Whether you are revamping your current kitchen or treating yourself to a complete new space, choosing the right worktop for you is crucial. It has to be durable for your everyday use and look stunning in your transformed space. Kiss goodbye to peeling laminate worktops and damp wooden tops, stone worksurfaces are the way forward....
Step One: Choose the right Material
Every material has different qualities and it is important to consider these before selecting your worktop. For example: Sintered stones have excellent heat resistance but the material is not full bodied, meaning the pattern does not run down the edge of the worktop. Granite is a full bodied material but is not as heat resistant as Sintered Stone. What a minefield!
Let's start by understanding what each material is:
Engineered Quartz
A manmade material created by mixing natural quartz minerals with resins and polymers. Pigments are added to create different colours and veining. These elements are compressed together with heat to form slabs that are then cut to size. Due to it's man-made nature, low maintenance is required and the patterns are uniform with a wide variety of marble look alikes, made to keep up with industry trends.
Granite
An igneous rock made of natural minerals that are formed through the slow crystallization of magma below the earth's surface that traps these minerals in its structure. Formed in a variety of locations from Brazil to Africa to Italy, the colour choice is extensive from beautiful green swirls to bold black with gold, ochre veins. Due to it's natural formation the patterns vary. therefore it is important to arrange a viewing before selecting your favourite granite.
Natural Quartzite
Quartzite is another natural stone. A hard, metamorphic rock that was originally sandstone. With added pressure and heat over millions of years the quartz rich sandstone recrystallizes resulting in a network of interlocking quartz grains. Harder quartzites are more durable for kitchen use than soft.
Marble
Marble is another metamorphic rock that is formed when limestone is subjected to high pressures and heat over time. It is generally more porous than Granite and Natural Quartzite so use in a kitchen does require more maintenance.
If you wish to achieve the marbled look with lower maintenance, we would recommend Engineered Quartz or Sintered Stones.
Ceramic and Sintered Stone
These are engineered surfaces that are created by mixing ceramic clays and mineral colourings that are then printed on and fired to create large slabs. Although the pattern does not span the whole depth of the slab, they have excellent heat resistance making it one of the only materials safe to put hot pans directly on.
For an in-depth explanation of each materials qualities check out the Worktop Fabricators Federation Guide by clicking their logo below:
The guide also includes this handy table to guide you through the differences between all worktop options:
Step 2: Select a pattern to match your kitchen design
Now that you've selected your favourite material, let's match it to your kitchen! Traditionally, clients would often match their flooring and worktop, however with the ever-growing ranges of worktops available, you can get creative with your choices. A creative kitchen colour palette may just help inspire some creative cooking!
You could try choosing a kitchen door colour that compliments your veined quartz worktop or inject some colour into a monochrome kitchen with a colourful natural quartzite.
Here is a snippet of inspiration below with some fun worktop moodboards:
Step 3: Choose your fabrications
Now that you have finalised the material, we can look to the details!
Edgings
Different finishes on your worktop edge can add to the overall look of your kitchen. An ogee edge can create a traditional statement whilst a sharks nose edge can make access to handleless kitchens easier!
Drainage
Modifications around the sink area can create seamless, handy drainage solutions. The drainage grooves pictured below have been cut into this quartz worktop to guide water into the sink without the need for a bulky stainless steel draining board.
Another option is a recessed slope chamfers the whole worktop down into the sink area, meaning you do not have to clean in the grooves.
You will also require cut outs for your sinks, hobs and downdraft extractors. We can guide you through all options available when obtaining your quotation.
It is important to remember that not all fabrications are available in all materials, due to their properties.
Step 4: Arrange Templating and Installation
Here at The Surrey Kitchen Company we are owned by Stone System of London Ltd, a long-established stone fabrication business who operates from a 20,000 square foot factory. This means we can offer the best service and competitive pricing for your kitchen worktops. Our showroom has a wide variety of samples for you to browse. Furthermore, you are more than welcome to take a tour of our factory to view the production process including full slabs to gauge the best understanding of how the final product will appear.
We will guide you through the whole process from booking your initial template, through production and to final installation of the worktops. During templating we take detailed measurement's to ensure your worktop is a precise fit, highlighting any areas that require additional support before installation.
Step 5: Aftercare
It is crucial to use the right cleaning products on your worktop to make sure it still looks as good as the day it was installed 10 years on! We can guide you through the right products to make your worktop shine like new! The Worktop Fabricators Federation Guide also has great information in their guide on aftercare linked again below:
Ready for your new worktops? Get in touch with the details below to obtain a quotation today.
Contact: info@thesurreykitchencompany.co.uk
Phone: 01483 215029
Showroom Address: Unit 2 Octimum Business Park, Forsyth Road,
Woking, GU21 5SF