Designer Kitchen Worktops are becoming very popular

The kitchen is one of the mostactively used rooms in the house and as such, it probably gets much more wearand tear than the sitting room, bathroom or the bedroom. As food is stored andprepared ...

The kitchen is one of the mostactively used rooms in the house and as such, it probably gets much more wearand tear than the sitting room, bathroom or the bedroom. As food is stored andprepared on a daily basis in the kitchen, it's essential that the worktopsremain clean and hygienic. Most kitchens still have the old 'solid surface'kitchen worktops which were popular in the 1970's and 1980's. These arerelatively cheap, easy to clean and come in a multitude of finishes. Thedownside is this type of kitchen worktop is they are easily scratched and thescars from a family member failing to use a chopping board will remain on theworktop for life. Not only are these knife scratches unsightly, they're alsounhygienic.

If all this sounds familiar,you probably have a 'solid surface' kitchen worktop and are possiblyconsidering replacing it with a new one. However if you swap like for like,you're going to have the same problem again and possibly sooner rather thanlater. Why not spend that little bit extra and invest in a better qualitykitchen worktop? Granite and quartzworktops are incredibly hard wearing and durable and will probably outlast notonly your kitchen, but your house! Both quartz and granite worktops are cutfrom natural stone and therefore are already millions of years old.

Both granite and quartzworktops are fully scratch resistant, however the use of a chopping board isstill advisable as such a hard wearing worktop will make your knives bluntthrough frequent use. Quartz worktops are available in a wide variety ofcolours from white to black, including reds, blues, greens and browns.Similarly, granite worktops are also available in a variety of colours such as'star galaxy' and the popular 'absolute black', meaning there's a kitchenworktop available to match almost any kitchen.

Being ground and polished to aperfectly flat surface means these worktops are ideal for food preparation suchas rolling out pastry. Being totally scratch resistant means the surface iseasy to keep hygienically clean so a good dusting of flour and you're away,without the need of a large rolling board. Being made from natural stone alsomeans these quartz and granite worktops are totally heat proof, meaning theywon't blister or bubble as some synthetic kitchen worktops can when a hot panis placed on them directly from the hob. Bring your kitchen to life withnatural stone worktops and you won't be disappointed.