Choosing Worktop Edge Profiles

A true square edge looks sharpest and chips most easily. An eased edge, with a very slight radius, reads as square but survives knocks. A bevel adds a visible chamfer and suits more traditional schemes.

A 20mm top reads light and contemporary; a 60mm mitred edge reads solid and expensive. The mitre is a fabricated illusion over a thinner slab, and the quality of that joint is what separates a good fabricator from a poor one.

Carrying the worktop down the side of an island is dramatic and demands accurate vein matching at the mitre. Done well it is the single most photographed detail in a kitchen; done badly the mismatch is impossible to ignore.

Whatever profile is chosen, the detail at the sink matters most. A drainer groove, a slight fall toward the bowl and a clean undermount junction do more for daily use than the profile shape ever will.