I'll put a lnk to a discussion on the bathroom forum about Mongoct's bathroom. It's beautiful. He used the top part of a pedestal sink on top of wood, it looks gorgeous.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mongoct's bathroom

My kitchen sink is a top mount set in butchblock and I think it is great. However, I don't think I would like it in a bathroom either from an aesthetic or ick point of view and under-mounting adds another layer of potential problems, while it can be done it can be a challenge. Now, I am talking about maple butcherblock with an oil finish. There are other woods that are much more sophisticated looking and with a harder finish might work for your friend.
Linda

Thanks, momo7. I'd forgotten all about Mongoct's bathroom.

Lindainct, we're thinking the thinner lagan counter, probably with brickmanhouse's india ink trick. If not that, some kind of dark wood stain, probably walnut.

My prep sink is undermounted in my black walnut island counter. While I love the wood counter application for my kitchen, I'm not sure how I would feel if it were in my bathroom. I use a sponge on my counters multiple times a day to keep it clean, nice looking, and dry. Maybe if I got into the habit of wiping the bathroom counter after each use?

I've heard many horror stories of wood bathrooms (even from forum members like Aliris), but now that I am used to wood on a horizontal plane I think, with the right treatment, it is possible to do it successful results depending on one's personality.

Thanks, breezy. Yeah, that's a big consideration. I think she wants to be able to rush out the door without wiping up the bathroom without having to worry about what she'll find when she gets home from work. That's one reason she opted for the porcelain tile over real marble.

I have wood countertops with top-mounted sinks in my kitchen. Mine are finished with several coats of Ikea's Behandla oil and I really, really like them -- I'd choose the same thing if I were doing it again. I don't have wood counters in the bathrooms but one of them does have a hardwood floor. Bearing in mind that my kitchen countertops have been in only for a few months, here are my thoughts.

Bathroom use. Any children? We really like the HW floor in our master bath but we put tile in the one the kids use. They do slosh water all over the place.

Sink. My main kitchen sink has a wide flat rim at the back, and I really like that for setting down glasses with ice in them and other things that will stay wet on the outside for a while. It gives me some peace of mind with the wood counters. I am happy with my decision to go with topmount sinks. I wanted undermount at first, but the installers weren't comfortable cutting the hole for that and I would have had to hire a carpenter (which would have been OK but it was another expense to figure in).

Finish. I really like the Behandla oil finish; it's more durable than mineral oil would be and it looks very natural, not glossy. I also don't worry too much about any damage to the finish, because it would be a simple matter to repair it. Still, I had some wood samples from Craft Art that were prefinished with Waterlox, and they seemed very bulletproof. I would be tempted to use that in a bathroom if I didn't want to worry about standing water.

I don't know how any of the wood finishes would stand up to something like nail polish remover.

If she decides that wood is not what she wants to use, don't forget laminate. It is perfectly respectable and in my experience is very durable too.

You might want to recommend to your friend that she try staining a scrap of wood dark and setting it on her current bathroom counter. In my (somewhat limited) experiences, dark surfaces are dust magnets. She might not be happy with the constant wiping that a dark horizontal surface is going to require to stay looking clean in a bathroom where, every time you rip the tp or pull a Kleenex out of the box, or use some type of powder, dust particles go flying everywhere. I have orb fixtures in my master bath, which I love, but I fight them looking dusty all the time.

Hope the project goes smoothly. : )

I have a maple wood counter with a top-mount sink in my bathroom. It has been in use for 9 years and just in this last year the finish, which is probably poly, has worn away in spots. The kid's bathroom has a pine counter. It is dinged up but the finish is still good. I think wood works great as a bathroom counter surface.

Thanks, everyone. No, no children. Mostly just one working single female, and there's a second bath upstairs as well.

I hear what you're saying, laughable, and I'm sure it would be something of an issue with the black BB or with a remnant of Absolute Black, but I think maybe not so much with just a walnut stain. The first choice would be a plain white quartz if we can find someone who can do that without requiring the purchase of a whole slab.