Kitchen Fitting

Blown laminate worktop - is this inevitable and are there any solutions?

Anonymous user 09/03/2024 - 2.55 PM

I had a Howdens kitchen, with laminate worktop, fitted almost exactly a year ago (February 2017) in my 1 bedroom flat. It's a small-ish u-shaped worktop with a sink in the middle section of the 'u'. The join of the laminate worktop is a few centimetres (about 3-4cm) from the sink. Realistically, it would be difficult or impossible to put a worktop joint anywhere else in the kitchen. A couple of days after the kitchen installation was finished, I noticed that the worktop was blown around the join, clearly due to water ingress. The firm that arranged the fitting arranged for the worktop to be replaced, which was done a few months later (in June). On the second occasion they took great care to tell me that the appropriate fillers and sealants had been used, as per the manufacturer's instructions. Seven months later (February 2017) the worktop has blown once again around the same joint. It's not unmanageable at the moment but is only going to get worse. The area has been splashed with water (it's near a sink, after all) but has not been soaked in a way that you would otherwise expect. My questions are: 1) Is this common after 7 months? Does it indicate that the worktop has been incorrectly fitted or is it inevitable with laminate worktops so close to a sink? 2) Is it avoidable? Is there a way of replacing the worktop with laminate which will guarantee that it doesn't happen again? 3) Is there a cheaper (and lower maintenance) option than a granite worktop which would be impervious to water entry? A granite worktop seems a bit excessive (and expensive) for my one-bed ex-local authority flat. Thanks in advance of your help and apologies for all the questions! [EDIT - Many thanks very much to all the respondents below for taking the time to respond - much food for thought.]