apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We have linoleum as a worksurface on all the tables at my office and I love it. Cutting on it does leave marks, and my over-microwaved lunches have not caused any damage so far, but that's a far cry from oven-hot.

The issue I must raise is the edging. We originally had it raw, which looked okay, but didn't stand up to the wear and tear of daily contact (the lino is coming up in a few places). We now have a powder-coated metal strip to protect the exposed edges.

My last house had RED linoleum counter tops which were probably 35 years old at the time. They were great!! My only objection was the shiny metal edging.

We also had gorgeous turquoise 50's floor which had only just developed one bad spot where the sub floor was a little uneven. My mother referred to this material as 'battle ship linoleum'

Linoleum (built-up linseed oil layers) has been around for more than half a century (at least that is as far back as I can remember). The edge condition is the clincher. The 50's metal edge must be updated!

I use cutting boards all the time, so cutting directly on my countertop hasn't been an issue, and if I have to put a hot pan on it I'll use a trivet. But if you want a surface you can totally abuse, they might not be for you. So far we've had the counters you see above for 6 months and they've been fantastic. They look good and are easy to clean!

I agree with the points that everyone else made about the edging - the raw edges of Marmoleum are delicate and can definitely break if left exposed. We glued on maple edge banding and sealed the join with an eco-friendly finish. You can see the assembly process in great detail here: Countertops Flickr Set

My apartment still has its original linoleum counter from 1926, and it's still going strong. As long as you keep the stuff waxed, it's great stuff.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a286/MAGNAVERDE/DESK--4200--linocounter--improved.jpg"

The trick is definitely to recess the linoleum into the surface plane so it is not the "edge".We use it as work surfaces all the time.