Which materials are best suited to being kitchen worksurfaces and why?
Solid surface is an excellent choice for kitchen worksurfaces because it combines true creative freedom for shapes, curves, long seamless runs and integrated sinks with a high performance, easy maintenance material.
Solid surface ticks all the boxes for being durable, hygienic, high performance and allowing unrivalled creative freedom. You can do things with solid surface that no other material can such as create an oversized island unit with waterfall edges and integrated sink with no visible joins giving a truly streamlined, free-flowing aesthetic. As a man-made material, it has high technical properties which make it highly resistant to bacteria, water, scratches, cracking or damage.
Up until now, there has been limited scope for solid surface to authentically respond to the trend for marble designs, but this has now changed. We recently introduced Durasein in the UK and Ireland and this new generation of solid surface material features an array of natural looking marble and stone designs with real visual depth, plus the advantage of seamless joins.
When it comes to flexibility and fitting, which products would you most recommend to a kitchen designer and why?
Solid surface offers immense flexibility and design scope and is unique in its ability to be shaped, routered and joined in long runs and curves to achieve a truly streamlined and smooth aesthetic with no visible joins. No other material can do this.
There is little that solid surface can’t do and this opens up immense flexibility in design; the products are custom-fabricated ensuring a precision installation. The material lends itself to cantilevered breakfast bars, oversized island units, waterfall edges and different thicknesses, all with the appeal of a pure and streamlined aesthetic.
If a client is after a ‘statement’ worktop to create a visual centrepiece, what do you think works best?
Streamlined aesthetics in kitchen design continue to be highly desirable among consumers and solid surface offers designers the ability to achieve this look with ultimate freedom of expression.
An instant design statement can be made when using solid surface to create oversized islands with waterfall edges and a smooth and seamless aesthetic, which is the holy grail for a lot of consumers. With other materials, designers would be limited as to what can be achieved without visible joints due to the slab sizes available, often 3m or so.
With the new marble designs on offer through Durasein, designers can capture the luxurious look of calacatta marble with its elegant vein structure delivered in a highly practical and durable material.
