy.joints if done properly will be invisible.priced around £500 per 3m length where i have seen it

[The Natural Philosopher]

Tell that to all the linseed oil fanatics.

Not sure oil 'rots' anyway..

>

[Stuart Noble]

Linseed is (almost) unique in that it's a "drying" oil

[Stuart Noble]

I don't know what you get up to in your kitchen but I've never dented a worktop, nor have I managed to stain one, despite my being quite sloppy in such an alien environment.

"Yuk" really isn't much of an argument. How can you be so objectively sensible about everything else and then go all Cotswold trendy about a bloody worktop?

[Derek Geldard]

A U2 battery which fell out of a wall cupboard did for one of ours.

Also a spoon used to baste a roasting joint raised a blister on the one we had before.

The laminate on worktops nowadays is paper thin, it's not like the original "Formica" used to be.

It is the working surface after all !

DG