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Design Dilemma Kitchens

Most practical white countertop?

5 years ago

I was about to order a Minerva matte white countertop but have just read some awful reviews. I am on a budget (widowed, furloughed, yadda yadda) but want a cool surface for baking as well as glamour! Willing to spend more of precious savings if it is truly worth it. All ideas most gratefully received...

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Comments (5)

PRO
The Kitchen Lady UK
5 years ago
Hi Hilary,

Great that you are into baking and when the weather is this bad it seems like the best activity to do.

I think worktops are difficult for most as what suits and works for one household will not always work for another. Any solid or stone based worktop can be tricky if it is not looked after correctly. With light coloured tops you have stains to worry about and with the black solid tops you have staining as well as accidental lightening to worry about.

Most solid tops come sealed and each individual supplier will have their own specific 'care instructions' on how best to look after them. My best advice from working with granite, quartz and composite worktops are to not use any harsh chemicals or cleaners and I was always advised by the supplier I worked directly with to clean tops using soapy dishwater.

Laminate worktops have their negatives as do all tops.

Solid tops are great as you know from your own research for chocolate work, fondant work and all aspects of baking. If it's what you have your heart set on and you are happy to follow the specified cleaning instructions then please do not let any negative reviews put you off.

For areas where you are likely to make tea/coffee you could look at putting down a small glass board or a smaller off cut of the worktop just to help keep that zone at a minimised risk of staining.

I wish you all the best with your worktop and I hope your baking venture continues and thrives.

Charlie

Covey Kitchens
Hilary Earle
Original Author
5 years ago
Lovely, useful comments, Charlie, thank you so much. If I wasn't so indecisive (or on a budget) this would be a breeze... x
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PRO
The Kitchen Lady UK
5 years ago
You're more than welcome Hilary. I am sure whatever you decide will be the right decision for you. But please don't let negative comments put you off, most solid surfaces are more difficult to stain than people realise. It might be worth reaching out to the supplier and ask if they could send you a sample/borrow a sample if you're nearby to where you are purchasing it from and then carry out a bit of an experiment and see how it wears?

A life without a budget would be a dream!

Charlie
Daisy England
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I have solid surface worktops. Mine are Mirostone Taj Mahal. i work with kitchens.

I have read the reviews that I think you could be referring to and agree with them.

If you Google the colour of my worktops they are similar to a Calacatta Marble. I have had mine installed for around 4 months and I am very careful when placing items on them and also cleaning them.

Yesterday we had to resort to fabricating them again so out came the sander and the dust extraction machine. We firstly attempted the peninsular top. This was done 3 times to achieve the finish I wanted and we ended up doing a wet and dry sand which shouldn’t be necessary. Then we tackled the island, sink area and the other corner. I had a long discussion with my supplier over these worktops and have told them that I consider them to be sub standard because they are China imports and not up to the usual pre Covid standard.

I have a customer who had a very dark colour. She complained about them, I passed her complaint on to the same supplier I had mine from and only last week got a full refund for them. It took 8 weeks of arguing to get the money back. Even the batches were not the same colour code and this was apparent with the island. We never take the film off until fabrication is complete so were unable to see this.

Mirostone is to the best of my knowledge the same or very similar to Minerva in its make up. Avoid it.

I’m lucky that we can refabricate ours, not that I want to be constantly doing that, but we can to bring it back to life.

We have fitted several Pietra solid worktops and have had no problems whatsoever with them, so take a look at those. They are very slightly thicker 25mm from recollection. They have proved to be very hard wearing.

Charlie is right with the cleaning side of thngs. So many people use chemicals but you shouldn’t. Stick to soapy water only.

Look at Pietra It’s good stuff.

Here’s my worktops. Love them but am annoyed at the fabrication side of things. It’s all due to the recipe of what’s in the tops.
Daisy England
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Here’s hubby making a start on them. You can see the difference where he got to with the sanding.

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