Kitchen Ideas - Worktop Protector

Imagine our dismay when we learnt that most modern worktops are neither heat nor stain-proof. Instead the manufacturers used terms like "heat-resistant" and "stain-resistant" to sell their products. To us that is as good as saying the worktops are affected by heat and attract stains.

In future we would likely consider solid wood worktops. Properly sealed and finished, solid wood worktops are probably the most heat-proof and stain-proof worktops we know, and hence easy to maintain.

But for the time being, what can we do to ensure our new acrylic worktop doesn't show stains or heat rings after hot pots have been placed on it?

We don't like those metal trivets with legs sold at hardware stores. They rust and are ugly, and you need several sizes to place your pots and pans. Neither do we like round or rectangular woven rattan or bamboo pads. Usually they are somewhere else when we need them! And lest we forget, be mindful the pads stain the worktop when wet as the pads are usually dyed and brightly colored.

So we got our tiler to smoothen the edges of a left-over 45cm x 30cm white wall tile, attach plastic pads onto the four underside corners, and viola, we've got our worktop protector !

Stick rubber or plastic disks to each underside corner of the tile


Worktop protector made from left-over wall tile


If your renovation has already been completed and the tiler is no longer around, simply use a whetstone (aka knife sharpening stone) to smoothen the sharp edges of the tile. We learnt that from our glass-cutter. He had used a whetstone to smoothen the sharp edges of glass panels he had cut. Very effective!