Tiled work tops in kitchens? Yes or no?
Discussion
Hi Guys,
Flicking channels last night and I stumbled upon the programme "4 Houses USA". One bloke who was the arty type had a novel (to me) idea for a work top in a kitchen. He'd tiled all over the work top.
What are your thoughts on this? I kind of liked it if for the only reason I imagine it would be easy to clean and it looks different. From a buyers point of view what would you lot think if you went to view a house and it had this feature.
After googling quite a few pics have come up of some more subtle ideas.
and
Flicking channels last night and I stumbled upon the programme "4 Houses USA". One bloke who was the arty type had a novel (to me) idea for a work top in a kitchen. He'd tiled all over the work top.
What are your thoughts on this? I kind of liked it if for the only reason I imagine it would be easy to clean and it looks different. From a buyers point of view what would you lot think if you went to view a house and it had this feature.
After googling quite a few pics have come up of some more subtle ideas.
and
Absolutely not.
They're quite common here in Thailand. The house we're in had one when we moved in, and as per the above poster, the grout was disgusting, with a few years worth of spilled grease and other stuff. I put a big lump of granite over the whole thing and it is much better.
Also, while it might look good all shiny and new, once the tiles get chipped and cracked it looks crap too.
They're quite common here in Thailand. The house we're in had one when we moved in, and as per the above poster, the grout was disgusting, with a few years worth of spilled grease and other stuff. I put a big lump of granite over the whole thing and it is much better.
Also, while it might look good all shiny and new, once the tiles get chipped and cracked it looks crap too.
No. I've used kitchens with tiled worksurfaces and you need to put something on them before doing anything; a large chopping board becomes your worksurface.
The grout picks up grot like you wouldn't believe. Dirt sticks in the corners. They are tedious to wipe down. Tiles chip. And they are rarely entirely flat, so boards which are placed on the surface will rock slightly.
Bad idea. Don't.
Oli.
The grout picks up grot like you wouldn't believe. Dirt sticks in the corners. They are tedious to wipe down. Tiles chip. And they are rarely entirely flat, so boards which are placed on the surface will rock slightly.
Bad idea. Don't.
Oli.
AJS- said:
Yeah but you'd have to go over it with a toothbrush every time you did anything. Big, smooth, hard wearing surface you can wipe clean is the way to go, IMO.
I'd like to do granite but its not the dream house and I don't want to go crazy spending more than I'm likely to recoup come sale time. The other option I thought of was a stainless steel work top but thought that would look too industrial. I'm not sure if it's available in the UK the same but I just got two 1.5m x 60cm slabs, not as thick as you'd want for a proper worktop but no problem in the last year that I've been using them. The shop cut them to shape for about £65, and seeing as they were going straight on the old tiled work top, a mate with a pick up helped me collect them, carry them in and plonk them on the old work top.
I'm sure it's a bit more expensive there but I'd be surprised if you needed to spend dream house money.
I'm sure it's a bit more expensive there but I'd be surprised if you needed to spend dream house money.
AJS- said:
Miguel,
So on your poll results so far, it looks pretty conclusive from a man logic point of view - go with the tiling.
So on your poll results so far, it looks pretty conclusive from a man logic point of view - go with the tiling.
haha based on RealSquirrels liking them in his lab I'm going to go ahead with the idea. I'll have a ring round some companies and try and get some quotes for some granite. I've mentally written it off as being expensive for the house. Its ultimately a galley type kitchen. Work surface down each side back door at the opposite end so apart from moving a few cupboards about its going to look how it looks now just a bit nicer. I don't have a problem as such spending money but I can see come selling time when I add up granite work tops, big name kitchen units etc I'll more than likely be at a loss. Possible slight exaggeration but I'm sure most of you know what I mean.
The house we bought came with a brickwork style tiled kitchen worktop.
It is, without a shadow of a doubt, a complete pain in the arse.
Every bit of grime, dirt, food debris etc gets trapped in the grout. The tiles appear to have been mounted badly onto a ply surface so all the water around the sink runs down the grout lines through to the ply and distorts it. Over time, the ply has distorted and raised the tiles away from the adhesive, so we have entire sections of grout lifting away and crumbling.
Any standing water runs into the grout lines and needs to be be soaked up asap to prevent the issue getting worse.
It's getting replaced with a granite work surface / something non tiled when I finally gather together enough pennies to redo the kitchen in a few years time.
It is, without a shadow of a doubt, a complete pain in the arse.
Every bit of grime, dirt, food debris etc gets trapped in the grout. The tiles appear to have been mounted badly onto a ply surface so all the water around the sink runs down the grout lines through to the ply and distorts it. Over time, the ply has distorted and raised the tiles away from the adhesive, so we have entire sections of grout lifting away and crumbling.
Any standing water runs into the grout lines and needs to be be soaked up asap to prevent the issue getting worse.
It's getting replaced with a granite work surface / something non tiled when I finally gather together enough pennies to redo the kitchen in a few years time.
We put tile in our kitchen in the US when we renovated the house. Our logic was, "we have no money, tile is cheap". It came out looking ok, and wasn't too horrible to use on a day to day basis, but for all the reasons already mentioned, I won't be doing it again.
I sold that house in November (finally!), and the tile still looks good, 10 years after we put it in. The grout hasn't broken down or stained like we thought it might. Dark grout helps a lot there.
I sold that house in November (finally!), and the tile still looks good, 10 years after we put it in. The grout hasn't broken down or stained like we thought it might. Dark grout helps a lot there.
People who are complaining about the grout obviously have never heard of epoxy grout. Not as easy to apply, but will produce a maintenance free surface suitable for use in a laboratory (if you use plain white glazed tiles).
Main problem is not the grout (see above) but interfacing with such nuisance items as edges and sinks.
Main problem is not the grout (see above) but interfacing with such nuisance items as edges and sinks.
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