Hi All,

I'm new to Houzz. Great site, wish I had found it years ago.

I am in the process of re-modeling a fixer-upper house and have a question concerning countertops. I want to go with butcher block counters and I have come across an opportunity to acquire enough maple to do the job at a can't resist price. It works out to about $7 a linear foot

The huge bonus is the wood is precut at 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" and coincidental they are 25" long. So, I can "lay" the strips "vertically", along the depth of the counter and perpendicular to the wall, instead of going the traditional long, horizontal direction. The major advantage I see is there will be no staggered seams in the counter, where the wood strips would normally need to be butted together at the end of strips. and It will be much easier to glue up this way.

The butcher block will run about 10' altogether, about 5' on each side of the sink. I plan to use about 12" of stone or tile on each side of the sink to minimize water damage to the wood from splashback, etc from the sink.

The butcher-block will not be used as an actual cutting surface. (I will make a couple of cutting boards out of the same stock.)

Any comments/opinions about how it will look running the butcher block the depth of the counter instead of along the horizontal length of the counter? Will it just look weird or too unconventional for a future buyer of the house? I had a glance through some of the photos on file here at Houzz but I ddin't see any examples of it done this way.

Thanks.