What is they layout of your kitchen? Can you do butcher block on an island or a non-wet counter and something else by the sink?

I went down the butcher block countertop rabbit hole three years ago when I redid my kitchen. Europeans love them and think they are great. Americans say not to have them near a sink because they get stained and start to rot from wetness around the faucet and splashing etc. A great friend of mine is an interior designer who lives part time in the US and part-time France. I asked what gives - how can their be such a huge divide on opinions?

She said yes, Europeans think they work and are fine because they don't mind some discoloration and staining. In fact, to their eye there is no discoloration or staining. But take the same countertop and her American clients would have a fit. I love a good patina and some age to my vintage pieces, but decided I'm a bit too American for a butcher block sink area countertop.

My kitchen is a galley. I did solid surface on the sink side. I did a walnut butcher block on the opposite side. I love the walnut top. I love oiling and waxing it. I don't even mind the water rings and stains here and there. They mostly come out when I oil and wax. I know that eventually I can refinish it if I want.

I still always use a cutting board on the wood top.

We cant see your kitchen layout. There may be better ways to have what you want.......with something else easier to maintain? Butcher block is lovely with soapstone.....

I had butcher block on my counters in my vacation home when we first built it. As Kendrah said, it got really bad around the sink--discolored and soft. When we redid the kitchen 12 years ago, we kept it on the island but replaced the perimeter tops with engineered stone. Still not perfect, but much better. The island needs renovating from time to time. We went the mineral oil route for a while but didn't like the way it aged, so now it has polyurethane again.

But ah, the counter top dilemma! Nothing is perfect, and you need to research the options and select the material that works best for you, your family, and your budget.

I had butcher block everywhere in the kitchen in this pic. I ran acatering biz from that home so the counter was used we did use cutting boards and twice a year I lightly sanded and oiled around the sink I did the oil more often. Ikea at that time had a fabulous oil . My advice do not seal the wood , it has properties to kill bacteria and if sealed it cannot do that .Maple is agreat choice ours was european oak both have those properties I mentioned , I have it now on both cabinets beside my range it is on cabinets that can actaully be moved and used as cutting board when I have big catering jobs in my new home .

I have walnut butcher block on my island. It's dark enough that I think it would hide water staining around a sink better than maple, but I don't have a sink in the island so don't know for sure. Mine has a tung oil finish which is designed to patina but does require regular re-oiling and likely would not be the best choice around a sink. Using a top-mount sink may be a way to minimize water damage but that aesthetic is not going to work in every kitchen. A year in, my counter still looks practically brand new. In fact, I kind of wish it were more patinated.

The beauty of butcher block is that it's easy to refinish if you need or want to. And it's so much less expensive than natural stone that there is not much at risk if you end up replacing it in 5-10 years. I think my extra thick island top was $2600 delivered, plus install, which took all of an hour or two. The alternative was purchasing another slab of natural stone which with fabrication and install would have been $10-14k. If you are going for a natural, antique, or classic look, I think it's a great budget-friendly option compared to quartz, which IMO generally does not work with that aesthetic at all.

Waterlox poly.

I have had maple butcher block counter for 25 years or so. It has a Formica edge. I love it. I just wipe it with a damp cloth. I finished it (once or twice) with walnut oil in the first year but never finished it again. It looks a bit used and I like it like that. I use it as a big cutting board, and I put hot pots direct from the stove or oven on it.

It's had red wine stains because I use it as my bar when we have big family parties. The red wine stains fade completely over a couple of weeks. Only once did I have a burn mark, from an extremely hot pot right off the stove, which took a few months to fade.

Think about butcher block counters as being one giant cutting board which has to be oiled every so often to keep it from drying out. If you can handle the maintenance, go for it. But I would agree with others who have said to keep it to a kitchen island, and use something more stain/water-resistant on the perimeters near the water sources.

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Hi Everyone, thank you for all of your responses!
As far as layout goes, the kitchen appliances are going to be along one wall. I will provide an example image from Pinterest to help visualize the layout. As far as an island, we were hoping to get a portable island from Amazon or IKEA that allows for storage on one side and seating on the other side (recommendations for an island would be appreciated for this as well!)

Is that how you're going to do it - big farm sink with raised sides going all the way to the wall, rectangular blocks without cutouts?

That seems like an ideal situation for blocks. You can get off-the-shelf blocks from Home Depot, etc, for $200-300 for 6' long, cut them to size. If you are not super messy and reasonably diligent with oil/wax, I don't think water will be a big problem for the block. As said, blocks are not expensive and are easy to refinish and replace. You'd even be able to flip the blocks to a "fresh side" as needed.

I have this Ikea island TORNVIKEN Kitchen island, off-white, oak, Length: 49 5/8" - IKEA and it's been fine. I'm going to replace with a custom piece, but it has served well for only $400.

If you are on an Ikea and Amazon kitchen budget then butcher block is likely a good material for you. It is low cost compared to other materials.

Is this a forever home or a place you intend to be in shorter term?

Hi Kendrah,
Thanks for your insight! This is an Additional Dwelling Unit (ADU) and the goal is for it to be used long-term. Yes, like you said, we liked both the appearance and cost of the butcher block. However, we’re a bit worried about the upkeep since we’ve never had to take care of something like this before.

Thank you for your response, John!
We preferred a drop in sink that looked more seamless than a farmhouse sink.
I appreciate your Home Depot suggestion, we will take that into consideration! I also like the look of the IKEA island you linked. It looks great, thank you!

Define long term. Define "Upkeep"

If you are very used to swipe and go ? Don't do it.

One type of kitchen user.....: )

Cleans as she preps and cooks

Loads D.W as she's doing prep/cook

Wipes/ swipes as she does above

Never has dishes drying sink side

That's every meal ........

Another....

Forgets she even has a dishwasher

Leaves dishes for days end or tomorrow clean up

Forgets to empty D.W, entirely- making load impossible

Is a once a day counter swipe, rather resentfully, lol

Now.....there are middle types between the two, but oddly? 75% seem to land on those ends.

Only YOU know your style or that of the inhabitant of the ADU

If it’s an ADU, then an inexpensive but warm and attractive block counter that can be easily refinished or replaced makes more sense (to me) than an expensive stone counter. I’d lean toward a finish that doesn’t need much maintenance.

I love the introduction of wood into a green space.

https://www.thegritandpolish.com/blog/how-to-care-for-and-oil-a-butcher-block-countertop

Hi Jan, thank you for your message! This ADU is intended to stay in the family for years from now. Hope that clarifies the longevity of the ADU. Also, I enjoy cleaning as I ago and I hate to leave water on the countertop. Although I am mentally preparing to keep up with the maintenance of the butcher block, the area around the sink is what I’m most concerned about as it will get wet inevitably.

If this kitchen is for guests or renters, I would look at stone. If it’s for your kitchen, go for it. Stone is much easier to take care of when someone else is in charge of it.

The easiest to care for and least expensive counter top surface is laminate--Formica, Wilsonart. If this is an ADU for guests or renters, I'd go with laminate.

I do not agre a hot pot on laminate you replace the whole counter hot pot on wood a good snading looks like new . I do agrre granite is probably the best choice for virually no upkeep

the area around the sink is what I’m most concerned about as it will get wet inevitably.

There are ways to minimize this. Wall mount faucet perhaps. Drop in/ overmount/ dual mount style sink with an integrated faucet deck. Sinks that are billed as dual mount will usually have the faucet deck and can be mounted either under counter or drop in.

Daughter installed cherry butcher block counters in her kitchen 10 years ago. She uses Howard butcher block oil (food grade mineral oil) that she gets at Home Depot. She has three kids under age nine- they eat at the butcher block counter and do crafts there also. Liquids on the counter have not caused any damage including times liquids have been spilled and not immediately cleaned. She has overmount kitchen sink with integrated faucet deck.

We have walnut butcher block on our second family room bar area and are very happy with it.

area around the sink is what I’m most concerned about as it will get wet inevitably

Bingo. It most certainly will. And, if this is a space in habited by anyone but you, you cannot count on them to wipe up water. That said, lots of people seem to have positive experiences and if the countertop is really inexpensive enough, you could get it knowing that you might need to replace it in X years if it starts to get funky from water.

FYI, I just finished testing some finishes on maple (a typical butcher block wood).

Assuming the counter block won't regularly be used for heavy cutting but is simply a counter, I'd suggest Osmo Polyx Oil (a veg oil/hardwax product, from Germany) or Emmet's Good Stuff (a urethane gel, from Wood Welded in the US).

Both are food-safe once cured, and were easy to apply, just two thin coats applied with a cloth over two days (although you could do more coats for more protection). Osmo is a little easier to apply as Emmet's gets tacky fairly quickly which makes it hard to wipe off the excess, so you'd have to do a large block in sections.

Emmet's held up to 12 hours of espresso, soy sauce, red wine, and a siracha+vinegar+salt concoction left on the test piece - it all wiped off and left no trace. The Osmo was almost as good, the espresso left a faint trace, that I think could be easily removed with light sanding then re-coating with Osmo. (Edit: yup, took all of five minutes to sand off the trace and recoat with Osmo.)

If the counter will be regularly cut on, I'd lean to Osmo.

Waterlox did not hold up, with notable espresso staining after only 1 hour exposure. This was only two coats, and maybe more coats or longer curing time would help - I don’t know, the product has a good reputation, but Osmo and Emmet’s got the same two coats with 8 hours drying time after each.

Mineral oil + beeswax was ineffective, with significant espresso staining after only five minutes' exposure. This was after flooding the wood with oil, letting it soak in, and repeating until the oil wouldn't soak in any more, then three coats of beeswax. Might be better if you spent weeks on repeated oil applications or buffed it in or used some other trick, but I only have so much time to devote to finishing my countertops.

Interestingly, espresso was by far the nastiest substance as far as staining goes - put the other stuff to shame. I don't know why that is. If there is no coffee/espresso in your kitchen, then oil+wax or Waterlox might be okay. But I drink a lot of espresso.

Here is how the test started, with a 5 minute exposure. Clockwise from upper left: espresso, soy sauce, sriracha/vinegar/salt, red wine.

Then 1 hour, then 12 hours. This is right before the stuff was wiped off after sitting on the block for 12 hours. Two finishes didn’t make it to 12 hour testing, having failed at 5 min and 1 hr.

Here is the results of 12 hours.

Here is one solution to minimizing water on the butcher block by the sink.

Honestly.... I have a butcher block wood cutting board that goes in and out of the dishwasher.............. and has for thirty years!!!

Water?

Sometimes I plop /stow it WET in a basket and let it drip dry........ no harm , it evaporates : ))