Kitchen Bench – Getting Exactly What You Need

After the layout of your kitchen had been established, the time is ripe to choose the most suitable bench top for your Sunnybank kitchen bench. Some of the considerations include the aesthetics of the design (beauty), how functional should it be, and how suitable it would be for your purposes.

Bench tops are your primary places of work in the kitchen. All in all, it has to be practical and cannot be underplayed. Choosing the right bench would need such factors as style, durability, maintenance and costs.

Choices

Given the number of choices in the market, getting one for your use can be daunting and overwhelming. Some of the more popular (and available) materials in the market include high pressure laminate, natural stone, reconstituted stone or quartz, acrylic, and solid timber.

The others top choices include stainless steel, glass, polished concrete, and tiled medium density fireboard. Any one of these surfaces would fit well on any bench top. The only question is, would it fit your needs?

Looking for the right bench top materials would take some close scrutiny because all of these materials normally perform well. However, there are three main factors that can help you narrow down your choices. They include cost, style and level of maintenance needed.

Materials and installation

The first aspect is cost because there is a big difference in price between the most affordable top on the market and the most expensive of the lot.  For instance, marble and granite need to be shipped, prepared specifically for your needs and installed using special methods.

On the other hand, the cheaper laminate bench tops can be ordered by the meter at your local kitchen supplier and cut to fit on site. Concrete may be cheap in terms of raw materials, but it required a highly specialized manufacture and installation.

Style / texture / color

One of the big factors in bench tops to be used in the kitchen is the matter of style. Some materials are simply better suited to a particular style of kitchen than the others. Wood, for instance, is perfect for a French provincial kitchen while polished concrete fits perfectly to an ultra-modern minimalist kitchen.

One thing to consider when choosing a top made of stone or timber is the fact that since both are made of natural materials, there may be many variations in texture and color in different batches.  Your selected sample may not exactly match the final product.

Maintenance

Stone surfaces like granite and marble are beautiful but they come with the responsibility of keeping them pristine and well-maintained. A tinge of orange of juice eats away its protective coating and can leave a permanent stain on the stones.

Acrylics and laminate products will not take well having hot cookware placed on top of them. Timber and polished concrete need to be periodically treated to ensure they maintain their resistance to moisture, heat or scratching.

Whichever is your choice for a bench top, it has to fit exactly with what you had planned for with your Sunnybank kitchen bench – your needs, your aesthetics and your budget.