Don’t panic. Or rather, don’t panic like I did. It may not look like the wooden worktop you wanted, but everything is probably going to be OK. Read on…
I ordered my woodern worktops, along with the rest of my kitchen, from Benchmarx. Well, technically my builder did, as Benchmarx are trade only (this has advantages and disadvantages, as I’ll explain at some point). They have only one brochure, which has the following teeny weeny photo of the worktop I ordered, Acacia:
It looked to be exactly what I wanted. A fairly dark warm wood, without too much variation. It felt a bit of a risk going only on this tiny picture, but their prices were reasonable, cheaper than the B&Q equivalent by some way for example, and I could always send it back if unsuitable.
Well, I almost did send it back. The worktop that arrived was a lighter oaky colour, without any of the warmth from the photo and with what seemed like glaring variation between the individual blocks of wood. I called the builder: ‘this isn’t the colour I ordered, are you sure this is the right worktop?’. He assured me that it was definitely the right one and so, annoyed, I began to look into alternatives. I was convinced that Benchmarx had misrepresented the worktop in the photo.
Thankfully, before I went too far along this road, I spoke to a colleague who I knew had fitted a similar worktop (Iroko from Kitchen Worktops Direct, whom she highly recommended by the way) and was immediately reassured.
The key is in the Danish oil. Applying Danish oil to a wooden worktop is vital to protect it, but also has the affect of changing the colour, warming it up and darkening it considerably. Having seen the difference it made to my colleague’s worktop I decided to stick with the one I had, and I’m incredibly pleased that I did. As soon as I applied the Danish oil, and I used Liberon ‘Superior Danish Oil’, it made a huge difference. See below for before (left) and after (right) pictures of the color. I *love* it.
Here is a little taste of what it looks like installed (in my unfinished kitchen), against checked tiles and white cabinets.
Final tip: this acacia worktop is seriously hard. My builder had to buy a special (and pricey) router bit to get through it. The ones he usually used just couldn’t cut it, literally, only leaving burn marks on the wood. Apparently the guy who sold him the worktop said that kitchen installers often don’t like using this wood because it can be so hard to handle. I suspect it therefore requires a very skilled installer. For me, the result is worth it. And, with all the pain of installing it behind him, my builder did agree that it is a very fine worktop.
Fixing It Up 