Now we\u2019re four years on from installing our kitchen and the worktops (you can also read about our DIY worktop installation here<\/a>), I\u2019m collaborating with Worktop Express to share an update on our worktops and how they\u2019re holding up. Although this post is sponsored by Worktop Express, please note that we purchased the worktops ourselves.<\/p>\n It\u2019s probably worth mentioning that we also purchased from Worktop Express in our previous home and the worktops we used in Grants parents kitchen renovation<\/a> were, you guessed it, also bought from Worktop Express too. You could say, we\u2019re happy repeat customers, so this post will partly be a bit of a Worktop Express review too.<\/p>\n Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which allows me to receive a small commission if you visit a link and buy something on my recommendation. Purchasing via an affiliate link doesn\u2019t cost you any extra, and I only recommend products I have bought or used myself.<\/em> Affiliate links are marked with an asterisk (*).<\/em><\/p>\n I get asked this a lot, considering our kitchen itself was from DIY Kitchens whom also stock kitchen worktops. Simply put, Worktop Express<\/a>* has a much bigger selection of wooden worktops and in my opinion, at more competitive prices. Whether you\u2019re looking for a simple worktop on a budget or have a much higher budget for a more luxury showstopper variety of worktop, such as their premium solid surface<\/a>* and FENIX range<\/a>*. Worktop Express offers something for both ends, and of course, there\u2019s a whole bunch of options if you\u2019re somewhere in the middle too!<\/p>\n The other reason we particularly love Worktop Express is because of their bespoke worktop cutting service<\/a>*, saving time and money on installations. It makes DIY installations MUCH easier and means you don\u2019t necessarily need to pay a carpenter to fit your worktops. By using this service, your worktop can arrive pre-cut to the exact size you require, with all holes and cutouts (like for a hob, tap or sink!) already done for you.<\/p>\n We used this service ourselves, as even though we\u2019d probably be capable of making these cuts, the bespoke cutting service cost less than buying a router (which we still don\u2019t own!) or the necessary router jig to make those cuts. It also took the stress out of doing it ourselves and the possibility of it going wrong.<\/p>\n It also goes without saying, now being a customer three times over, we also really rate the quality of the worktops too! All the worktops and upstands we\u2019ve purchased over the years arrived straight with no bowing, splits or cupping.<\/p>\n We also really like that Worktop Express deliver their worktops themselves using their 2-Person Home Delivery Team into a ground floor room of your choice. This means your worktops are handled and stored correctly, which may not be the case if they were simply handed over to a third-party courier. Their delivery prices are also really reasonable too at just \u00a325 for the first worktop, and \u00a315 extra for each additional worktop (price capped at 4 worktops) and what\u2019s more, most are available for next-day delivery too!<\/p>\n We picked an ash worktop from Worktop Express<\/a>* for our kitchen as we wanted quite a traditional look, something similar to oak, but a little lighter. Ash perfectly fitted the bill \u2013 a slightly lighter wood than oak, but at the same time has a very similar grain to it. Price-wise it was also one of the more affordable woods Worktop Express offer, starting at \u00a3150 for 2m lengths, which was only a tad more expensive than oak, but much cheaper than some of their more exotic woods!<\/p>\n So how is our worktop holding up after 4 years you ask?! Can wooden worktops really stand the test of time? I won\u2019t lie, wooden worktops do require a bit of maintenance from time to time, but I\u2019ll talk about that shortly. For now, let\u2019s take a look at some \u2018now and then\u2019 comparisons and hopefully these photos will speak for themselves!<\/p>\n As you can probably see, there really isn\u2019t much change in our worktops at all! I know some of the colours on the worktop look a bit different between the two years, but this is actually down to the time of day\/light of the room, not the worktop itself. I would say some of the grain is a little less prominent in some of the 2021 photos, but the worktop is actually due a re-oil soon, which would re-enhance those details!<\/p>\n There are a few little imperfections which I\u2019ll talk about below, but on the whole, it looks pretty much as good as it did the day we purchased it, don\u2019t you think?<\/p>\n Wooden worktops can<\/em> stain, especially from particular spillages like curry sauce or red wine, however, as you can see from our worktops we have absolutely no stains whatsoever!<\/p>\n I\u2019m typically quite \u201con it\u201d with spillages, mopping anything up as soon as they happen, but we have had parties where beer or wine has been sat on the worktops overnight and it\u2019s still sponged off the next day, albeit sometimes with a bit more of a vigorous scrub.<\/p>\n We also get quite a lot of oil splatter from the hob too and this has never caused any staining, even if it\u2019s not wiped until several hours later. As long as your worktop is protected with an oil protectant, stains shouldn\u2019t be a huge problem, although I would still say it\u2019s good practice to clean up any spillages as soon as you can.<\/p>\n There was one very slight section of \u2018damage\u2019 to our worktop, which was from our coffee machine, where the drip tray had overfilled and leaked. This was annoyingly right after we installed the worktop and before we had built up a decent barrier with an oil protectant. The water from the leaking coffee machine had been sitting underneath out of sight, so we hadn\u2019t noticed for a few days. This left a small patch of darkened wood, which I sanded back and re-oiled. You now wouldn\u2019t even know there had ever been any damage as it\u2019s been repaired pretty darn well. Can you spot it?<\/p>\n One thing I get asked a lot is whether I regret installing our wooden worktops with our Belfast sink. The assumption is that wood and water don\u2019t make a great combo and because the wood is exposed around the perimeter of a Belfast sink, it means any splashes from washing or running the tap are likely to land on this wood and therefore is more exposed to water and potential water damage!<\/p>\n I can only speak from my own experience but we\u2019ve had absolutely ZERO issues with water and the edge of the worktop around the sink. It\u2019s worth mentioning, that we specifically installed a drip groove to the underside of the worktop, which you can\u2019t see, but acts as a \u2018break\u2019 in the wood. This means any water that splashes against the edge will drip straight off. Without this, there\u2019s the potential for the water to run along the underside of the worktop (i.e it doesn\u2019t drip off) and could soak into the worktop causing marks\/water damage. But as I say, we have had absolutely no issues and I don\u2019t even wipe the edge at all! The photo below shows the drip groove on the underside of the worktop before we had installed the worktop.<\/p>\n The other thing to be mindful of is any splashes around the tap itself. Turning off a tap with wet hands will usually result in water dripping off and sitting on top of the worktop. As this water has nowhere to run off, it leads to standing water which can eventually lead to watermarks, so this is probably the only thing we are quite cautious of. When I dry my hands, I dry any water on the worktop too. It\u2019s not a huge task and perhaps not something you need to do religiously, but it\u2019s baked into my routine and something I do every time I wash and dry my hands. As you can see, we have absolutely no watermarks or water damage.<\/p>\n When we purchased our worktop, we opted to add drainage grooves alongside our Belfast sink, which are designed for drying wet pots and allowing water to simply \u2018drain away\u2019. I have to say, as fab as they look, we absolutely never use them. I simply don\u2019t find they drain quick enough and do in fact, lead to water standing on the worktop for too long, which I think with daily use, would eventually lead to black watermarks.<\/p>\n So instead, we use an absorbent drying mat. Unless you absolutely soak the mat, it typically stays dry on the underside, keeping the worktop free from water damage. Once the pots are dry, we then hang this up on the oven to dry and reuse the next day.<\/p>\n I think unless you were to re-oil the drainage grooves regularly, they would probably be the first part of a wooden worktop to shart to show its age and have that \u2018used\u2019 look. I love the appearance of them and have no regrets having them cut onto the worktop (for the visual look!), but turns out they just aren\u2019t for us when it comes to actually being used as a draining board.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s one thing to note about wooden worktops, it\u2019s that they\u2019re most likely going to need a bit of maintenance from time to time to keep them looking at their best! This doesn\u2019t mean you need crazy DIY skills or need to hire a carpenter out every year. The maintenance we do is really quite simple and barely takes any time at all!<\/p>\n I plan to do a full blog post documenting this in more detail, but in a nutshell, I simply re-oil once a year with some danish oil (I use Rustins Danish Oil<\/a>*, as recommended by Worktop Express). I don\u2019t typically give the worktop a deep sanding for this, I just clean it down and reapply. It\u2019s probably good practice to give a light sand every few years if your worktop needs it, otherwise, when it comes to regular maintenance, I wouldn\u2019t bother! (photo below from 2018)<\/p>\n When we first bought the worktop, I re-oiled the surface more frequently as new wood will need more treatments to build up its \u2018barrier\u2019. I also made sure to re-oil around the sink twice a year for the first couple of years thereafter. Nowadays, I just do this year with the rest of the worktops, as I simply don\u2019t think it needs any extra oiling, however, you may find yours needs more than this.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll know when your worktops need re-oiling as water droplets will no longer \u2018bead up\u2019, or you might just feel your worktops looking a bit \u2018dull\u2019 visually. How often you need to re-oil depends on how much use your worktop gets, as well as the type of cleaning products you use (degreasers will typically strip oils away over time and vigorous scrubbing will also wear away the oil), but I would say re-oiling once a year should be the bare minimum.<\/p>\n I absolutely LOVE our wooden worktops and would 100% recommend to anyone who wanted that traditional look to their kitchen and doesn\u2019t mind a bit of maintenance now and then to keep them looking at their best!<\/p>\n The good thing about wood and its maintenance though is it means you CAN repair most damage and at a DIY level. You can sand back most surface stains or light water damage and with a bit of work, rejuvenate the surface completely. With other materials, like laminate or even stone, repairing damage isn\u2019t so easy and often does require a professional.<\/p>\n If wood and its maintenance isn\u2019t for you, then I completely recommend taking a look at solid laminate worktops from Worktop Express<\/a>* (not to be confused with regular laminate!) which is super durable, heat resistant up to 220 degrees and is low maintenance. This would personally be my second choice when it comes to kitchen worktops and we actually used this at Grants parents house, again, ordering via the bespoke cutting service from worktop express. I think these worktops are perfect for rentals or holiday lets where you can\u2019t always guarantee the maintenance of the worktop.<\/p>\n I do, however, also recommend considering wooden worktops as a great option for desktops, benchtops or other areas of the home. The fact you can resand and rejuvenate makes it the perfect material for these uses. I know more and more people are now working from home, so if that\u2019s you and you\u2019re after a quick set-up, a wooden worktop with some simple trestle legs looks great and is super practical too.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested in seeing more of what Worktop Express offer, then please click here<\/strong><\/a> to view all their different worktops and don\u2019t forget \u2013 you can order some samples here<\/strong><\/a> to check out the quality for yourself too!<\/p>\n So those are my thoughts on wooden worktops in the kitchen. I\u2019d love to know if you have any tips, experience or advice to share. Just leave a comment below! And as always, please feel free to get in touch with any questions I may not have covered as well.<\/p>\n Happy Kitchen-Planning!<\/p>\nWhy We Purchase Our Worktops From Worktop Express<\/h3>\n
Our Ash Worktops Four Years on: Now Vs Then<\/h3>\n
Do Wooden Worktops Stain?<\/h3>\n
![\"repaired](\"https:\/\/twitsguides.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/worktop-express-review-our-kitchen-worktops-4-years-on-4.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nAre Belfast Sinks and Wooden Worktops a Good Mix?<\/h3>\n
![\"drip](\"https:\/\/twitsguides.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/worktop-express-review-our-kitchen-worktops-4-years-on-5.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nWooden Worktop Maintenance<\/h3>\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nWooden Worktops from Worktop Express: Would We Recommend?<\/h3>\n
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