Kitchen worksurfaces - Lapitec?

[AJB Temple]

I am proposing to make a kitchen island unit 4 metres long by 1.5 metres wide. My original intention was to make this out of polished concrete. 100mm thick, cast and polished on site, and I might still do this.

However, other materials are being considered. Does anyone have any experience of Lapitec (sintered stone). This comes in a maximum slab size of 3.4 metres by 1.5 metres (which I can live with as I can put a raised butcher's block at one end to fill the remaining 600 mm) and thickness of either 12mm or 20mm. I have never used it or even seen it in the flesh yet.

AJ

 

[Cretin]

Corian work tops are good and can be worked to give the impression that it's any thickness if you want it 100 mm thick, it can be made to any size and all joints are virtually invisable, it's the tops you see in most fast food chains with a different colour inlay around the edges. There is a wide range or colours and effects, it would be the second most common kitchen work surface we use, granite being the most common.

 

[LSL]

We had a Lapitec worktop installed some 2 years ago. Be aware that there is colour variation betweeen slabs check that you only use material from the same batch. The material marks if you put a hot cup on it and the mark can take some days to disappear. It is not as resilient as we were led to believe and will chip at the edges. We would not use this material again. An expensive mistake.

 

[AJB Temple]

Thanks LSL - that is excellent feedback. The marketing makes this material sound impermeable.

Thanks Cretin too - I am aware of Corian but for me it looks too unnatural.

 

[Cretin]

No problem, would you price granite in my opinion it's the best, I put granit on in my old house in 1997 the house has been rented out 3 times over the last 8 years and it's the same today as the day it was fitted

 

[Cretin]

I am based in Ireland so don't know the set up in the UK but I can buy a full slab of granite here for 400 euro (choose of 4 colours) size depends on colour and then pay the stone merchant to cut and polish it for me, I just have to collect it and fit it

 

[AJB Temple]

The problem with granite is that it is usually cit in 3 metre blocks and then slabbed. I am looking for 4 metres by 1.5 metres in a single slab.

Otherwise granite would have been first choice. I may have to get creative! *Fit granite into a wood lattice for example.

 

[Cretin]

It's a massive top all right. Are your units going to be that size or are you leaving a overhang on a couple of sides for a knee space to sit at?

 

[Cretin]

Knee space for sitting

 

[Cretin]

another option with granit, if you get a slab 3m by 500mm in one colour and then put a 500mm border all round in a different colour it will make up your size and it will take the plain look off such a big work surface also easier to lift in, we did it once a black middle with white border but no pics it looked class,
I don't know the style your looking for but the concrete is to industrial looking for me but getting very popular

 

[Distinterior]

Some of the Quartz slabs are available in "Jumbo" size that would suit your requirements. I believe Silestone, Galaxy Stone & Okite and a few others offer these longer/wider slabs.

 

[AJB Temple]

Thanks guys. Yes there will be a knee space along at least part of one long side. I had not realised that jumbo slabs could be had. At that size I will need it delivered and fitted to my frame.

As to the look I have not completed the design yet as I still have weeks of work to do on the building: just planning ahead. The room is just under 10m by 8m so the island counter will not look out of place.

 

[Distinterior]

One thing I should add is, that the Jumbo slabs are not always available in all the colours that the manufacturers make.
If you think you find a manufacturer with a colour & finish that you like, just check to ensure that it is available in that colour and Jumbo size.