Before we know it, it’s going to be time to box up the barbecue and pack away the plancha, which means that cooking exclusively indoors will be the only option again, until next summer. Just before that time comes is a great time to make sure your wooden worktops are in good order, so that you can enjoy your days and evenings in the kitchen to the max. Irrespective of whether you imagine yourself in the Great British Bake Off or you’re more of a Jamie Oliver fan, having your kitchen in good shape is a really important part of the process. One thing that is well worth doing before the winter cooking season, or you’re facing cooking Christmas dinner, is getting your solid wood worktop in great shape.
You should start by clearing your worktop so you can work unhindered, ideally allowing yourself sufficient time between starting and finishing the job before you need to use the kitchen again. In the ideal world, you should allow between 24 and 48 hours for a really good worktop maintenance job.
One of the most important things to do before taking any drastic action is to check your worktop for stains or dents. Light staining can normally be removed by rubbing your worktop gently with wire wool that has been soaked in lemon oil. This will work in many cases and is definitely the best way to start. If the stains on your worktop are deeper-rooted, you’ll need to sand away the finish on your worktop so you can gain access to the stain. Once you’re down to naked wood, you should first try brushing or blotting bleach on the stain. Although this may sound harsh, bleach works really well on wood stains and should be your first port of call. If needs be, try leaving the bleach on the worktop overnight. If that doesn’t work, it’s well worth trying a commercial wood bleach which you will be able to source from your worktop supplier or a good DIY shop. And if that doesn’t do the trick, you’ll have no option but to scrape the stains away, but this is best avoided if at all possible.
If your worktop gets dented it’s best if you deal with the dent straight away. Often just a light spray of water will encourage the dent to disappear but if water alone doesn’t make the dent vanish, then placing a damp cloth on the surface and going over the dent with an iron should do the trick. The moisture of the water and the heat of the iron will normally result in the dent rising back to the surface.
Once you’ve removed any stains and dents, it’s time to get to work re-oiling your worktop. Ideally you should aim to re-oil your worktop three to four times a year to keep in in tiptop shape. Oiling your worktop is a great way to prevent it from becoming damaged from spills as well as making sure it doesn’t bow or warp. One of the most important things when you do this is to work is to choose a good quality oil.
What you need to do is apply the first coat of worktop oil with a brush, making sure you apply a generous amount of oil. Thereafter, the subsequent coats should be applied with a clean, lint-free cloth, making sure you wipe away any surplus as you go. If you find that you get build-up and end up with blemishes once you’ve finished, you can work these away with a scouring pad, always making sure you work with the grain. When the oil has dried, simply buff up the worktop using a soft, lint-free cloth.
There’s no getting away from the fact that solid wood worktops require maintenance, but once you’ve got your worktop looking like new again, you’ll soon appreciate how worthwhile your efforts are. That said, once you’re at the point of having carried out your regular maintenance, it’s well worth planning for prevention rather than cure, so you avoid having too much work next time. Here are our Top Tips for keeping your worktop looking great:
- Fix dents as they appear. Any fresh dent will be easier to deal with than a 6-month old issue.
- Mop up stains and spills as soon as they happen. Moisture and food stains are a real enemy for solid wood and the sooner they’re mopped up, the less likely they are to pose a problem.
- Make sure you invest in a good quality pan/pot stand and use it religiously to avoid damage from heat. Otherwise, if you’re installing a new worktop, why not invest in our ingenious ‘hot rods’?