My kitchen island is good ol' butcher block. 18 years old and still looks great. I give it a good cleaning and oiling about once a year and thats it. It has a few nicks and stains but I like the character (the stains always fade after enough time and cleanings). The counter you are looking at sounds cool, do you have a link to info or pics?

We used a cheap ikea butcher block as an island for 16 years. It looked pretty good, despite me not being diligent about oiling it. I would be a bit nervous using wood around a sink, but I have seen good reports from people who have used Waterlox on wood or butcherblock in wet areas. We just used Waterlox on some reclaimed pine that we are using as a bar top and it is holding up well so far.

Not a fan of wood countertops at all. Germs, bacteria, scratches, nicks, dings. Stains IN the cuts and dings. It's fine for a small butcher block piece but would never do it in the whole kitchen, not even a bar top.

Think about poultry or beef juices seeping into the wood and just fermenting there...no thanks!

I hope you don't plan on using wood near the sink. Our house came with a butcher block island with the sink. What a disaster. I tried to be oh so careful over the years, wiped up right away, tried using poly to seal it, and all failed. It totally rotted out around the edge of the sink and below our dish drainer.

On the plus side, the parts of the counter away from the water looked beautiful even years later. A simple sanding took out scratches and gouges, so you can effectively have a new countertop. But oh that water.

Agree a LOT about the damage possibilities for a wood counter at the sink, especially with the sloppy habits I have in the kitchen. You can counter that sort of damage with careful finishing and choice of sink/spout, but it will be inevitable if enough years add up. Some sinks are just plain badly designed and shed water all over.

If you like a nice decoratively shiny smooth counter top, go with just about anything else. The name for that concept is all-show-no-go, also known as "quartz". The kitchen is a work room, not a show room.

If you want a counter you can make bread on, cut on, put hot pots on, stand on, dance on during really GOOD parties, then hard wood is good. I had one many years ago and about once a year or so would scrub it to death with coarse steel wool and uncut raw linseed oil (not the nasty stuff sold as "boiled" because it has a catalyst in it that I was/am wary of) and all would be well again in the world. Forget about the scare word: "germs"; that's bogus.

If you're a scrubber type person, be careful about any sharp seams such as at a right angle back-splash with no transition radius (hard to make). Because of that and because of poor sink placement, a four-side-open island is a superior use for wood.

JMO, but I've made tons of this stuff.

Bacteria, ha. When they tested counters for germ resistance wood came in second behind stainless. Plastics Corian and laminate, we're last. Just have a problem of you get cracks but the tannins in the wood kill off the kinds of bacteria that are a problem.

Undermount sinks- seal edge and bottom with marine epoxy. Not easy to make look good as a DIY but that is how the ones I use are done.

Wenge - look it up, prone to splinters, can cause allergic reaction mostly from the dust, splinters are an issue.

I am almost 3 years into my wood countertop experience.....mine is black walnut finished with Osmo Polyx on the perimeter, and antique pine on the island/table. I adore the wood! I love working on it. When it starts to look a bit dry, I run a sanding block over it and adda coat of Polyx. It takes about 30 minutes, and dries overnight.

Knock on wood, no water damage around the (undermount farm) sink.

Maple butcher block section, used hard over 27 years for prep daily and nothing but a little mineral oil couple times a year.
No one has gotten sick or any bacteria diseases...

Oak butcherblock, finished with Ikea linseed-based oil, everywhere in kitchen including around both sinks. Love it and have had no problems. Sinks are topmounted.

Edited to add: we don't cut on it.

This post was edited by northcarolina on Thu, Nov 6, 14 at 10:00

Our island (with farmhouse sink) has an antique pine top. It is finished with Good Stuff for Wood. We do not chop directly on it, nor would we ever put raw meat - I wouldn't do that on granite either, but that's just me.

DH is pretty good about wiping up any splashes from the sink, but I see better. ;) We've been in our home just over 8 years now and I wouldn't change a thing.

We also have a new pine counter on a hutch in the hallway, referred to as our coffee station, since DH coffeemaker is there. It also has a small sink and was only finished with some sort of oil. No shine. Since pine is a soft wood, it has dings on it from the dog leash metal hook, but it just adds character.

I have butcherblock but knowing our less than pristine habits we used quartz around the sink. It is an awesome functional combo and I love the warmth of the wood -- to the touch and visually.

I replaced my granite counters with wood because I couldn't keep any produce on the granite without it rotting very quickly. This doesn't happen on the wood or on tile. Love the wood, but don't chop on it or throw meat on it. My prep sink is on wood and no problems so far.
Diane

We've had ours (alder, finished with lots of Waterlox on both sides) for 2 years and I'm happy.

We sealed the edges of the cutouts with a layer of silicone caulk, and caulked obsessively around the sinks, and used a vapor barrier over the dishwasher.

They get cleaned with warm water, occasionally get furniture polish, and they do have some nicks and dings but it's not a huge issue.

Because we have cats, I use cutting sheets, not the counters.

Here is a link that might be useful: My alder counter tops

I have beech butcherblock counters and I like them a lot except I wish I'd just done a mineral oil finish instead of Waterlox. I worry all the time about the Waterlox--it's quite waterproof but a lot of stuff will stain it! Even being very vigilant about cleaning up, it already has a number of small stains from stuff, including the bottom of the dishwashing liquid bottle.

If I had it to do over again, I would just oil it. It would still get little stains but it's so much easier to just sand them out and re-oil, vs. with Waterlox you have to sand the finish off, then reapply several coats and let it cure properly (don't use that area for a month!).

I had wood countertops with a sink in them. I finished them with a ton of boat-grade spar varnish. No problems around the sink--no mildew, no flaking off varnish or anything, no wear at all really...but I only had the counters for 3 years.

Your varnish may yellow the wood, so make sure you test a piece of wood to make sure you like the post-varnish colour. I chose to use spar varnish because we don't have waterlox in Canada. Also, it's used on boats, so you know, that probably means it's good stuff.

I had a few dings in my wood counter that I didn't notice because the grain of the wood hid them. Also, remember that a ding in wood is a lot better than a chip in stone! It's patina you can live with.

I never cut on the wood, or placed hot pots on it, but I never did that with my old formica either. So these were non-issues for me.

Even though I love wood counters, and think they offer a lovely casual, warm feeling, I am not doing them again in my new kitchen for resale reasons. I might sell in the next 5 years, and I just don't think other people like wood as much as I do (unless it's on an island).

So I would seal the hell out of them once, and very well around the sink, just to be safe.

The one negative is that dough did not roll out well on my wood!

I used black walnut planks for my island with prep sink. I've been enjoying it for three years. Mine are treated with Osmo Polyx Oil, which is a green and food-safe product. I like that it doesn't yellow the walnut or put a thick covering on it. It's easy to reapply to a small patch or to the whole counter. We've put many scratches and dents in it during the years, but I've learned to ignore them now. I also did runnels next to my prep sink for draining produce.

My husband and I did DIY black walnut plank island with a sink. He fabricated it from two large pieces and I did the finishing with Waterlox. It's been in service almost four months so not a long time to review, but knowing the characteristics of wood, I'm prepared to refresh the finish yearly if needed.

So far, we love it and it's easy to care for. No water issues, but there are some scratches that are more noticeable since I did not choose to do the satin finish.

...I should add that I don't think I needed to go as varnish-crazy as I did on my last counters. I'm not sure you would need varnish on the top areas at all. But around the sink hole, I would seal in the cut edges really well.

Breezy - when you say you use a 'food safe oil' is this a varnish that is labelled as an oil, or is it actually oil that comes off?

>>anyone have any experience...Only several hundred years' worth of people without any other options, since for hundreds of years if anyone had counter at all, they were wood.

Meat juices: Oops. Better tell the butcher shops that use [wait for it] butcher block counters about that. Or, in our vernacular, they used butcher block islands. It'll kill 'em to know they've been spreading horrible bacteria for ... centuries.

That incredulity aside, I thought I'd read that one wood had more anti-bacterial properties than others, but cannot remember what it is. Anyone?

And, I think my former FIL told me pine was a poor choice because "it'll poison 'ya." True?

Bias: I recently built 16' of maple bb counters. Wouldn't change 'em for the world.

Around the sink, I second or third the marine sealant. Varnish would be a mess, just as any sealant that could be cut and let moisture and mold develop.

We have one counter that is butcher blook. The only think I don't like about it is that it has circle stains from cast iron lids being inadvertently placed on it and those stains are a PITA to get out and I'm not always successful. They do fade with time. In our recent kitchen refresh we decided to just live with them rather than replace them, so it doesn't bother us that much.

I've had maple plank counter tops in my pantry for almost 5 years. I love them. They are finished with "ProFin" by Daly's. It is a hard oil finish and is food safe. Water does not penetrate it. The wood around the sink doesn't have any damage from water. I have left water on the counter over night, when I wiped it up the next day the counter was fine, no damage.

Kalapointer, is that a piece of marble?
I like your counter top run!

thanks Terri, I am in the PacNW, too. Yes, the marble is 3 ft. long. I make all my pie doughs, breads and pastas there.

Nini,

Love your countertop and how it coordinates nicely with your floor! Would you please share floor details? Width, species, stain, engineered or site finished? Thanks so much! I am going to have to decide on my floors by next week and have yet to make my mind up. The plan is for white cabinets and a walnut island top as well. Thanks for your help!

Many thanks to all who shared experiences and pictures. Pedrhaps soon we will be able to post ours as well

going for it!

It's only been about a month since we remodeled our kitchen. I ended up using cherry countertops finished with waterlox for my peninsula. I had a maple and cherry butcherblock inset into it so I could use that to cut on. It's finished with mineral oil.

It was so beautiful that I was afraid to cut on it at first, but that didn't last for long! It's a wonderful surface for working on. The craftsman that made it said it will only get more beautiful with use.

I used soapstone on the counter by the sink. I love the combination of beautiful natural materials.

Hydrangea--Apologies for not seeing your question earlier. My Osmo Polyx Oil is an oil. It wears off over time as I use and wipe the counters so it needs to be re-applied as needed. Fairly easy to wipe on, although I'm still perfecting my technique. I adore the soft, natural glow of the wood. It still feels like wood.

I'll link to the product below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Osmo Polyx Oil

Did you end up using the wenge wood for your countertop? If so, how do you like it? Thinking of using the same on island with sink.

hi Its been awhile but yes, we went with the wenge counters. We found an importer of the wood around Baltimore but they did not work with the wood. They however, recommended to us a furniture shop in PA run by the Menonites. we went , talked, gave very specific measurements and they did a wonderful job at about 40% of what everyone else had quoted, even with 2 sink cutouts. I am very happy after two and 1/2 yrs. they still look new. We do take care of them but not obsessively, just damp sponge and drying plus every month or so a lemon oil. It seems however, that the wood is difficult to work unless you are professional, dense, very oily and therefore somewhat difficult to glue, etc. we are very glad we didn't try and doit ourselves, which was the original plan. the professional finish is one which I am sure is part of its longevity. Good luck. will try and show fotos which are right now on my cell.

Great, thank you. Pictures would be great!

Hope these go through. First time with houzz for photos.

My cell camera makes them look a good deal lighter than they do in real time. The part near the stove looks almost black for example

I have been following this forum, really interesting to hear of your experiences.

Just got a large rough cut 1 1/2 thick Pine butcher block for my island that has a sink top insert.

I know Pine is a soft wood but am more worried about stains, type wine stains etc.

I do occasionally have weekend airbnb guest in my home so worry about how to protect it.

Would really prefer to do an oil/wax treatment but someone told me to use water based urethane and seal it with AFM SafeCoat, Polyureseal BP, no oil underneath or ProFin, Oil modified urethane.

Probably safer but love that natural, organic look of an oil treated wood surface... The other oil/wax products I've been looking at are Howard BB conditioner, OSMO - POLYX-OIL, Rubio Monocoat...

So helpful if anyone has some advice on this?