Why choose Solid Surface?<Back to About Us Education and advice As the name suggests, solid surface is a sheet material, usually around 12mm thick, made from resin with mineral filler. This could be either acrylic or polyester based depending on the manufacturer, and is available in an incredible range of colours and patterns. Highly durable, non-porous and easy to care for and repair, solid surface products are ideal for kitchen and bathroom installations. The sheets can be moulded, shaped, bent and joined seamlessly to create solutions limited only by your imagination – making it unique amongst surfacing materials. What other material can give you a worktop of virtually any thickness, width and length with integrated sinks, upstands, wall cladding and site joints – all seamless and inconspicuous? Prestige Work Surfaces Ltd guarantee superior products delivered on time. Why use solid surface? If you want a high gloss 30mm thick top, with upstands (low rise back splash) that are planted on afterwards, with an inset stainless steel sink, don't get solid surface. It can do so much more than that. If you want a top that can be shaped, moulded and formed to a unique design, a top that is totally unaffected by moisture, to be seamless, to flow around your kitchen then use solid surface. If you want a top that is warm to the touch, in unique contemporary colours then use solid surface. If you want a top that can be looked after with minimal care, and restored at any time to its original finish, in situ, without mess or fuss, then use solid surface. Every time we fit a job with a site join, all we hear is "where's the join?" "I can't see it – that's amazing!" – that's every time. If you are going to use solid surface then really use it. Coved upstands, seamless sinks, tops of any thickness, no drip edges - these are the things that only this material can do! How much does it cost? It's very difficult to give meaningful prices without seeing a plan or discussing your requirements. It is certainly very unfair to get comparison costs for solid surface vs granite or timber. Are they seamless? Are they able to be formed to virtually any shape/thickness/width? Are they available in hundreds of colours? Are they virtually invisibly repairable? - The list goes on. Quality worktops, whatever the material, are never going to be cheap. But a kitchen worktop, even with all the advantages listed above should be similar if not a bit less than the same top in granite or wood. Prices can range from a few hundred pounds for a simple solid surface product to many thousands for a bespoke and complex designed and fitted piece. Does it stain? Solid surface won't clean itself. Only very minimal care is needed to keep it looking as good as the day it was fitted. But if you get a stubborn stain or mark, there are simple steps that can be taken by the end user to clean it off, using normal household cleaning agents. If the mark is really stubborn, we can very simply repolish the area to make it as good as new. The sheet is the same all the way through, so even if the top was never cleaned or cared for, we could at any time repolish the surface back to its original condition, with little fuss or mess. What about heat? Because solid surface is a resin-based material, care should be taken with hot pans and dishes. We recommend treating the tops like a wooden table top in respect of heat, so you wouldn't put a cast iron casserole straight out of the oven directly onto the table without using some protection, and the same applies to solid surface. We can fit stainless steel hob bars into the tops near hobs, and these allow you to put hot pans direct from the oven onto the top. A simple pan stand would be what we recommend so as to give you more worktop space. What thickness is it? One of the great advantages of solid surface is that there are no set or standard sizes. Although most kitchen worktops will be between 38mm thick, Prestige Work Surfaces Ltd can make a top of virtually any thickness, width or length – and with totally inconspicuous joins! How long will it take? We work on a 3-4 week notification to template on site, and then we aim to install 7-10 days after templating. An average kitchen top, with a couple of site joins and a backsplash would take 4-5 hours to fit on site. Will it make a mess? One of the keys to getting a great finish on solid surface is to keep dust to a minimum when polishing. We use the very latest dust extraction equipment both in the workshop and on site, and therefore we create very little dust or disruption. (Plus we work with this all the time, and don't like dust either!) Can I give you a template? We can work to client's templates, and depending on the job we are happy to do so. If the job requires us to fit on site, and the top has coved integrated upstands etc, we much prefer to template ourselves. We don't like making things twice! Can we fit it ourselves? On all 12mm thick sheet materials, if the work does not require a site join, and is straightforward to handle and deliver, yes you can. If a joint is needed, or we feel that the job is vulnerable to inexperienced handling until it is installed then we prefer to fit. We would not let an unqualified installer carry out a glued site join. Talk to us about warranty issues on supply only contracts. |

Quotation If you know what specification you require then please complete the form below and send us any drawings or a rough sketch to assist us in our quotation to: sales@prestigeworksurfaces.co.uk |
Free Site Survey If you are not sure of the specification or colour then please contact us for advice and arrange for a free, no obligation on site survey to help you with your project. |
Contact Us Telephone: 01977 793322 Lines available from:- 9.00am - 5.30pm Monday to Friday (excluding Public Holidays) Email: sales@prestigeworksurfaces.co.uk ![]() |