How Much Does a New Kitchen Worktop Cost? UK Price Per Material 2026
If you are replacing your kitchen worktop, the price comes down almost entirely to which material you choose. Laminate starts at around £40 per metre. Premium marble, Dekton and ceramic can run to £1,000 per metre or more. That is not a small gap, it is more than a twentyfold difference. This guide shows the price for each material, what you actually get for the money, and how fitting comes in on top.
Why the price varies so much
A worktop comes down to three things: how dense and hard-wearing the surface is, how heavy the material is to work with and fit, and how much of the job is skilled hand-fabrication versus fast machine production. Laminate is a thin surface bonded to a chipboard core, quick to produce and straightforward to fit. Natural stone has to be cut, polished and carried into place by people who know exactly what they are doing, often as a two-person job. That gap in skilled labour explains most of the price spread far more than the raw material cost on its own.
See our new kitchen price guide if you are replacing the whole kitchen, not just the worktop. If you only want to refresh the doors and worktop and keep the cabinets, see our kitchen facelift price guide as well.
Price per material
| Material | Price per metre | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Laminate | £40-£150 | Tight budgets, huge choice of finishes |
| Solid wood | £100-£250 | A warm look, can be sanded back if damaged |
| Composite/quartz | £200-£800 | A dense surface that resists staining |
| Natural stone (granite/marble) | £250-£1,000 | A one-of-a-kind look, handles heat well |
| Dekton/ceramic | £350-£1,000 | Extremely hard-wearing, resists heat and scratches |
Prices are per linear metre at a standard 600mm depth, supplied and fitted, before any sink or hob cutouts. A typical UK kitchen has somewhere between 4 and 7 linear metres of worktop, depending on whether it is a single run, an L-shape, or a U-shape with an island. Our new kitchen price guide puts the worktop line for a full kitchen project at £200 to £3,500, which is exactly the laminate-to-quartz range this table explains: that guide's figure is scoped to the two most commonly fitted materials, while the wider table here covers the full spread up to natural stone and Dekton or ceramic at the premium end.
The five materials, in detail
Laminate is a thin plastic laminate pressed onto a chipboard or MDF core. The cheapest version starts at around £40 per metre, while compact (high-pressure) laminate, a thicker and more durable version without a chipboard core underneath, starts at roughly £90 to £150 per metre. Laminate will not tolerate heat or cuts directly on the surface, but it is by far the most budget-friendly choice, and comes in an enormous range of colours and patterns, including convincing stone-look finishes.
Solid wood, typically oak or another hardwood, starts at around £100 to £120 per metre for standard grades, rising to £150 to £250 per metre for premium or wider boards. A timber worktop gives a kitchen a warm, lived-in look, and its biggest advantage is that the surface can be sanded down and re-oiled if it gets scratched or stained, unlike most other materials. The trade-off is that wood needs more upkeep and copes less well with moisture around the sink and hob.
Composite and quartz start at around £200 to £300 per metre for standard grades, rising to £600 to £800 per metre for premium colours and finishes. These worktops are made mostly from crushed quartz bound with resin, which creates a completely non-porous surface. Nothing soaks in, so stains from red wine, oil or citrus are rarely a problem. This is the material most often recommended to people who cook a lot and want to stop thinking about maintenance.
Natural stone, meaning real granite or marble, starts at around £250 to £270 per metre for granite. Marble typically costs more and can run well past £600, up to £1,000 or more per metre for premium or book-matched slabs. Granite is extremely hard and copes with a hot pan straight off the hob better than most alternatives. Marble is often considered the more beautiful of the two, but it is more porous and so more prone to staining, especially from acidic liquids. Both are genuinely unique stones, so no two worktops ever look quite the same.
Dekton and ceramic sit at the top of the price range. Standard large-format porcelain starts at around £350 per metre, while genuine Dekton and other premium ultra-compact surfaces typically start higher, from around £500 per metre, and can climb past £900 to £1,000 per metre for large-format or bespoke slabs. These are the most hard-wearing worktops on the market, engineered to resist heat, scratches and chemicals without visible marks. The price reflects both the material and the fact that these slabs need specialist tools and real experience to cut and fit correctly.
Fitting comes on top
The material prices above are for the worktop itself. Fitting is a separate cost, and it scales with how heavy and awkward the material is to handle. As a guide, a fitter's day rate in the UK typically runs £150 to £350, and how many days you need depends on the material:
- Laminate and stainless steel, the lightest materials, are usually a single day's work, commonly £100 to £350 in labour for a typical run with a sink cutout.
- Solid wood takes a little longer to scribe and finish neatly, typically £150 to £600 in labour.
- Composite, quartz, granite, marble, Dekton and ceramic are heavy, rigid slabs that often need two fitters and one to one and a half days, commonly £600 to £1,500 in labour once a sink cutout and any joints are included.
Real reported jobs bear this out. One homeowner paid around £320 including VAT to have three laminate worktops fitted in a U-shape with two joints and two cutouts, a job that took a day and a half. Another paid roughly £140 just to have a solid oak worktop fitted. A worktop fitter working alone typically charges a first joint at around £90, further joints at around £50 each, and £25 per cutout on top of a base fitting charge, so a straightforward single run with no joints and one sink cutout can come in well under £200.
If you are only replacing the worktop itself and keeping the cabinets and doors, this is often a job that is done in a single day for an average kitchen. If the worktop needs to be adapted for a new sink, a new hob, or a changed layout, it takes longer and costs more.
How to choose the right material
- Think about how much you actually cook. If you cook daily, composite or natural stone is an investment that pays for itself in less maintenance and fewer stains over time.
- Weigh the budget against the lifespan. Laminate is the cheapest to buy, but typically wears out sooner than stone or composite and needs replacing again.
- Only choose solid wood if you are willing to maintain it. The reward is a worktop that can be repaired, not replaced, when it gets damaged.
- Always ask whether cutouts are included. Sink and hob cutouts are often part of the fitting price, but confirm this before you order, so there is no surprise on the invoice.
- Get at least three quotes for the material you have settled on. The price for an identical material can vary surprisingly widely between suppliers.
What to check before you order
Measure the kitchen precisely, including the depth and any corners, since a measuring error is the most common cause of delays and extra costs on a worktop swap. Check that the cabinets underneath are square and level, since a new worktop will not correct a crooked cabinet, it will only make the lean more visible. Confirm with the supplier whether removing and disposing of the old worktop is included in the price, or whether that is something you need to arrange yourself.
Frequently asked questions
Which worktop material is the most hard-wearing?
Dekton and ceramic resist the most heat, scratches and chemicals without visible marks, closely followed by composite and natural stone. Laminate and solid wood need more day-to-day care, though solid wood has the advantage that it can be sanded back and refinished if it gets damaged.
Can I replace the worktop without replacing the cabinets?
Yes, that is exactly the point of this kind of project. If the cabinets are square and in good condition, a worktop swap is one of the cheapest ways to lift a kitchen, and see our kitchen facelift price guide too if you want to refresh the doors at the same time.
How long does it take to replace a worktop?
Fitting itself typically takes a day for an average kitchen once the worktop has arrived. Lead time from order varies more, often two to six weeks depending on the material and supplier, and longer for bespoke natural stone or composite slabs that need templating.
Is a more expensive worktop always better?
Not necessarily better, but more hard-wearing and more resistant to stains and heat. If you rarely cook and care most about the look, a cheaper material such as laminate or solid wood can be the smarter choice.
Do I need a professional to fit a worktop?
For laminate and solid wood, you can do much of the job yourself with the right tools, but precise cutouts for a sink and hob are difficult to get right without experience. Heavy slab materials such as natural stone, composite and ceramic should always be fitted by professionals, both because of the weight and because a miscut in these materials cannot be repaired.
Keep the whole kitchen project in one place
A worktop swap is still quotes, measurements and deliveries to keep track of. Pilt keeps the budget, the tasks, and the before and after photos in one place. You can also upload a photo of your kitchen and see how different worktop materials would look with AI, before you order anything at all.
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