Hi Joaney & Lainy I also use only windex on all my bench tops. The granite I had before was a white with a few burgundy streaks and gorgeous highlights through it. Can't remember the name, might have been River White but not sure and I found nothing stained it at all. The marble in my bathrooms I have now look very expensive and impressive but I know every single mark on them even though a visitor mightn't pick them out. In my kitchen I now have Caeser stone and if you want a virtually indestructible bench top this would be it. I have blackbutt timber floors and as they have a lot of color, I chose all white in the kitchen with just a tiny fleck. I just love granite because of the beautiful grains you get running through it.

Yes I must have ;-)). I planned to post earlier but had to hunt out the tin. It says to leave for 24hrs between coats but that’s dependent on weather conditions/humidity. I managed to get 2 coats on in a day if I started early enough & did the 2nd late afternoon. Yes, it came from Bunnings. There are others brands such as Feast Watson but I found this one really good. Put it this way those benchtops of mine (in bathroom & laundry) have been in place for over 5 years & they still look great. Correct, if you’re joining the board, don’t coat the end grain but make sure you coat the grain of your sink cutouts & also silicone well around the sinks. Good luck with it!

Hi iggs85. I see your point re cost and how you think it may look. I'll attach a photo of one of my semi-recessed basins in stone. We had to use semi-recessed due to space restrictions as well. The benches are 440. Are yours narrower? I did Google stone benchtop offcuts. eBay has some in marble and granite. There appear to be businesses that do sell offcuts. Anyway, I think you would certainly be able to find a beautiful laminate you like. There is such a wide range. There are also some that look so much like stone. Will you have vanity cabinets/drawers under the benchtop? If so, what are your thoughts there? Same laminate or different? Have you visited any shops yet to look at samples?

I have only seen one wooden bench top that has managed, over time, to keep the wet out and avoid that black mouldy creepage where the water splashes behind the taps and around tap inserts. It was built by a carpenter and then the owner applied oil to gain the colour desired before applying several coats of marine epoxy (several = at least 5), sanded back before every new layer. It was burn proof and the colour locked in by epoxy coat with no maintenance required (until a visitor put a burning pot on it and left it there while attending to fire on stove, still... only left a black ring. That said, the owner promptly got out the sander and ground back until black ring was no longer charcoal texture, then reapplied oil and layered epoxy until black ring looked like it belonged (can't do that with any other surface I can think of?). After 15 years there is no sight of the insidious black mould from water penetration so I suppose it is the same recipe as with most thing successful projects in life, research, research, preparation, preparation, preparation and don't falter at the finish line.