http://www.thebutcherblocktop.com/
http://www.mapleblock.com/
http://blocktop.net/
http://www.perfectplank.com/
Grothouse Lumber has gorgeous stuff but is $$$:
www.glumber.com

The others are just sites I saved/bookmarked after doing some research. HTH.

Remodelfla, thank you! I was trying to find Grothouse online and couldn't. Did you end up with wood counters? If so, where did you get them and what kind? Thanks again.

I dream of being far enough along to get to counters. In fact, we haven't even done demo yet! But... I've spent 2 years researching and collecting information. When I do order some kind of end grain BB (whether it be part of a counter or just a large cutting board)... I am going to treat myself to Grothouse. I learned about them on this forum and every counter I've seen from them has been absolutely glorious and the posters report complete satisfaction. I know I will pay dearly for it; but am willing to do so.

Unclear to me whether you're looking for a butcher block countertop (many smaller strips of wood) vs a plank countertop. I'm thinking you want a plank counter when you mentioned reclaimed & ogee edge. If that's the case, expect to pay significantly more dearly for plank.

Another wood to consider--Mesquite (butcher block)

http://www.premiummesquitecompany.com/products.html

http://www.roundblocks.com/counters.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: Premium Mesquite Company

Hi Kelleg -

Our island is just about your size - 92x42. At one end we have a run of soapstone and our prep sink (facing the cooktop). The balance of the island is reclaimed oak planks that I finished myself with Waterlox. The piece is 67x42 and was custom made from a local company called Timeless Materials, about an hour outside Toronto. They specialise in reclaimed wood materials and other architectural salvage.

They were great to deal with, and super reasonable. I don't know how much typical butcher block runs for the size we have, but our beautiful piece was $850 (or about $600 in US dollars). That's worth the price to me to get something that looks like it belongs in my 100 year old home!

The link is below.

HTH...
Eliz

Here is a link that might be useful: Timeless Materials

The link to Grothouse is below. They have really beautiful stuff!

Here is a link that might be useful: Grothouse Lumber

We got our island top from grothouse and had a really good experience with them - they had top-notch customer service. You can also buy a wood top from Ikea in certain sizes.

Pricing seems very good from this source:

Here is a link that might be useful: Hardwood Lumber

This is where we got ours.

Here is a link that might be useful: Atlantic Hardwoods

Great information from everyone. Thank you. Eliz, do you have pictures of your countertop? It sounds great. And a GREAT price. The bid I got from my cabinet maker was somewhere around $5,000!!!! I thought that was crazy. I was kind of thinking $3K. But, under $1K sounds even better. Maybe what the cabinet guy was suggesting was really high end. I don't really know...

Anyway, thanks everyone for your help.

Ikea has wood countertops, and I would venture to guess the best prices!
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40091673

Carla in Sac

Hi Kelleg - sorry for the late reply - meant to post a pic earlier but I've been away over the holidays. Here is the wood counter. As I mentioned, Timeless did it to our specs; we had to have it match up with our soapstone island end.

{{!gwi}}

HTH!
Eliz

We are in the middle of a kitchen face-lift. We had the hardwood refinished in the summer and now we are painting the cabinets and putting in new counter tops. Here are some pictures of the Ikea oak butcher block that we put on the peninsula. The size of the peninsula is 6'x3' and the top was less than $200.

Before:

After:

I did not clean the top before taking the pictures so there is some play dough and glitter on it.

Love that Ikea top. Thanks for sharing. Does it come that color or did you stain it?

ikea tops are inexpensive, well made and easy to install.

The Ikea oak butcher block is only oiled. It has one coat of oil on it when you get it and I have been oiling it with the Ikea tung oil that they sell at the store.

The oil seeps into the wood to provide a water proof finish. You only need to sand out any scratches and re-oil to keep the finish looking good.

If you don't want to keep oiling, you can also use a finish like waterlox, which is what Jenswrens used for her beautiful Ikea beech counter

More details in this thread:

Here is a link that might be useful: wood counters and a sink

Does anyone know if you can order IKEA wood counters in any size, or only in standard sizes? It looked like on their website that they only had certain dimensions available.

Ikea counters only come in their standard sizes.

Dreamsalive--Check out industrial workbench tops for a wider range of sizes. Here is an example:

Here is a link that might be useful: Industrial Butcher Block Tops

ci lantro,
brilliant idea! thanks so much for the link! i hope they can do a custom size - I'll call. thanks again!

If you have a wood counter, would you please share with me how you use it... I'm looking to create a French Country kitchen, and would love to use wood on my island, but am concerned with the practicality and cost of using wood. Any info that you can offer would be SOOO much appreciated:

Do you chop on yours?
Can you put a hot cookie sheet on it without causing damage?
How often do you treat it? How do you treat it?
Do you think it would be a practical surface for an island top?
Do you have a sink in your wood counter? If so, any problems with water damage?
Are all wood counters known as butcher block, or is butcher block a more "cost-effective" style of wood counter?
Was your wood counter comperable in price to a standard granite, or is it typically way more $$? If you don't mind sharing, how much did you spend on your wood counter, and what are the dimensions of it?
Please attach pics if you have any with any information you can provide.

ps. how in the world do I get replies from this thread emailed to me?? Yep, I'm a rookie already addicted to this forum - LOVE IT!

You can only get replies emailed to you if you start the thread and request them when starting the thread.

I don't chop on mine.
I don't put hot cookie sheets on mine.
I've only treated twice in 3 years. Good Stuff for Wood.
I think it's practical and have had no problems.
I have a sink. No water damage, but we're good about wiping splatters.
Mine is not butcher block. Not all wood counters are butcher block. Butcher block is more cost effective.
Less than the granite I selected for rest of kitchen and laundry room.

You are officially TKO. :D (Totally Kitchen Obsessed). Welcome to the club!

Hi Kelleg, I had a carpenter/craftsman build me my 4x6 cherry edge grain block for less than $900 (friend of a friend discount, I think).Originally, I planned to cut on it. If I would've been cutting on the entire surface I might have-I didn't think that just one section (by the stove) getting more distressed and scratched would look very good. I have put hot baking sheets on it with no problem. You do want to avoid putting anything iron on wood because it draws out the tannins(sp?)in the wood and causes black stains.My wood expert told me this, and I believe him!I almost ordered from John Boos online. They have a good variety of sizes, woods, and I think they do custom sizes. HTH I'll try to attach a link.Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: john boos for butcher block

Here a a couple more sources. The butcherblock specialist has reasonable prices and free shipping, and the Devos woodworking site has some really gorgeous stuff

www.butcherblockspecialist.com

Here is a link that might be useful: gorgeous wood countertops

I got end grain Brazilian Cherry for my island from Grothouse and could not be more satisfied with the transaction and with the island top. I think delivered it was about $3K for a 44" x 74". The edge grain is less expensive as is the flat grain.

below is a link to grothouse. the second down in the right column is very much what mine looks like.

Here is a link that might be useful: grothouse

robynpa - I'm assuming you had to cut 1 of those pieces of butcherblock in half and then glue it together. What did you use to cut it, glue it? Can you tell that there is a seam there? Thanks

Dreamsalive, I have an Ikea oak counter in my waiting-to-be-remodeled kitchen (I got one of their free-standing pieces to hold stuff in the meantime). I oil it with mineral oil from the drug store occasionally and use it for baking and serving wine and stuff. I clean it like I do my pink Corian counters--soapy sponge--but I dry it if it's soppy.

I haven't had it long enough (or abused it enough) to need sanding but of course mine is small enough it wouldn't be a big deal. The most abuse it gets is me dragging my Jumbo KA stand mixer across it when I want to use it. No dents yet.

Do you chop on yours? NO--you'd want end-grain for that because it sort of self-heals.

Can you put a hot cookie sheet on it without causing damage? I have, but mine is "temporary kitchen". No damage. I wouldn't put down a hot casserole though. And I'd be more careful on a more expensive/permanent installation.

How often do you treat it? How do you treat it? Every few months with drug store mineral oil.

Do you think it would be a practical surface for an island top? Yes, that's pretty much what mine is. A dry island, of course. I don't do enough maintenance to have it by a sink.

If you don't mind sharing, how much did you spend on your wood counter, and what are the dimensions of it? Mine is 52x27", and part of a freestanding unit. Love the whole thing for function, and the countertop is attractive (the rest of the unit not so pretty but oh-so functional!)

We plan to get an IKEA numerar oak countertop for our 4x8 peninsula. two of the 25x96 pieces glued and blocked together will cover it. we also plan to experiment with putting on an ogee edge with our router.

Someone mentioned using the oil from Ikea on their counter and said it was tung oil. I believe the Ikea countertop oil is linseed oil, not tung. I am most comfortable with the track record of waterlox. I have not seen waterlox users complain of warping, cracking, rotting, staining, or other failures, as some of the mineral oil users have.

We are also using IKEA butcherblock for our peninsula. It will have an undermounted prep sink, and we plan to finish it with multiple coats of waterlox. A friend of ours, who does woodworking, is going to rout an edge for us as well.

I am trying to decide if I would like to stain it darker first.

In Seattle, reclaimed urban trees
that must be removed are then
given a preserved afterlife by
www.citytreesfurniture.com.
I think this is a fabulous idea!
and a beautiful product!

Maybe this is just me, but I can smell my waterlox samples (from Devos and Brooks Custom)...even after nine months.

Yes, the Waterlox treatment is extremely robust. I left everything I could think of on our samples, including lemon, ketchup, wine, oil, straight white vinegar, Clorox cleaner. No damage. That stuff is amazing. (Dents are more reflective of the hardness of the wood itself, so the brazilian cherry dented waaayyy less than the cherry.)

That said, those samples are from last April and I can easily smell them and the reek of Waterlox. When wood finishers make furniture, they NEVER use that kind of product on the inside of drawers because it will seemingly gas off forever. They use shellac - which isn't tough enough to withstand your project use, but it doesn't smell months later.

I know someone whose husband put a Waterlox-type product (medium polymerizing oil) on the inside of an unfinished armoire. Oops. That was seven years ago and that piece is still out in her garage, smelling.

I don't know if that smell ever goes away, and I wouldn't have it in my kitchen. This is why we are not going with Brooks or Devos. (I wanted wide plank, and Waterlox is all they'll use.)

Get a sample of the finish from one of the companies above and make sure you can stand the smell.

stw954, that is most important to know in advance, Thanks!

We got our unfinished walnut countertop from Atlantic Hardwoods in Maine for $350. Our top is for a hutch/cabinet which measures 114 X 18. We then finished it ourselves with 3 coats of the regular finish Waterlox (strong smell) and then 4 more coats of the Waterlox in the Satin finish (less strong smell). It was not hard to do, (it was my first time doing any kind of wood finishing) and is holding up beautifully. There is absolutely no smell at all lingering from the Waterlox. I would highly recommend Waterlox and if you want to finish the top yourself, you cannot beat Atlantic Hardwoods price.

I'm also curious about the seam if you put two IKEA wood counters together. Has anyone done this? Do you have pix? Would it look ok?
The prices can't be beat, but, our island is set to be about 5 feet by 5 feet - definately not your standard long and thin island!
TIA!

Malgold, I am sorry I just saw your question today. That piece of butcher block is one piece. We had to cut about 2" off of the length but the width was perfect for us.

Another Waterlox fan here. I finished our island with a combo of regular and satin finish and there is absolutely no smell - just beautiful satiny wood!

Eliz

I am thinking of a wood counter top for our 8 x 42" island. My wife is afraid it will look to countryish. The kitchen has cherry cabinets and we are doing granite around the perimeter. It has sort of a tuscan feel to it. Anyone think it would work?

Try Evertsen Brothers. Located in Peterborough, Ontario about an hour North East of Toronto. Wood countertops are all they do.
Pricing will range from $40 - $65 / sq ft for 1 1/2' thick edge grain tops and from $110 - $170 / sq ft for 4' thick end grain butcherblock, depending on the wood species used.

They mainly use a permanent tung oil finish that provides a no maintenance finish that'll last a lifetime, available in 3 different sheen levels, satin, original and glossy.

All pricing includes finish and choice of edge details.

I used them for my kitchen. My wife and I love our countertops. So happy we went this route instead of granite.

www.evertsenbrothers.com

Here is a link that might be useful: eb home page

I know this post is somewhat old, but thought I'd pass along a really useful link for wood countertop pricing. I just received my wood island from Craft Art and it is gorgeous! A friend who was at a party at my house told me she went to Craft art's website and said they now have an online pricing thingy to calculate your wood top price real time. I love my Craft Art top so much I wanted to share the link with everyone to see if it would help!

http://www.craft-art.com/products/get-a-quote/

Here is a link that might be useful: Craft Art Online Pricing