Making Kitchen Worktops Work for You
If you’re planning a kitchen makeover you’ve probably started by choosing your cabinet door style, you may have also considered flooring and even wall colour, but what about your worktops?
Your new kitchen worktop will need to be both functional and look good against the rest of your kitchen design. The best worktop for your kitchen is a big decision and one you should consider carefully.
You will be using your kitchen worktops multiple times a day for preparing food, dishing up, making drinks, and cleaning. You may even eat meals on your worktops, do paperwork or crafts with the children. It has to be a surface that works well for a number of different activities as well and a style you like as you will look at your worktops for many years to come.
What’s your style?
If you have chosen other areas of your new kitchen design, such as cabinets, you may already know the style you are going for. This will help you rule out certain types of materials or colours for worktops. For instance, a traditional farmhouse style kitchen would not suit a red quartz worktop, although this would sit nicely in a modern kitchen.
Laminate Worktops
Perhaps the most flexible of all worktop materials, laminate can mimic any type of worktop, enabling you to get the look of wood or quartz at a more economical cost.
Laminate has come a long way in the last 20 years, with printing techniques enabling high definition designs that can accurately mimic the look of materials like granite. Because of this, laminate materials are completely versatile and can be made to suit all styles of kitchen.
Walnut Wood
Oatgrain
Ashphalt
Lunar-Quartzstone
Calacatta Statuario
If you’re looking for a material that is ready for use without any maintenance apart from your usual kitchen detergent clean, laminate worktops are a great option although you should be careful not to put hot pans directly on the surface.
Find out more about laminate worktops
Wooden Worktops
The perfect material to bring natural warmth, comfort and softness to your kitchen style.
Wooden worktops really work well with all styles of kitchens, pair a dark wood such as Wenge Standard with deep colours, stainless steel or marble for a sophisticated modern look. Mid-tone woods such as Walnut Regular work well with exposed brick, copper and brass to give a more rustic style to your kitchen. Paler woods like Oak Prime look beautiful against vintage pastel colours and other natural materials like stone and will create a wonderful, warm country kitchen feeling.
Maple Standard
Oak Prime
Walnut Regular
Walnut Black
Wenge Standard
Not only do wooden worktops look good but they are also durable and versatile. Be prepared to invest some time into real wooden worktops, as they do require some upkeep to stay in their best possible condition. It's a really good idea to oil them every month.
Find out more about wooden worktops
Quartz Overlay Worktops
A practical and aesthetic worktop that brings together style and affordability.
Fitting best with a contemporary style kitchen, flex of quartz crystals mixed with binders create a truly beautiful material that shimmers softly under the light. Colours can be produced in vivid shades, so if you’re after a worktop that really pops and create a big first impression, quartz overlay could be a perfect choice. If you have your heart set on quartz kitchen worktops and a traditional style, pick a natural tone such as Sasso Riso or Sabbia Riso to fit with the look.
Sasso Riso
Sabbia Riso
Cielo Argento
Grigio Argento
Rosso Argento
An efficient and inexpensive worktop option, the quartz is fitted over your existing worktop, measured and cut perfectly to size for a seamless finish. An extremely versatile material, quartz can outperform other stone surfaces; not only is it tough and durable, it withstands heat and spillages.
Find out more about quartz overlay worktops
Seamless Worktops
For a polished, super silky look to your kitchen, seamless worktops have invisible joins, so that your splashbacks, draining board and corners look like one smooth, solid surface.
All styles of kitchens suit the seamless look due to the various styles and compositions available. Choose from a clean, clinical surface such as Plain White or Seal for a minimalist kitchen. Replicate stone surfaces for a more classic style with Fieldstone or Europa. For those kitchens that want a pop of colour to create a fun modern look, Jadeite Green may be a good choice.
Jadeite
Plain White
Seal
Europa
Fieldstone
The material is waterproof and very hygienic, easy to wipe down and keep clean, without any cracks or joins for dirt and crumbs to get stuck in. Durable and strong, take extra care to prevent scratches by using a chopping board, although these can be buffed out in most cases. The nature of the material means hot pans should be placed on pot stands.
Find out more about seamless worktops
Making a decision
If you’re still unsure about which worktop would work best in your kitchen, find your local showroom and talk to one of our kitchen experts, who will be able to help you with design advice and budget constraints. Your dream kitchen can become a reality with Dream Doors.
