When redesigning your kitchen, consider how the right worktop can provide the perfect setting for your new kitchen sink and taps. Wooden kitchen worktops can provide a beautiful aesthetic effect, although they do have disadvantages as well as advantages. Wood kitchen worktops are sealed to protect them from humidity vital when they are used in centrally heated homes and may well have been finished with lacquer, which should be reapplied every year. Oiled leather wood is tougher and more resilient against heat marks than lacquered wood. It also improves as it ages. Varnished ply board, fixed in layers to give a stripy effect, can also provide a reasonably priced worktop. The cost differs according to the type of wood and application. Clearly, in most cases, the more hardwearing the wood, the greater the cost.