a mate showed me her lovely wooden worktop that she's varnished. looked fab. i'm thinking of doing the same, am sick of oiling mine. would sand it down first of course. how long do you reckon the varnish would last? is it durable?
you can tell i'm thinking of updating bits an bobs in my house, eh?
I don't understand any of this craze for wooden worktops. I remember as a child some 50 years ago our kitchen having wooden work surfaces which even then struck me as unhygienic - always soggy looking and covered in knife cuts. Our present kitchen is some 20 years old and has laminate worktops which look like new and are quickly wiped down with an antibacterial wipe. The actual pattern might look a little old fashioned but it's still very practical and hygienic. Our next kitchen might have granite worktops if we feel like splashing out but one thing is certain - it won't be wood.
I've had wooden worktops for the past 12 years. I said "never again"... but after long thought I am having them in our new kitchen.
I think wooden worksurfaces have probably changed in comparison to what you had 50 years ago. And almost any worksurface would be marked by knife cuts if you failed to use a chopping board, my 12 year old wood surface has nothing of that kind. I once inherited a laminate worksurface with a horrible burn on it from what must have been a very hot pan - indelible.
Wood does have disadvantages - the maintenance required, having to be careful not to leave water or anything too hot on it. But it looks great, is good value, is right for our house, and I like natural materials. I would either have wood or granite, I would not have laminate.
I never use antibacterial wipes either. I remember reading that wood allows less bacterial growth than something like plastic because it has slight antibacterial properties.
