I had a similar need and I bought one of those fold up banquet tables and cut it down the length of it to the right width. Some are not unattractive but none are beautiful enough to break your heart if you cut them.

I had that situation and used a nice piece of lumber...painted to match the cabs, and mounted on two aluminum porch brackets. Looked and worked great!!

I know you said your husband is not capable of making one, but I can't resist, it's so easy. I made a table out of a door. Ordered a solid core door from a big box (without any predrilled holes) then stained it and varnished it, and added legs, so easy. Got legs off the internet (google table legs). Doors come in several widths, I don't remember the most narrow but it may be less than 30", although this still may be too wide for you. Just thought I'd throw it out.

HD or Lowes has pine butcher block available up to 12 ft. length X 10" to 2' width. Largest is about $40. Easy to seal with an outdoor poly. You could use some small inexspensive cupboards at both ends to mount the top on, legs or brackets as suggested. Paint or match kitchen. A long top needs some support in the middle too. Head to a Habitat Restore in your area for support options, they have great finds.

A linen closet door, ordered new without the holes for the knobs. Use corbels or legs under it.

Actually, you can go to Home Depot and buy a set of bi fold doors, they pretty much come in any length. I used a dark stain (to match exsisting trim) and then I polyed it, two coats. The two inexpensive cupboards or three depending on your length, you do need support and please don't try sitting on it. Or, you could use two or three filing cabinets. They make great storage and you can find beautiful to ugly. Your choice. A thought here,the filing cabinets will make great storage of pots and pans or even small appliances. If you only want to use two cabinets, then inset them.

Measure your top to find the exact center. From them, measure exact center of each side. Place one cabinet or set of legs or or or centered exactly on that side and repeat for the opposing sided. It's important that you secure it with screws some how... or if you don't want screws exposed on the top......

Go to your local lumber yard and get four or six (depends how many cabinets you use) 1"x 1"s , they will cut it to the exact length you need. When you get it home, flip your top upside down, do your measureing and mark it where needed. Then flip your cabinets upside down and place in place. Now, take the 1" x 1" pieces and lay one on either side of the cabinet close but not tight. and nail or screw them in place. Next, reverse all so it is right side up, ajust the top so that the cabinets are between the slots and it will stay in place . Again, they are not terribly strong so don't sit on it.

It will work fine for a work area or side table or even as a buffet.. You can use the second door as a table for your foyer or a sofa table. They do come in sets of two.
good luck

Excellent - thank you all sooo much. I had thought about having a table built - but the door ideas are a fantastic alternative (and probably much cheaper!).

We do have a friend who does handyman type work on the side, so I bet he would be willing to help my husband out with a project like this!

You can also get a kitchen place to make you a countertop whatever length and width you want, from Formica or WilsonArt.

If you don't mind the back-splash, you can find them already made up at the big box stores.

Check out some of the kitchen islands at IKEA...they are narrow, portable and really functional! The Forhoja is $99 and is almost 17 inches wide, 39 inches long, and comes with two drawers and two shelves, solid birch top.

The Groland is 48"Lx20W and is $199, solid birch

and the Stenstorp is 31Lx21W and the top is solid oak and the body is birch, $199

You could put a couple together if you need a longer space.

Another idea is to look for a console table--the kind of table that goes behind a sofa or stands in an entrance hall. These tables often are bar height, between 4 to 5 feet long, and shallow front to back (between 12 to 20 inches deep). I just now looked for "console tables" at overstock.com and saw a variety of narrow tables, some with storage and some just plain, at quite a range of prices.

I was going to suggest a console table also. I've never seen them in bar height (not that they may not exist) but was going to suggest attaching feet at the bottom to raise it a bit. You can get buy them pre-made or just make some. You could even raise it by attaching wheels so it can be moved around a bit. Get locking wheels so it sits still when you want it to. Here are some some 3" wheels sold for furniture but I know you can get them way bigger at the big box
hardware stores.

Here is a link that might be useful: Locking Wheels

Thank you all again! I'm glad people understand my craziness! LOL I love my house, but it is definitely small.

The console idea is great as is the Ikea tables. Hmmm... I might check out Ikea just because I haven't been in a long while! LOL

I've been looking online for console tables and they do vary in prices and heights, etc. I'm glad I now have options. Not sure why I didn't think of these things. (Brain overload?) Thank you all again! :)

I would go for the IKEA one. Your post got me thinking and while I was at a friends house the other day I noticed that she had something like that that she used as a sort of moveable island. She loves to cook and I wondered how she did so much and so well in a pretty small kitchen. That must be the answer.

We were at Ikea recently & they have some very narrow tables that attach to the wall.

I'm sure this probably sounds crazy, but you can buy an inexpensive table, cut it in half to the size you want and bracket the side with no legs to studs in the wall. I've seen it done on a couple of the home decor shows and it looks great! It gives you complete flexabilty to find and use a table in the asthetic and wood tones that you want too. You may even want to considera pub height table and use bar stools.

You can get legs at Ikea, and they are so easy to attach. I'm sitting at my desk right now. It's a piece of cheap green custom cut counter top to match my kitchen and it's about two feed wide, and has round silver Ikea legs attached at the front and is attached to a cleet on the wall in the back. It's only about 3' long, I'm really wedged in but I love it!

GGG