Hi gcica- Figured I'd bump this for katieob!

Also, that price does seem high. Who quoted that? Grothouse in PA (http://www.glumber.com) has great rep but is pricey. I'd also check with Boos and CraftArt. With CraftArt you can get a quote for DIY (or not) right online! Several people have used them and LOVE them. http://www.craft-art.com/
Also check devoswoodworking.com

Lastly, there's a company in Michigan called Blockhead Blocktops. It's much less expensive and a couple of GW members have been happy. It's a one man show (plus a secretary?) I think which I assume keeps costs down. http://www.blocktop.net/

Our walnut island top will be 9' x 4' and most quotes were $3000-$4200. (no sink or anything) Blocktop was about 1/2 of that.

Good luck! I'd love to hear katieob's answers too! If you do a search there are a lot of threads about wood countertops and finishes on GardenWeb.

Yowza! That is expensive! Ours was bundled with our cabinets, but that is a high price. We have a black walnut plank top on a 9' island. I think it was around 2k max for it. Apparently there was a lot of waste too because all the boards had to be long and there was lots of sapwood, etc. in the order.

As far as the color choices go, my builder likes Velvit, rather than waterlox (more of a matte finish, less of a tabletop finish). We had him sample natural, special walnut and dark walnut. They looked almost identical. The walnut is very dark as is. We went with dark but I might switch to natural or special down the road as I use it (needs to be refinished - my builder said every 6 months or so to build it up). The dark walnut is dark but fine for my super white, marble kitchen.

FYI - CraftArt is great and very high end. They are in the area in Atlanta which sells mostly to interior designers and they have a very high end clientele. I have heard nothing but great things about them and if you can do the DIY one it will be beautiful I think!