Very OT: Wooden kitchen worktops

We’re kitchen shopping, and my other half has a big thing for a solid wooden worktop.

They look lovely and everything, but the OCD side of my brain is worried that they’re going to take a fair bit of looking after and be a bit fragile – dents, stains and needing waxing regularly. I prefer the idea of that seamless composite stone/acrylic stuff but obviously it’s not as pretty.

Have any of you had one for a while and can report on how resilient they are to the usual level of family wear and tear?

We have Solid Beech, I fitted them myself about 12 years ago and covered with three layers of Junkers Rustic Oil. They’ve held up superbly – never had to re-treat them, although the oil is just starting to go in a couple of patches around the sink, but it’s not a big job to lift the sink up off the wood, sand down the patches, re-oil and then refit the sink.

i got iroko wood block about 5 years ago from howdens, it wasn’t cheap and the (non-howdens) guy who came to cut it had to go and get new blades it was such hard stuff – he also said you could put this wood in a swamp for 10 years and it would be ok after a sanding.

true to his word i sand it (30 mins with a mini sander) and oil it (10 mins with a spray oil from b&q) every 2 years and it comes up as new. Even ‘worn’ (i.e. just before i do this) it looks fab (with matt white units in my case) and this is full on twins based family treatment! I also rented my place out for 2 years and the tenants left pan burns and red wine marks (which I charged them for eek!) and they all disappeared with sanding.

I reckon your other half is onto something…

I did get some marking on mine from mild steel things being left on it in the wet. However its ten years old, was cheap ikea beech and after sanding and refinishing they look fine.

We’ve had oak for 5 years in our place. Finished with the Howdens prime oil, I’ve not treated it well or refinished it since the day it was fitted and it’s holding up well. The area around the under mounted sink could do with a bit of attention but that is to be expected anyway. I’m gonna sand and reseal it soon anyhow.

Oak however is a fairly resilient wood, I doubt a beech one would stand up to such mistreatment. The Wenge and Iroko ones I’ve fitted for customers are also standing up well.

Oak every time for me.

Loads and loads of (6+ coats) of danish oil.
(Do not use Ikea’s own finishing liquid as it’s water based and rubbish IMO)

Dont sand with too fine a grit.

Lovely homely feel, not too much bother to look after.

Use Osmo TopOil.

Was recommended to me on here. Great stuff.
Good couple of coats and it will last at least a year until it needs another coat. Very easy to apply and non-toxic.

Resulting work tops just shrug off water, red wine, curry, sauce.

Thanks all!

@stoner – thanks for the pic, I think that’s almost exactly the look we’re gping for with cream cupboards and a butler’s sink.

Do you need any form of sealant between sinks to stop splashes soaking into the wood’s endgrain and swelling it? I can’t see how you can paint the oil on.

Couple of questions on a similar theme…

Does anyone have any idea how well mango wood would stand up to kitchen use?

Is it better to have thin strips rather than larger planks?

I might be able to get hold of mango wood planks for not too much money when we redo our kitchen, but I don’t know how well it would work/survive if we used it as a work surface – does anyone know?

I’ve Iroko too. 4 years old and holding up a treat, even round the sink. Oil it annually and its fine.

We are in the process of deciding on a new kitchen too. I’ve just received a couple of samples from worktop-express.co.uk, the samples were for the Oak and the Prime Oak and seem pretty good quality. Has anyone any experience of these guys? Think we might be running the gauntlet and ordering the units from Wren as so far nothing else has matched on the quality at a reasonable price point. Needless to say the old kitchen will not be ripped out until I have double checked eveything has arrived… Any other Wren kitchen owners in da house?

We had a kitchen with beech surfaces in our last kitchen which was excellent, needed a sand every couple of years and came up well. Had a belfast sink and a draining board routed in which blackened over time. In for 8 years.

Had an oak kitchen surface in the new house, from Howden’s, which is a year old and looks lovely, Very durable so far and does not need to be re-oiled thus far. Some marking inevitable but as other comments mention they are easily sanded and re-treated.

Our oak worktops are from worktop express. Can’t say how durable they are as we’re still in the process of oiling and installing. They look lovely though.

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Ordering was straightforward and delivery a couple of days later, refunded our sample costs and really reasonably priced.

Is it better to have thin strips rather than larger planks?

The guy making it is best to decide, and even if you buy wide planks he may still rip it down and joint it.

You want stainless steel work top if you are a serious cook and not a serial clearer. 😆

Some marking inevitable

Honestly TopOil. I don’t think we could mark our work tops if we tried.

We’ve got walnut worktops, with cream doors.

We refurbished the kitchen at our old house a couple of years before moving, got laminate worktops and they looked crap within weeks. While I’m a little OCD and very careful, my wife and kids are the opposite so if something can get dropped onto a worktop or floor, it will be. There were chunks taken out of the old worktop.

We had a kitchen fitted at our new place almost two years ago, and went for a Wren kitchen and wooden worktops. We’ve hammered the kitchen and the worktops and they’re showing a lot of marks.

But, and this is why we went for wood, they look well used, rather than ruined and they’re structurally sound. The Japanese call it wabi-sabi; accepting that things are going to wear and appreciating the beauty of this. Plus, a bit of a sand and a re-oil and they’ll look good as new again.

Bamboo here!! Ready for some love after 4 yrs installed!!!

What? Not concrete wrighty? :),

I’ve always fancied some polished concrete installations

Osmo oil has worked a treat on our cheap and cheerful Ikea wooden worktops.