Solid wood worktops

I have beech block worktops from Howdens. They've been in a year now with no sign of any instability. I did drown them in Danish Oil for a couple of weeks before using them, and they're sealed with gloss varnish underneath. I wouldn't have chosen them myself, but they haven't been the trouble I was expecting them to be, about the only thing you can't do is put a pan down straight off the gas, or a dish straight out of the oven, even then the burn marks sand out easy enough, which you can't do with laminate.

Router not necessary, I used my 235mm circular saw, with a saw board - see other thread :-)

No more so than most other hardwoods.

Actually, they are fine. The block offcut and glue method produces pretty stable result.

Most of the price variation is in the markup, not the actual quality.

I cut mime with a jigsaw then trued up the edges with a router. Actually careful handsaw work is nearly good enough on its own.

I will say one thing though: IF you have areas where SWMBO dumps hot pans, or leaves permanently wet, inset some stone or metal.

These worktops look great, but they are not a patch on melamine for sheer utility.

Cheap 28mm block beech (eg, from Ikea) are glue jointed laterally and finger-jointed longitudinally, thus if you drop it there is little resilience to lateral breakage. With high humidity or rapid changes in humidity each block can "cup" creating a washboard feel when you run your hand over it. Most "proper" worktops are 38-40mm thick which are more stable. Use a breathable vapour barrier on the underside if possible.

Laminate has the advantage of tolerating more thermal abuse, higher strength, no maintenance - but do not put hot pyrex pans on it. Wood has the advantage of maintainable - you can send it.

If the area is solid floor without DPC, quarry tiled, solid walls with questionable DPC, then blockwood can show quite a lot of movement - chipboard laminates meanwhile will progressively "dissolve/be-eaten" unless sealed extensively with epoxy. So there is little to choose - just beware putting the JL/M&S "water-resistant MDF" in such environments as they can react badly (not surprisingly).

Beech can look a little bland if waxed, better if oiled (pink colour is typically enhanced by steaming). Walnut and similar can look more intense, but if too much can overpower the kitchen. Go and see if you can first.

TMC wibbled on Tuesday 17 November 2009 17:54

Personally I would think oak would be prone to warping in contact with water (been my experience anyway) and do not use beech, unless you can either find a good lacquer or you enjoy sanding it and reoiling every 6 months. It's a bugger for blackening with water.

I've heard rumours that walnut might be a good choice for kitchens, but I haven't tried it personally.

No blackening on mine in the year I've had it. Sanding not necessary unless you've abused it, oiling takes 20 minutes (plus time to clear away all the junk whilst you do it).

Thje oak price you have there looks pretty good - comparable to what I paid for a good deal. Our oak worktop has been installed for about 2 years now and has been generally fine. At the outset, we were oiling it with 'worktop oil', which seemed to be an endless task and it never quite settled to an equilibrium. In the end, I got fed up with all that and gave it some light coats of Danish oil, since when it's been fine. The only place where there's been any noticeable movement is at one joint, near the sink, where a short section appears to have cupped by about 1mm. If anyone else had noticed it ('er indoors has said nothing so far), I would expect to sort it out easily with a sander. Probably should have put another biscuit in the joint to keep it flatter! One thing to watch out for is damaging the surface when fitting. Something was dropped on ours and put a little ding in it which I partly rectified by steaming it out.

I cut mine with a circular saw, then wiped a router over the cuts to get them dead flat. All very straightforward, compared with my expectations. Joints were all butted and joined with biscuits (a cheapo router biscuit cutter worked just fine). I bought a worktop jig before I realised I wouldn't need it for the joints, and found it very useful for cutting the bolt slots around the joints.

It's worth looking at transtools online - cheapo jigs, router cutters etc, which are all good enough for a once-off job (by the time I do another kitchen I'll probably have lost or lent them all!)

GMM wibbled on Tuesday 17 November 2009 20:10

Perhaps that's been the problem in my case...

We have rubberwood worktops, hevea is the clever name, they've been excellent. They still are excellent.

The only issue with them (and any other wooden worktop I believe) is that they mark if you put iron/steel utensils on them. It's easy enough to sand the marks out though.

We used Danish Oil to treat them, not as regularly as we should but the worktops seem to manage pretty well with neglect.

The best wood for work tops is Burmese Teak. Discounting that on cost grounds, the next best is Iroko and is the timber of choice for science labs etc.

mark

hmm, I value my lungs too much to ever think about working with Iroko

breathable vapour barrier? whassat then?

JimK

I was put off the idea of oak because there is too much risk of iron staining in a kitchen

I bought cherry worktops from

I dont have a router so paid a builder mate £40 to do one butt joint for me

and other woods - some stories here:

Thanks for all of the replies very helpful

A couple more questions

I can oil the uncut work tops for as long as I want

As I need to remove the old worktops and then measure and cut the new ones I only have a limited amount of time in which to oil the cut ends and the sink cut out. what have others done in this respect?

Second when cutting out for the panel connectors I already have a range of forstner bits and a 1/4" router so would I need to get a 1/2" router and worktop jig to cut the slots/ As the worktops will be butt joints I would not need a jig for the joint itself

Thanks again

Thanks for all of the replies very helpful

A couple more questions

I can oil the uncut work tops for as long as I want

As I need to remove the old worktops and then measure and cut the new ones I only have a limited amount of time in which to oil the cut ends and the sink cut out. what have others done in this respect?

Second when cutting out for the panel connectors I already have a range of forstner bits and a 1/4" router so would I need to get a 1/2" router and worktop jig to cut the slots? As the worktops will be butt joints I would not need a jig for the joint itself

Thanks again

What's "beech" ? European beech is a fine timber that makes good kitchen worktops (albeit a bit dull looking, IMHO). American beech is a different species, fairly rare and nothing like as good in kitchens (some of it's just a marketing name for poplar anyway). If "Norfolk Oak" are merkins, then they're not comparing like with like.

OTOH, American white oak is good stuff and usually visually better than average European oak. Don't use red oak though.

Personally I wouldn't use oak for worktops or sink surrounds in a kitchen (built a couple and they're gorgeous) owing to the risk of iron staining from almost any combination of steel or iron and water. You can seal it, but even then it's too much of a risk.

You cut with the nearest chainsaw to hand, then trim neatly with a

Whilst it's used for old benches, new ones are synthetic (Trespa). Haven't seen anyone installing a new wooden-topped bench in years.

Andy Dingley wibbled on Wednesday 18 November 2009 11:53

How will they punish misdemeanours, if not with an hour at lunch waxing the benches?