Recommendations? Don't do it. If you don't sand out all of the existing scratches very thoroughly before staining, then more pigment will lodge inextricably in the remaining scratches. This will look bad. If you manage to refinish the counter successfully and then start using it as a cutting board, you will soon cut through the stained wood in places. This will also look bad. Even setting food safety aside, a cutting board is just the wrong place for stain.

But if you are going to do it anyway, use a dye not a pigment stain.

Here is a link that might be useful: Transtints