Which top to choose for your kitchen?

How to choose the most suitable worktop for your kitchen? Current trends are all about materials that are practical to clean and maintain, resistant to daily use and everyday use.

Let’s discover all the available variants below. To understand which one is best suited to your habits, we recommend talking to an authorized retailers.

Laminam

An innovative material for the kitchen worktop is Laminam: porcelain stoneware with characteristics of resistance, hygiene and elegant aesthetics. Obtained with an innovative technology, it combines raw materials similar to those used to make tiles or porcelain. Cooking at high temperatures also makes it resistant to high and low temperatures, impacts, scratches and chemical attacks.
Laminam tops are unalterable and do not fear any stain: whether it is grease, wine, lemon or coffee, with a simple wipe of a sponge and soap it is possible to remove any trace of dirt in an instant.

Laminam being an almost completely vitrified material, completely non-absorbent and with high mechanical characteristics. it is an extremely hygienic material and perfect for kitchen doors and tops, because it is particularly suitable for coming into contact with food. Furthermore, its characteristics allow it to resist scratches, abrasions, fungi, mold, humidity and very high or very low temperatures.

It represents a valid alternative to materials such as marble, which, being a very valuable natural material, has limitations in terms of availability (marble slabs are unique and unrepeatable) and are difficult to replicate on multiple surfaces. Laminam is an industrial material, therefore easily replicable even on large surfaces.

IN-SIDE technology represents the cutting edge of the Laminam range.
It consists of panels that have the same texture as the surface also on the edge, i.e. it offers material continuity between surface, edge and mass.
The result is a surprisingly natural effect, which can be appreciated in all its uniformity.
Looking at the edge of the slab, in fact, it appears to be in perfect material continuity with the surface and the edge, an aspect that had never before been possible for ceramic surfaces.

Corian® o Hanex

A material widely used in furniture and very popular for furnishing the kitchen is the innovative Corian or Hanex which has the great advantage of being able to cover large surfaces as if it were a single one. Exceptionally versatile and ductile, it can take on the most varied shapes, integrate different pieces by welding the different parts together, completely eliminating joint signs, such as the worktop and sink basin, which are created in perfect continuity.

Made from a combination of marble dust, bauxite, acrylic resins, polyepoxides and pigments, they can be cleaned every day with a degreaser. However, be careful not to leave the stains on the surface for too long because they risk penetrating into the deeper layers and remaining indelibly integrated into the surface. Compact, non-porous, non-toxic material, resistant to external agents and easy to clean. However, it is important to remember that this material is thermoformed, therefore it does not appreciate direct heat sources much, but, in the case of deep scratches, this same characteristic allows it to be regenerated to be as good as new.

The Corian® or Hanex resin top is:

• it is homogeneous and translucent;
• cleans quickly;
• resists normal stresses;
• can be regenerated from scratches.

Marble

When it comes to choosing materials for kitchen worktops, marble certainly represents one of the most interesting alternatives: precious by definition, never the same, available in exclusive colours, it can be treated every day with bicarbonate of soda and Marseille soap. To maintain its beauty, however, it is essential to avoid using products such as bleach, keep the top dry and pay attention to stains from oil, lemon and colored liquids. To make the marble more resistant, it is also recommended to carry out a good water-oil-repellent treatment before installation.

Quartz

The alternative to marble for its range of natural colors and performance in the kitchen is represented by Quartz worktops, a compound made up of a high percentage of natural quartz and small quantities of glass and other materials, added to the compound to create texture more or less dotted and shiny. Quartz is a non-porous material, guarantees very high hygienic and antibacterial standards, and is resistant to heat and shocks. Its consistency also ensures high resistance to stains and means that it does not require major cleaning maintenance.

Laminate

Another widely used option for kitchen worktops is laminate which, available in many colors for different surfaces, is practical and its great advantage is that it can be combined with the colors of your kitchen. In itself, laminate does not require great attention when cleaning and a simple detergent with a non-abrasive cloth is enough to clean surfaces made with this material. However, do not place hot pans directly on the surface, but always use a trivet and always use cutting boards to slice food.

The Laminate collection can also include Unicolor Laminate which is a laminate made from multiple layers of decorative paper sheets impregnated with melamine resins. The main feature is that the color is uniformly distributed over the entire thickness giving the “all-color” effect even on the edges. It has the qualities of resistance, durability and versatility of laminate, surpassing it in aesthetic value, especially on the edges.
Dibiesse removed this finish from the range a few years ago due to its high costs, opting for a more accessible and no less performing laminate with a unicolor edge.
This choice combines the aesthetics of the all-color edge with all the properties of the practical laminate.

HPL

HPL (High Pressure Laminate) are decorative high pressure laminates made up of overlapping layers of cellulose fiber (60% paper) impregnated with polymerized thermosetting melamine resin (the remaining 30/40%). These layers are subjected to a process in which heat and pressure join them resulting in a homogeneous and non-porous material, very stable and resistant.
This technique also allows you to create thicknesses that vary from a few mm to more significant thicknesses. Dibiesse offers its range in 12 mm thickness.
HPL surfaces can have the thickness (core) in the same color as the upper decorative sheets, which give the color of the surfaces, or have the intermediate layers in a solid color, e.g. black.
This type of coating is characterized by high resistance to impacts, heat and other mechanical and chemical stresses. Furthermore, since the resins are thermosetting, HPL laminate retains its rigidity even at high temperatures.

Fenix NTM

A step above laminate, innovative and versatile, made with resins treated with nanotechnologies, is Fenix NTM: an innovative material born from the processing of laminate to which nanotechnologies have been applied.

It involves a multilayer coating, treated with new generation nanoparticles and acrylic resins, hardened and fixed through an innovative cold polymerization method (the Electron Beam Curing process).
The workmanship makes the material soft to the touch, anti-fingerprint, opaque and extremely resistant, so much so that it can withstand bumps and scratches, but also the attack of solvents and reagents typically used in domestic cleaning. FENIX NTM also resists heat better (although it is always advisable to use cutting boards and trivets to avoid compromising the surfaces).

FENIX NTM is also water-repellent, hygienic and mold-resistant, perfectly suitable for contact with food and easy to clean.

More and more often, the integration of the sink with the kitchen top is required, to eliminate junction points where dirt and stagnant water accumulate more easily. This choice also improves the aesthetic result, eliminating visual interruptions and obstacles on the work surface. To respond to this request, Fenix has partnered with Elleci and offers in the range the coordinated solution of the washing area in the same color and perfectly integrated with the worktop.
The collection was created with a mixture of ceramic nanoparticles and six innovative acrylic resins.
This exclusive composition makes the sinks highly resistant to impacts and thermal shocks and a soft and easily cleanable surface, in the eye-catching colors of the Fenix NTM range.

The flow of water over the surfaces of the sink is called the “lotus effect”, which therefore leaves less stagnation and consequently fewer streaks.

Steel

Steel is undoubtedly also among the best materials for kitchen tops, which gives the room character, elegance and style. Hygienic, pleasing to the eye and usable as a single surface for the worktop, sink and stove. Scratches undoubtedly represent its biggest problem, but the charm of the material in question also lies in the fact that it is a little marked. Since steel does not require particular treatments, water and vinegar or a specific detergent are ideal for keeping it clean over time.