I believe my client selected antique elm and had a local man build this. If you do not care for the orange/red appearance, then heart pine would NOT be recommended. IF you indeed select antique heart pine, obtain samples of the stock the shop plans to use and have someone else with knowledge of woods determine the approximate grade. Large sawmill operations in the area should be able to provide you a contact for this service. Your island will be a focal point of your home and a little extra effort may prove to be of huge benefit.

If you are considering "new heart pine", it is not great alternative to true, #1 Grade antique heart pine. It is much softer and will lack the density of antique.


Unfortunately, in our industry, the term "antique heart pine" is overused and abused. In my opinion, wood must generally be salvaged from structures built in the 1800s, no later than 1905, to be considered antique. Later than that, it is simply just old wood. Professional timber graders have to devote a tremendous amount of time earning their degree. Whereas anyone else in the trade can sound like an expert to a novice. Commonly, people simply differentiate as #1 or #2 Grade, including me. In my opinion, #1 Grade timbers/dimension lumber or river recovered logs, must have a MINIMUM of 15+ growth rings, per 1 inch of growth. This reflects that the tree only expanded 1" in 15+ years. This would be the only suitable antique heart pine for your application or for quality flooring.


The #2 Grade material is much more common, less desirable and therefore cheaper for suppliers to acquire. Unfortunately, before I started our business 8 years ago, a local milling group supplied our "antique heart pine" flooring. With the knowledge I now have, suffice to say I do not believe we actually have the quality "antique heart pine" we were lead to believe. Our flooring is soft, easily dented and at some point, we will remove the pine and install antique white oak or chestnut.

We build most of our island tops from either antique white oak or antique hickory. I never suggest red oak, which has a much greater porosity and can exhibit the red you are trying to avoid. Antique beech is a beautiful wood and I am about to design a table made from this species.

Most of the cost of wooden island tops is derived from the labor and time. Therefore, I feel certain we can craft a top to your specifications and ship to wherever you reside, for possibly less than someone local employing new, fresh sawn wood. The island top shown above was an alternative to a butcher block top from new oak for $5,000. A top of this size would approximate $2,700 with us. Your finishing/trim carpenter should be easily able to install on your base cabinets.


Regardless where you acquire a wooden island top, each of our clients have commented that the feature is one of their favorite features in their home. The tops seem to draw people in, like a moth to a flame.

Installing antique wood can create what is essentially a fine piece of furniture. This was one of the driving forces for adding a custom design/build line to my business. My tag line is "Heirloom Furniture for you Home" and I, somewhat jokingly, add one will create " a heritage piece for siblings to fight over for decades".

I did not mean for this to sound like a lecture or an infomercial, but I enjoy helping people and sharing knowledge. Seriously, in the event you select a local shop, I invite you to send quality, close-up photographs of the end-grain and top surface to my direct email of Fletcher@ABMWOOD.COM. I will respond with my opinion to ensure you will truly have the material as billed.

Good luck and hope some of this has helped
Fletcher Horn