Wood Worktops FAQs | Help Centre

Are wooden worktops hard to maintain?

This is the most common concern we hear, and the reality is much simpler than people think.

If you oil your worktop correctly in the first five days using a quality oil like Osmo TopOil, the wood becomes virtually maintenance-free for many years. Three to four very thin coats during the first week is genuinely all it takes. After that, you just use it like any other kitchen surface.

Think about Nandos, Costa, Starbucks. All their tabletops are solid wood. They are not running around re-oiling tables every few months. They oiled them correctly at the start and that was it.

If you do not want to oil them yourself at all, we also sell worktops that have already been oiled five times in our warehouse. Those come with a maintenance warranty. You do literally nothing.

The key line: oil it correctly in the first 5 days and you will not have to think about maintenance for years.

Do I need to re-oil my wooden worktop every few months?

No. This is one of the biggest misconceptions in the industry.

The idea that you need to re-oil every 3 to 6 months comes from old oils that were underdeveloped and wore off quickly. Linseed oil is a good example. That advice is decades out of date.

Modern oils like Osmo TopOil are a completely different product. If you apply 3 to 4 very thin coats correctly during the first 5 days, the oil penetrates deeply into the wood and creates a long-lasting barrier. After that, you could go 5 years before it needs attention, and only if the surface starts to look dull or dry.

The rule we always say: the better job you do in the first 5 days, the less you do in the next 5 years.

What is the difference between Full Stave and standard Oak?

The difference is purely in how they are built, not in strength or quality.

Standard Oak, also called Butcher Block or Classic Oak, is made by joining hundreds of small pieces of oak together using finger joints. This creates the iconic chessboard or butcher block pattern. It is also the most sustainable option because every piece of timber gets used. It is incredibly stable and cost-effective.

Full Stave Oak is made from much fewer, wider planks of solid oak that run the entire length of the worktop. When you look at it, you see 5 or 6 long continuous wide planks rather than hundreds of small blocks. It feels and looks like you have cut a slice from a 100-year-old oak tree trunk. More premium looking, more visible grain, and priced accordingly.

Same durability, different aesthetic.

What is the difference between Rustic and Deluxe oak?

Both are equally strong and durable. Grading at House of Worktops is visual, not structural. The difference is purely about the character of the wood.

Rustic embraces everything the tree naturally gives you. Beauty and character expressed through knots, grain variation, colour shifts, and natural features. It has real warmth and personality. It is brilliant for farmhouse kitchens, country kitchens, or as a contrast element in a modern space.

Deluxe is the more uniform, minimal version. Fewer knots, more consistent colour, cleaner look and a more sterile feel. It suits modern kitchens, Scandi-style spaces, or anywhere you want the wood to feel sophisticated rather than characterful.

Neither is better. It is about what your kitchen is going for. The rustic style has always been more popular, since what makes wood unique is exactly the beautiful natural characteristics of the timber that are formed over the 100 years of the tree’s lifetime.

What oil do you use on your pre-oiled worktops?

We exclusively use Osmo TopOil on all our wooden worktops, both for the pre-oiling service we offer in our warehouse and what we recommend to customers who want to oil their own worktops at home.

Osmo TopOil is the industry standard for wooden kitchen surfaces. It penetrates the wood rather than sitting on top, which means it does not crack or peel, and the wood can breathe naturally. Three to four thin coats correctly applied in the first five days gives years of protection.

For our five-coat pre-oiled service, we apply the oil five times in controlled conditions in our warehouse, which gives you maximum protection from day one. If you are getting this service, you genuinely do not need to do anything when it arrives. Just install and enjoy it.

When will walnut or iroko be back in stock?

Stock availability varies and we restock regularly. If the product you are looking for is currently out of stock, we have two options for you:

Option 1: We can put you on our waitlist and email you the moment it lands. That way you are first in line.

Option 2: If you are not starting your renovation for a few weeks, some customers choose to pre-order and we hold their slot.

Get in touch with us and we will check the current restock timeline for you. If you are open to alternatives, we may also have other dark hardwoods in stock that are very similar in character.

Can you cut a wooden worktop to my exact size?

Yes, absolutely. We can cut any wooden worktop to your exact measurements. The cut-to-size service is charged per cut. The first cut is £17.95 and every consecutive cut is £12.50.

For wooden worktops specifically, you can also add oiling, edge profiling, radius corners, and T-Bar steel reinforcements for larger islands.

Use our Custom Worktop Builder at houseofworktops.co.uk/custom-worktop-builder or get in touch and we will help you configure exactly what you need.

What sizes do you stock in wood?

Our wooden worktops come in a wide range of standard sizes:

Standard lengths: 1 metre, 1.5 metres, 2 metres, 2.5 metres, 3 metres, and 4 metres.
Standard widths: 620mm, 720mm, 960mm, and 1240mm.
Thickness: generally 40mm for standard worktops, 27mm for thinner applications, and 20mm is available for Oak only.

The maximum size is 4 metres long and 1.24 metres wide. Not all sizes are available for every species, so let us know which wood you are interested in and we will tell you exactly what is in stock.

Can you do an overhang for a breakfast bar with a wooden worktop?

Yes. For wooden worktops, you can have an unsupported overhang of up to 250mm without any additional support.

If you need to go further than 250mm, we can add Steel T-Bar Reinforcements engraved into the underside of the worktop. These provide structural rigidity and allow for larger overhangs without visible brackets. They are completely hidden once installed.

For extremely large kitchen islands and breakfast surfaces, the T-Bar reinforcements are the best solution.

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