Which Kitchen Worktop? Pros and cons?

[Frixturbo]

Slaav said:

Thanks again all.

To aid my search and decision process, I have been giving this all plenty of thought; FFS, I dreamt last night and a scene was in a kitchen!!!

1) I am not a maintenance frisk
2) regular oiling or TLC is unlikely
3) I like to be able to take pots and pans off heat/gas and place directly on work tops for plating up.
4) our house is some way from a show house so imperfections are fine
5) hate to admit it but I want people to like it - I touch and feel work tops....
6) would consider splash backs in same (but thinner obviously) material up to cupboards
7) cost is (within reason) not a major issue as it's a small kitchen so won't be 22m of Worktop
8) although now being completely tanked now, have had historical issues with slight damp at one end of kitchen but this should now be sorted.
9) one wall of kitchen will be bare Cotswold stone - look/texture etc

It is our home but we are not here 7/7 and no kids so won't need to be ultra heavy duty.

Now, what to do ?

Ok , your best bet is granite... I know because I sell it and have done for 15 odd years... Maintenance free, you can put pots straight from the oven on it or even from the hob, you can use the same material on your splash back, worktop usually 30mm thick and splash back 20mm thick... Feels lovely to touch, you can cut and chop on it without any problems.... Granite is the second hardest rock known to man, first being a diamond, second being granite.... You will never have any issues with granite, you can abuse your worktop and will still look like new 10 years down the line....

[irocfan]

Frixturbo said:

Ok , your best bet is granite... I know because I sell it and have done for 15 odd years... Maintenance free, you can put pots straight from the oven on it or even from the hob, you can use the same material on your splash back, worktop usually 30mm thick and splash back 20mm thick... Feels lovely to touch, you can cut and chop on it without any problems.... Granite is the second hardest rock known to man, first being a diamond, second being granite.... You will never have any issues with granite, you can abuse your worktop and will still look like new 10 years down the line....

errm being pedantic here but isn't diamond a crystal rather than rock?

[covmutley]

irocfan said:

dude kitchens these days cost a fkin' fortune ours isn't even a big kitchen and we were looking at quotes of £20k

But that must be for a bespoke crafted kitchen with all sorts of 'fancy bits'?

We had our quartz worktops installed last week. They look great. The Mrs and I are not ones for cleaning the house constantly, but we have come over a little OCD about them. The biggest worry at the moment is they seem susceptible to small scratches.

[The Moose]

irocfan said:

The Moose said:

Wacky Racer said:

We had a lovely new large kitchen fitted, (£20,000 plus) with all new appliances seven years ago with a fairly dark patterned laminate and it is like the day it was fitted and was ONE EIGHTH the cost of Granite.

Not one knife mark anywhere...obviously you have to use your common sense, use a wooden chopping board, not put Scalding hot pan bottoms on it, but that applies to any worktop really.

I think granite just seems to be the "in" thing, like vinyl roofs were on cars in the seventies.

Why follow the sheep?

Obviously it's your decision, but it's only a worktop after all, money does not grow on trees.....

I hope it was a large kitchen!!

I like the fact that money doesn't grow on trees, but you dropped over £20k on your kitchen

dude kitchens these days cost a fkin' fortune ours isn't even a big kitchen and we were looking at quotes of £20k

I know what kitchens cost Buy them on a reasonably regular basis (well, more regularly than the majority of people!).

Have you got plans and details of appliances etc drawn up? If so, pop them over on an e-mail to me (PM me first on here).

Oh, and I don't just keep changing the kitchen in my own home by the way

[Alucidnation]

Kitchen suppliers, i think have one of the biggest profit margins.

A 20K kitchen (excluding appliances) at a guess, would probably cost around 10K to the supplier. However, different manufacturers will dictate different margins.

I used to be involved in an independent supplier and he would regularly buy an 8x10 isn laminated sheet for about £50.

He would then make wine racks and various "custom built" units and sell them for around £300 each.

Nice!

[OldSkoolRS]

I don't know if I still have the breakdown of costs anywhere, but when I did our kitchen 4 years ago the cabinets (pre assembled) were only about 20% of the total cost. I did the install all myself, bar the (granite) worktop and connecting the gas/electrics. Although it included taking a wall down and therefore tiling what was the old dining room (plus buying a new dining table and chairs) I still spent over £20k on just materials, for a 6 x 4 metre kitchen/dinning room. I'm not surprised that firms are quoting £20k these days, especially if they are doing the floor tiling, etc as well that I did.

We had quotes for £15k just to supply and fit the cabinets and appliances and that was if they had a bare room to start from (ie I'd take the wall down, remove the old cabinets, etc and make good beforehand) and didn't include any decoration or tiling the floors.

I'm pretty sure the granite was about £2,200 which included a 'peninsular' (not enough space for a true island). As far as I'm aware you can't get laminate that would cover this area (approx 1200 x 2400mm) unless you had a join up the middle, so that was never an option. I can't recall seeing a laminate island/peninsular pictured, so maybe that limitation is the reason.

The wooden topped island pictured somewhere above looks gorgeous, a proper crafted piece of furniture. Even though it's not my style (I prefer a more modern look) I still appreciate the quality of it.

Like everything you could do it cheaper, just depends on what your priorities are (and budget of course). I've seen some really neat kitchens on 'Homes under the hammer' that have only cost the same as my worktops, so long as they suit your requirements then that's great. ALl work tops have issues (and FWIW I HAVE managed to scratch my granite, or rather SOMEONE has, though I could get it polished out I've stopped noticing it now).

Edited by OldSkoolRS on Friday 29th August 18:20

[Renovation]

Alucidnation said:

Kitchen suppliers, i think have one of the biggest profit margins.

A 20K kitchen (excluding appliances) at a guess, would probably cost around 10K to the supplier. However, different manufacturers will dictate different margins.

I think you'll find many business expect to mark up at least 100% I know jewellery retail has circa 300% margins

I suspect a £20k kitchen probably cost less than £5k assuming decent appliances - without appliances I suspect it's sub £2k - look at what's in them.

[RevHappy]

Renovation said:

I think you'll find many business expect to mark up at least 100% I know jewellery retail has circa 300% margins

I suspect a £20k kitchen probably cost less than £5k assuming decent appliances - without appliances I suspect it's sub £2k - look at what's in them.

Not a chance further up the market.

[Renovation]

RevHappy said:

Renovation said:

I think you'll find many business expect to mark up at least 100% I know jewellery retail has circa 300% margins

I suspect a £20k kitchen probably cost less than £5k assuming decent appliances - without appliances I suspect it's sub £2k - look at what's in them.

Not a chance further up the market.

£20k isn't very far up the market.

I recently fitted a Howdens one that cost that.

With a 6'x2' flat piece of chipboard charged at £250 and a plastic bin at £300 it doesn't take long to add up to £20k

[Griff Boy]

Renovation said:

Alucidnation said:

Kitchen suppliers, i think have one of the biggest profit margins.

A 20K kitchen (excluding appliances) at a guess, would probably cost around 10K to the supplier. However, different manufacturers will dictate different margins.

I think you'll find many business expect to mark up at least 100% I know jewellery retail has circa 300% margins

I suspect a £20k kitchen probably cost less than £5k assuming decent appliances - without appliances I suspect it's sub £2k - look at what's in them.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha, I wish what you've typed is true, I really do. Way off the mark, and I mean waaaaay off the mark.

So you think a kitchen which retails for £20k is made up of £3k appliances and £2k for the rest of it? I'm sorry, but that's so far off the truth it's funny.

kitchen retailers would / could never work on a 400% markup, not if they expected to sell anything or get any repeat business. You'd never be competitive and you'd be eaten alive at every pricing chance by other studios. Kitchen core material costs have been rising every year and retail prices haven't moved much at all, it's all nipping away any margin the retailer has left.

[Otispunkmeyer]

you can have the ghastly bright red sparkly polished granite worktop out of the kitchen in the house I have just bought. WTF was the previous owner thinking!

[Neil - YVM]

Griff Boy said:

Ha ha ha ha ha ha, I wish what you've typed is true, I really do. Way off the mark, and I mean waaaaay off the mark.

So you think a kitchen which retails for £20k is made up of £3k appliances and £2k for the rest of it? I'm sorry, but that's so far off the truth it's funny.

kitchen retailers would / could never work on a 400% markup, not if they expected to sell anything or get any repeat business. You'd never be competitive and you'd be eaten alive at every pricing chance by other studios. Kitchen core material costs have been rising every year and retail prices haven't moved much at all, it's all nipping away any margin the retailer has left.

Made me chuckle to.

With Local and internet competition, customers are very aware of likely costs and you have to be competitive.

Regarding cost, our experience is the same, material costs constantly increase, whilst sale price has barely moved for some years.

[Neil - YVM]

Griff Boy said:

Ha ha ha ha ha ha, I wish what you've typed is true, I really do. Way off the mark, and I mean waaaaay off the mark.

So you think a kitchen which retails for £20k is made up of £3k appliances and £2k for the rest of it? I'm sorry, but that's so far off the truth it's funny.

kitchen retailers would / could never work on a 400% markup, not if they expected to sell anything or get any repeat business. You'd never be competitive and you'd be eaten alive at every pricing chance by other studios. Kitchen core material costs have been rising every year and retail prices haven't moved much at all, it's all nipping away any margin the retailer has left.

Made me chuckle to.

With Local and internet competition, customers are very aware of likely costs and you have to be competitive.

Regarding cost, our experience is the same, material costs constantly increase, whilst sale price has barely moved for some years.

[Slaav]

Otispunkmeyer said:

you can have the ghastly bright red sparkly polished granite worktop out of the kitchen in the house I have just bought. WTF was the previous owner thinking!

Thanks for the kind offer but not sure it will fit in with our twee Cotswolds house.....

However, PICTURE REQUIRED,!!!! Just for comedy value pls

[Wozy68]

covmutley said:

irocfan said:

dude kitchens these days cost a fkin' fortune ours isn't even a big kitchen and we were looking at quotes of £20k

But that must be for a bespoke crafted kitchen with all sorts of 'fancy bits'?

We had our quartz worktops installed last week. They look great. The Mrs and I are not ones for cleaning the house constantly, but we have come over a little OCD about them. The biggest worry at the moment is they seem susceptible to small scratches.

I build and install, not just supply and install, but I missed out (found out too late) on a kitchen supplied by B&Q/wickes or simlar and the cabinet cost with install was 42k ........ That's 42k without appliances or work tops.
You might be surprised just how little difference bespoke furniture can cost compared to the mass produced stuff if installation is included

[uncinqsix]

I'm considering a zinc worktop for when I eventually get around to redoing the kitchen. I like the slightly industrial look and the patina that forms over time.

[Wozy68]

uncinqsix said:

I'm considering a zinc worktop for when I eventually get around to redoing the kitchen. I like the slightly industrial look and the patina that forms over time.

Zinc? Now that sounds interesting

[Slaav]

Wozy68 said:

Zinc? Now that sounds interesting

Wozy, where are you based? I love the pictures above..... Shame we bought the wrong house (with hindsight) and are not in a position to move yet to get the kitchen space we want!

Would love to see some other designs etc?

We are going down the 'classic' (aka boring) shaker style in most likely cream or a light green hue with one wall (iwith in built double oven) in original Cotswold stone, lighter stone tile floor and cannot make up our mind on colour for Worktop, let alone final material! Limited natural light into the galley kitchen so expect to need lots of lighting.... Now questioning our original thoughts and thinking a highly reflective darker Worktop will reflect light and contrast with the rest of the 'beige' effect?

Help!!!

[Jumpy Guy]

With regard to zinc, be a bit careful

Our sheet metalworker told me it isn't food safe. It leaches chemicals etc , long after installation.

It's used in bars etc, but not as a preparation surface

[Neil - YVM]

Jumpy Guy said:

With regard to zinc, be a bit careful

Our sheet metalworker told me it isn't food safe. It leaches chemicals etc , long after installation.

It's used in bars etc, but not as a preparation surface

I'm not sure that's so. Zinc has anti bacterial properties similar to copper.

It reacts with various things to slowly change colour over time.

It is comparatively soft compared to stainless, so can mark / scratch, chopping boards should be used.