New kitchen worktop needs a join in centre of breakfast bar

Had a major extension on the back of the house 5 years ago, at that time we had a quality kitchen fitted with granite worktops, to cut a long story short we have never been happy with the size of the kitchen so we are knocking through into a shower room to enlarge the kitchen, we are able to re-use many of the base units and doors which is good because they are oak, the only issue we have is the granite, I cannot justify the expense of replacing it (it was star galaxy black and a pain to keep it sparkling) so we have decided to opt for a laminate. The worry we have is that we will have a breakfast bar of approx 1200mm wide x 1800mm length so it will need joining, probably straight down the middle. The kitchen guy has told me that if we chose the colour carefully and opt for something patterned with darker flecks in it, the joint will be almost invisible. Just wondered if anyone with some expertise can confirm that this is the case and also recommend the best type of work top to go for? Any feedback and ideas would be appreciated.

Ive always found that darker worktops are easier to loose joins in and agree with your fitter that a patterned top will be better.

Though no matter how good the join is, in the right light you will always see it.

The only other option I can think of is you choose a solid surface such as Earthstone,encore or something similar Solid surface offer seamless joins and are infinitely renewable. However the darker colours scratch very easily so I'd choose a grey/lighter colour.

Their also considerably more expensive than a laminate......

what about real wood worktops? you can get them for the same price as expensive laminates sometimes, and if you got butchers block style wprktop then the join would be invisible, would just look like its ment to be there, just an idea?

tom

handsy said:

The worry we have is that we will have a breakfast bar of approx 1200mm wide x 1800mm length so it will need joining, probably straight down the middle.

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Don't joint, it won't look right and it will always be weak! There are a few firms around who can produce post-formed worktops that size. Try Spa Laminates in Leeds. They work with all the major laminate makers, e.g. Formica (Prima), Wilsonart (Resopal), Perstorp, Polyrey, Abet Laminati, etc and will make up to the maximum sheet size less about 100mm for the two formed edges. It won't be cheap, but it will be cheaper than solid surface (Corian, etc) or granite and probably a bit under the price of solid wood. It will also be easier to keep looking good than solid wood