Continuing from this year, a huge kitchen trend for 2025 will be the continued popularity of the slimline worktop. Thicker worktops are losing their presence in the home and being replaced by smooth, sleek worksurfaces for a minimalistic and stylish look. Going slim on the surface allows the kitchen units to breathe in design, without being overcrowded by a chunky worktop. This works particularly well if you are opting for brightly coloured or patterned units that demands other kitchen elements to be muted to keep the focus on the main star. Equally, if you are opting for slimline worksurfaces in a bold or brightly coloured pattern, what better way to create some lightness and space in your design than to make the surfaces thinner, thus not overbearing? There are plenty of ways to introduce slimline worksurfaces into your new kitchen design. Below, we will examine the advantages and considerations to help you determine if this trend is for you.
Here at solid surfacing, we have produced many successful kitchen worktop designs in homes not just local to us in Kidderminster, but across the country too. We can confirm that Slimline worktops look and perform fabulously well, thanks to the use of robust worktop materials such as solid surface and solid grade laminate, even at just 12mm thick. We can also offer a select number of laminate worktops in 22mm for those on an extra tight budget. Let’s delve into the pros and cons of each.
Ideal for those on a tighter budget, slimline square edge laminate is the most expensive laminate worktop choice you can make but still a less expensive alternative to solid grade laminate and solid surface. Brands such as Egger and Bushboard options offer a small, select range of decors to suit a few different pallettes, but here at Solid surfacing, we provide a bespoke laminate worktop service where our clients can choose any décor, size, and thickness, and we can make it to order. The cost of this often comes in at the same price as the square edge decors already available, so it’s always worth a price enquiry! Restrictions when using laminate worktops include sit-on sinks only due to the core not being water resistant, and sizing issues, particularly if you have a large run of worktop or an island where you don’t want unnecessary joins.
Possibly the largest part of the slimline worktop trend has derived from the rising popularity of solid grade laminate (or compact grade laminate as it is also known). It is a totally versatile, incredibly hard wearing and waterproof material that comes in an enormous range of decors, ranging from bright colours to woodgrains and traditional stone decors. Solid grade laminate is classically recognisable by its black core, but it is also available in white, grey, or brown to match the chosen worktop colour. Any stainless steel, plastic or granite sink can be paired with solid grade laminate, and drainer grooves can also be machined into the surface as shown below.
The ultimate choice for a slimline worktop is solid surface material. It is often but not always the most expensive out of the three material choices here but comes with the advantage of being totally repairable should anything ever happen during it’s lifetime, incredibly hardwearing and robust anyway, completely waterproof and can be seamlessly joined for the optimal hygiene and low maintenance. There are no real drawbacks from having solid surface as any size is achievable without joins, any sink option can be selected, and the splashbacks, sills and upstands can all be blended perfectly into one for ease of cleaning. We have countless decors to suit every palette stretched over more than 8 brands. Head over to our materials section to find out more.
Tight on space? Colour matching + sleekness = amazing results We can prove it! Just check out the worktops we fitted for our customer in Worcester city centre last year. They colour matched the slim line laminate work surface with the units and sink to create a neat and tidy kitchenette with a minimalistic finish- perfect for a studio apartment where living, dining, and cooking have to be shared in one versatile setting!
Before opting for a slimline worktop, certain things are important to take into consideration to make sure the process goes smoothly. An example of this is your hob. Hobs can often have a restriction on minimum thicknesses that are acceptable to make sure that the hob can operate smoothly and that the warranty will not be invalidated by going against the manufacturer’s recommendations. It is also important to consider how high the worktop will be, and if you are replacing the worktops only, it is likely that your previous tops were made of thicker material. This may leave a discrepancy if there are existing tiles on the wall, but this can easily be masked with an upstand.
There is more than one way to jump on this trend if you prefer for your worktops to be thicker than 12mm Edging styles that are either tapered or stepped back, can create a feeling of space and a slim profile by optical illusion. Below, we show two ways of doing this., The first is a shark nose which can be applied to any thickness of worktop, and simply involves a tapering of the edge. The second is a profile that is exclusive to solid surface. This is achieved by taking the original 12mm material and applying a down stand on the surface that is set back from the original profile- creating the illusion that the material is only 12mm yet creating distance between the worktop and the unit doors. Both options here are paired perfectly with handless doors that are opened from the top.
12mm on the top and 12mm at the back. The cladding/ slabbing effect is very in right now. Having the same thickness and material for a backsplash and for a worktop gives a uniformed wow-factor that is perfectly shown off in the example display here in our showroom. The matching yet bold décor creates interest, and the slimline appearance from our stepped back profile elevates the worktop above the units.
