I'm having some 30mm quartz worktops installed tomorrow. It ought to be quality stuff at the price I'm paying. (It was not far off the entire kitchen units & appliances were from Wrens)
I wasn't here when the specialist came and measured up and I'd not thought about it until overnight but one bit is a breakfast bar, with one long edge against the wall, and is about 2m long (EDIT: that is, the gap between the units is a bit over 2m), supported each end by a full size floor cabinet. It won't ever have a very heavy load on it (in fact will rarely get used).
How strong is this stuff? I know it's heavy, and I'm wondering whether I should be expecting a supporting leg in the middle (which would be unsightly and inconvenient really), or some brackets underneath, or is it strong enough that it won't bow under it's own weight, or worse, snap under some stress?
The piece (of MFI type worktop) it replaced had next to nothing in the way of support and was fine for 23 years. (Three or four of these along the long wall www.diy.com/departments/zinc-plated-mild-steel-corner-bracket-h-1-5mm-w-26-5mm-l-25mm-pack-of-4/243329_BQ.prd )
Last edited by: smokie on Sun 8 Dec 24 at 09:33
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"quartz" worktops are made from particles of rock, in a resin matrix. Should be much better than natural rock e.g. granite.
I did look into this when I designed my island with a 30cm overhang. I was told 400mm overhang is the usual maximum. This is 30mm thick.
I didn't specifically consider span but on the above basis I would feel happy with say a metre. 2 metres - get it in writing and don't stand on it;)
Seriously I would be prudent without info on the specific product mainly because it's not all the same. Maybe quiz the manufacture of the actual product you are using?
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Rereading your post, if it's against a wall and supported with a sturdy batten all along then intuitively I'd say it will be fine.
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I've now read around a bit and that sounds like good advice to me - a decent batten would likely provide the necessary level of support. I'll make sure I speak to them.
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My tenpenneth and black granite with sparkly bits owner:
DONT get black. Shows every water mark and other marks and you will be constantly cleaning it.
I had the ramouska on one day on its stand. I heard a loud crack but couldn't trace it at the time. Few days later spotted the worktop had cracked from front to back. Can only presume there was either some stress on it or it had a weakness due to fitting/handling and the indirect heat had exploited the weak spot.
Notwithstanding the cracking they have heat resistant properties so you are not concerned with temporarily putting something hot on it and it can be used as a surface for food prep and is resistant to kitchen tools.
If I were to replace I don't think it would be with granite. Very expensive for what benefits there are.
Last edited by: Fullchat on Sun 8 Dec 24 at 17:21
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Thanks - I'd though black might be like that. The ones I'm getting are quartz and essentially white, with grey veining.
I asked in the showroom about how to care for them and they said it's safest for longevity to use worktop protectors against heat and cutting, so that's what we'll do.
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A ramouska? Oooh, er...
Fancy cheffery, eh?
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I'd assumed it was something upmarket but I'd never heard of them so just looked it up. Useful in caravans seems to be a selling point. So it doesn't present itself as particularly fancy :-)
But I suppose that the likelihood is that it probably is, based on say-so of one of the "celebrity chefs"
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Remoska?
We've had a couple, used while caravanning. Rule of thumb, everything takes 40 minutes to cook.
They commonly short themselves out. Lakeland just sent us another without question or need for proof of purchase, maybe they looked us up.
They are super basic and simple, and when we bought the first one around 2006 I happened to be visiting Czechia quite a lot. I assumed they would be really cheap there, I found them for sale easily enough but they were surprisingly expensive!
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>> Remoska?
>>
>> We've had a couple, used while caravanning. Rule of thumb, everything takes 40 minutes to
>> cook.
What does one of these things do that's not possible with the rings/oven in the 'van?
Genuinely interested as apart from keeping item (a) warm while (b) is cooking we've never needed more than Elddis fitted at the factory.
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>> A ramouska? Oooh, er...
>>
...wasn't that a Kate Bush song....?
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>> >> A ramouska? Oooh, er...
>> >>
>> ...wasn't that a Kate Bush song....?
>>
ya-ya
:-D
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"Fancy cheffery, eh?"
Alas consigned to the cupboard along with bread maker, ice cream maker, waffle maker, George Forman grill et al. :)
Superseded by the air fryer which to be fair is getting well used.
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Being mid-kitchen renewal (well, thankfully now nearer the end than the beginning!!) we have been massive givers on Freegle of all such devices, and other quite good quality and condition stuff which we no longer want or are replacing.
We don't own an air fryer yet but I believe we are getting a hand-me-down imminently from a daughter who is upgrading hers.
I'm sure all the space we've made will shortly be filled with some other useless junk.
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My kitchen fitter says having had lots of experience of replacing quartz worktops and trying to smash up the old one, the worktop does not need anything to strengthen it, But he said he'll put in a batten or something if it keeps me happy :-)
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I can hear the fitter sighing and sucking his teeth from here
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It's installed and after a trade talk with the installers my kitchen fitter has changed his mind and will rig me up a centre leg for strengthening. He is very good at that kind of thing! (- I mean adapting - he's made some really good on the fly decisions and changes)
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>> But he said he'll put in a batten or something if it keeps me happy
>> :-)
>>
....Acrow prop...?
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Don't go for white or pale wood effect like our new tops if you're middle aged like me.
I got a white side plate out at lunchtime and put it on the worktop.
Took me ten minutes to find it again !
Ted
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The funny thing about that is that Acrow is a term I'd not used or heard for years and years but it came up yesterday in an online ad I was reading then blow me down there it is again!!
Like the white plate story Ted!!
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many have come and gone, but only 5 items have earned a place on the work surfaces.
food mixer/processor, Kettle, Soup maker, air fryer, toaster,
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Kitchen Aid, keckle, toaster and tvv Air fryer moved into laundry extension today. Was like having a dalek in the kitchen. too noisy as well !
Ted
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We have black worktop, standard h****** stuff not your fancy quartz stuff.
During last summer when I was experimenting with my new Kamado Egg bbq, I brought in the two baked potatoes in tin foil that had been cooking in the coals at the bottom. Just carried them in wearing my super duper heat resistant gloves.
Sat them down on the work top and peeled the tin foil open and lifted the potatoes onto a plate.
Added in the rest of my dinner and was only when I was scrunching up the tin foil I realised I had also carried in 2 small bits of charcoal with the potatoes and they were burning a nice hole through the top of the worktop.
Had to confess to the boss but so far, with the aid of a permanent marker, I have pretty much disguised the two marks on the worktop. Need to colour it in every so often!
But the boss wants a new kitchen anyway. Few friends have all got Wren and recommend them.
My concern is gonna spend a fortune and due to the design of our kitchen, there really isn’t any scope for doing anything radically different to how it performs just now. Will purely be a cosmetic gain, with a whole load of pain, and dosh, thrown in.
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Apparently the name of a kitchen supplier that starts with How breaks the swear filter.
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I've heard so many horror stories about Wren, Wickes, Ikea, B&Q, I wouldn't touch any of them with a barge pole.
The last two i've had fitted have been from H O W D E N S and everything turned up exactly as required, first time. The first fitter was excellent, the second not so good.
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The black tops just changed were always getting caught at the ends by passers-by with the result that the end 2 inches of the trim ere always being ripped off. After a few glue sessions. I didn't bather and just filled in the missing bit with black marker pen . The authorities never noticed !
Speaking of subterfuge, I was fitting a lock on the bedroom door when the screwdriver slipped and took a small chunk out of the white paint revealing the dark brown varnish. Tippex is your friend there !
Invisible mending ? Easy-peasy !
Ted
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I went with Wrens as I know quite a few people had had good experience with them, but not used their fitters.
I initially signed up for the whole package but after their fitter dropped by to quote for the "extras" I decided to find my own. It has all gone very well, despite me changing my mind about quite a bit as time went on.
Nothing wrong with any of it, all parts present an correct, appliances price matched, even got the (massively expensive) handles refunded when I realised I could get similar on Amazon at under 1/4 the cost (originals were in excess of £400 - 28 handles I think it was - and as I'd signed up for them in the contract I was surprised to not have to argue with them when I wanted them returned after delivery. They were good to their word about a couple of refunds for pieces too. I'd highly recommend them but think twice about using their fitters.
Like you Bobby there is little improvement I could make as the kitchen was designed for me just over 20 years ago and it works perfectly for us. In fact some bits aren't quite as good but this is far outweighed by the better bits. Do allow plenty for the fitters. Mine needed rewiring along with a new consumer unit, also I had floor tiles which cost quite a bit just to get up, then re-latex, then replace.
The quartz worktop decision was crazy of me - I wanted it but they seemed expensive in the shop so we went with an ordinary one but once it was installed I decided to go for quartz after all (not from Wrens btw, apparently theirs isn't great - according to their salesman!). So the brand new worktops went to the tip and the new ones cost almost as much as the entire Wrens order - but it was an expensive supplier - but the quality really shows!! I don't regret the decision despite the cost. The whole job has come in not a lot over budget all things considered.
It's the last one I ever expect to have to do and it's been a massive inconvenience not having cooking or running water downstairs, and very little in the way of daytime heating, for about 5 weeks.
My tips would therefore be to consider time of year carefully, and remember that the Wrens unit and applicance cost is probably well less than half of the end cost.
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>> My tips would therefore be to consider time of year carefully, and remember that the
>> Wrens unit and applicance cost is probably well less than half of the end cost.
I designed and fitted my kitchen, with stuff from wickes.
I cobbled two of the old units into "mobile" with the aid of dollies and quick connectors/isolators so within 10 minutes we always had an oven, and a working sink with hot water at end of day, and a clear space while work was going on.
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Whys the name of a well known K************** on the naughty list on here?
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I wrote kitchen.fitters, that's a no no as well?
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There was a lot of spam about the addition of culinary apparatus a few years ago, so many words associated with it are on the black list!
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Quartz worktop strength - Zero
