Perfectly good question. Absolutely you can do a different material on the bar. Maybe someone has a photo of something similar they'll post so you can see. Did you try a search? Many people on here have done wood counters, often as a second material in their kitchens.

Susannesl, Said it perfectly "Absolutely!"

Here are some ideas of mixed countertop materials.
I wish I had exactly what you have in mind but maybe
these can help anyway.

~boxer

not wood but two different tops

Thanks! I have searched but was not able to find exactly what I looking fior. Boxer: thanks for the pictures! I wouldn't be worried in the least if I was doing a perimeter countertop with an island. As you see in many of those gorgeous photos. The two photos with bars make me think it could work... Especially the one with the darker cabinets and lighter butcher block counter bar.

Thank you for your time! I hope the opinions keep coming!

Boxerpups thank you so much for posting these pictures. I am sitting here waiting for the granite people to rip out the old countertops and they are almost three hours late at this point and each moment makes me doubt my decision!! But seeing that picture of the light maple cabinets with the similar granite I picked out makes me feel a lot better. The first and second pictures most resemble it, it's called ivory silk. Thanks so much you always are so very helpful! Sorry if I hijacked the thread for a second there. Whoops there goes the doorbell... Hooray the granite guy is here now to do the template!

It will absolutely work. I've been on GW for almost 3 years and have seen kitchens with mixed countertop materials. Frequently the mix is on an island or penninsula (I'm talking about where materials actually butt up to each other). I'll try to find some of them and post them for you but I'll probably not have time until tonight.

The first 2 that come to mind are RHome410 and ElizPiz's.
RHome's doesn't have the different countertops up against each other but it still might help since she has 3 different materials (stainless, laminate, and wood). The stainless and laminate are separated by a wall. Her link is below.

ElizPiz has 2 different materials on her island (and a stunning kitchen). I don't know how to post 2 working links below, so here's the link you can copy and paste: https://plus.google.com/photos/114340186129992852319/albums/5329422431124238225/5385569862608492866?banner=pwa#photos/114340186129992852319/albums/5329422431124238225/5385569861181095554

Here is a link that might be useful: RHome's lovely kitchen

Gr8- arrival day must be so exciting!

Flwrs- thank you so much! Elizpiz definitely has a stuningkitchen! You were right, her stone and countertops are helping me see how my choices could work.

So the consensus is that I should Have ZERO concerns that in my vision I am picturing a walnut or mahogany bar that will be much darker than the all natural cherry cabinets? I was a tad concern over a rich brown coming off the unoiled soapstone... But I'm beginning to gain more confidence in that decision.

Thank you all for your generous opinions. Please keep them coming!

We also debated what wood to put on our (natural cherry shaker) island. Our perimeter counters are marble. In the end, we went with cherry, because we felt, with our oak floors and the natural cherry, and the teak furniture in adjoining spaces, that it was a lot of different wood species and we didn't want to introduce yet another. What are your floors?

We ended up waiting until everything else was installed, then bringing home wood sample to try in the actual space. It's a little bit difficult to do, since a fresh piece of wood from the wood shop is going to look a lot different than it would after it's photo-sensitized and been finished... but it was helpful.

We saw one done similar to what you are describing in an open house we went to. They used one of the black/dark granites for the counters & a rich walnut for the raised bar top. On the backside of the raised bar, the L-run continued in the granite at counter height. It was beautiful!

Just remember, there are no kitchen police! You can do anything you like. And I sure hope it works, because I have exactly the same plan as you. I have perimeter soapstone counters, and plan on doing a raised wood bar, probably walnut. My biggest dilemma now is whether to use face grain or edge grain.

I love this forum. I am learning so much.

Stacey- with two large dogs I'm afraid of wood floors. I am thinking of doing a darker tile of some sort or maybe even dark marmoleum.

Cat - will you have natural cherry cabinets too? I'm beginning to think I will sweat every small detail of this little update! That isn't normally my style... Glad to hear someone else is thinking along the same lines

Here are some google images. Not all are granite and wood but they do show granite with some other medium.

Remodel- thanks for the response & photos. I really think my worries were more based on the different species of wood and keeping with the rustic cozy feel of the vacation home...yet not going too mismatched that it just looked hobbled together. I don't know if that makes sense, but I am feeling much better about the decision.

Besides once I get all my samples together I can always post everything here for review right? I'm sure the GWers will be more than honest!

We are going through exactly the same exercise: natural cherry cabinets with soapstone counters and a peninsula/raised bar.

Our current thinking is to find a unique natural-edge slab of black walnut to use for the bar top. Walnut has a nice mixture of darker and lighter tones, and the natural edge would make it more of an "art piece" and therefore not as jarring that it doesn't match the cherry exactly.

Good luck - post a photo when it's done!