Thanks for the compliment shelayne. Sorry I didn't see your question until now. The floor was the original pine I found under the linoleum. I scraped it clean and always meant to tile. But, in the meantime, I just painted the floorboards a glossy black. It looked great right after cleaning, but it showed every bit of dirty and doggy footprints. People must have liked it though, because the house sold right away even though I never got around to tiling!

Call around; there are usually places you can take tile to get the edges rounded. Then you can just do the edges with the same tile and have it all look finished. Using a wood trim that matches your cabinets is another option.

Face and edge grain are indeed different; John's description is a good one. We initially looked at having our cabinetmaker build our wood counter, and here was his recommendation: - End grain if you are going to be actively cutting directly on the counter regularly. - Edge grain if you are sometimes cutting on the counter but it's usually just a normal prep space - Face grain (also called plank) if you are using the counter primarily as a table or other low-intensity space I think there was a $250 difference between face and edge grain, and a big difference between those two and the end grain (which makes sense, of course!) Aesthetically I liked the face grain best; we went with IKEA in the end because it was 10% of the cost and we needed to close a budget gap, so it became moot. I think theirs is closest to edge grain.

There's nothing wrong with laminate as a counter choice. It's come a long way in color/finish selections and is seamless and easily cleanable/sanitizable. However, you have to work within the limitations of the material for optimum functionality. That means if you need a custom laminate top, you choose a square edge, or you choose one that isn't radiused that is available in a standard width. There is also the beveled edge choice, which can be done on a custom top, but no radiuses can be involved. Everything has to be a straight angle. And, the only way laminate is a budget choice is if you are doing the fabrication of the custom top yourself, or you choose standardized post form sizes. If you get into custom fabrication with the pricier edges and the pricier laminate colors, you are really not that far from a budget granite, like Uba Tuba. I recently quoted a lady for a custom island top with the new Formica 180 FX with the ogee edge cut and attached all around the island. $1400. Granite was $1300.