Why are oak worktops so popular?
Last Updated on December 8, 2020
The image of the great British oak is ingrained in our public consciousness. But the 12th century is long behind us. The truth is that an oak worktop just doesn’t make sense; it is no longer the best material for hard-wearing surfaces, like kitchen counters or battering ram-resistant doors. It‘s not even the hardest hardwood available, greatly surpassed by teak. So why does it still find itself in our homes?
Unique grain
Wood is far from a homogenous material. Quite the opposite; it takes a great deal of preparation and categorising to bring us a plank of standard thickness and density. That natural variation pays dividends in the character of the final piece. Its smoothed knots, with coffee swirls, ambers and yellow radiating out, sandwiched between the laminar following grain of the yearly growth. In the more minimalist contemporary decor, it is a wonderful counterbalance and often the focal point of the space and we love to provide our customers with this beautiful wood.
Age is not always your enemy
Hardwood surfaces may be past growing in the traditional sense of the word, but like all things, are still subject to change over time. With marble or granite, that change is the introduction of scratches and chips. This leaves you in need of a professional grinding service to rejuvenate your kitchen tops. Not so with hardwood; the base colour of the wood is from tannins, lignin and the residual phenols leftover from photosynthesis. All of these features are going to be slowly broken down by light. This light bleaching lightens the wood over many decades, revealing its real form for you the customer.
Is it hard wearing enough for you?
Yes! However if your daily kitchen habits lead you to carve a roast with a diamond wheeled axle cutter, then no; get an industrial steel workbench. If the worst your surface is going to have to suffer with is crushing nuts using a mallet or a pestle and mortar, or the rhythmic thud of kneading bread, then a dense oak worktop oiled and sealed will be up to the challenge.
The sound of silence
Compared to very hard smooth surfaces of glass and polished stone, wood surfaces have a dampening effect on the acoustics of whichever room they are in, such as a dull thump over a ringing tang when struck with a metal utensil. They are also more forgiving of vibrations when they are part of a unit containing a washing machine, for instance, muffling the sound instead of resonating it.
You can’t take it with you
Kitchen tops are a strange thing when you think about it. There is a good chance you and your family will be spending a lot of time with them and it is the most striking part of your kitchen, but like the bathroom and the garden; you can’t take them with you. If you move, the kitchen tops won’t be going in the back of the moving van. So giving a little consideration on how it will affect the overall value of your home is worth your time, as an oak worktop has been constantly in fashion, without ever being seen as a gaudy or dated.