Another vote for Dekton and Sileston Quartz worktops, use them all the time in our projects as so much more forgiving and low maintenance than granite or marble. Agree that Corian is a good option if you have a large island to prevent visible joins, whilst it has other benefits you do need to be very careful when it comes to heat. Vast range of colours and textures in all types nowadays so the type of material shouldn't limit the effect you want to achieve - be that traditional or contemporary. I am always a big advocate that a worktop is an investment, there is no point spending a large sum on a beautiful quality kitchen and then finishing it off with a worktop that won't stand up to time as well as the rest of the room or cheapen the look - I always recommend to go for the best you can afford.

As others have suggested, one option is to go with a marble effect laminate for now and then replace with the real deal in future. You won't lose out any significant amount, and there are some stunningly good marble effect laminates out there at the moment - as mentioned, the German kitchen suppliers often have good ones and Omega Kitchens (English Rose, Charles Rennie MacKintosh) have some extremely good thin profile (22mm), square edged surfaces in marble finishes. Another excellent "half way house" is a product called Minerva - more info can be found here. It is a fantastic product akin to Corian, but with the advantage than any competent kitchen fitter can install it himself with normal laminate fitting tools - no expensive templating, offsite machining and professional installing to worry about. They offer moulded in sinks in stainless or white, upstands & splashbacks and the material is repairable. While more expensive than laminates, it comes in well under an equivalent quartz or stone product. They have a really good Carrara finish as well as an incredibly subtle white sparkle finish (think classy delicate shimmer!) and some other grey and brown tones. We're selling a lot more of this than Corian & Silestone now - and for good reason. Feel free to get in touch with me if you want more info or some indicative pricing.

You will need the right amount of space. Firstly you need to have at least 1000mm gap between units and perhaps 100/200 mm more if you need to open a fridge into the space. As a rule they look generally look wrong if they are less deep than 900mm or less long than 1800mm. If they are very long then the worktop material may need a join which can be unattractive (although there are choices you can make that are attractive and different materials come in different lengths but ask the question of your designer if the length is more than 3000mm) They are sociable and practical choices for kitchens but do take up more space than u Shaped kitchen arrangements. If you put a sink or hob in the island you need to consider how you get services to the island (easier with a floor that can come up). It may not be possible to have an extractor because of where the venting might go, although there remain solutions for this but they are all more expensive than having a conventional extraction vented through an outside wall. Do you have measurements or a plan of the space you are thinking about?

Hi Robert, four years on and I’ve still got the wooden worktop! Life got in the way with my husband’s ill health so everything has been put on the back burner for now. However, I did give the worktops a good sand and applied Osmo Top Oil and they do look better. Picture below of one bit of worktop. Sink still needs changing but I’ll get there! I will just say my friend has Corian worktop and upstand and she is very disappointed. It is softer than quartz and has been dented. It also holds onto watermarks and needs wiping down constantly. Marks can be ground out but it needs a professional to do this. I’m not saying don’t have it, but it’s not a cheap option and it’s not that tough. Go to Daisy England’s comments above as she has some great suggestions. She works or worked for a kitchen company and knows her stuff. Good luck! Please ignore the garden picture as the Houzz App keeps adding the odd irrelevant picture and no option to delete anymore!