hmmmmm, this is a tough one because most of us here love stone: granite, marble, soapstone.... so mixing with laminate.... well WHY NOT! If your island will also have stools and people will be sitting there, then that's a great place for your granite. And your work space (counter tops) if they look good together, then why couldn't you mix them!!!! I have friends with Corian and I actually loved it. It was the coolest color (that you can't find in any stone) and looked really, really nice. Then they had stone on one small area plus stone tiles around the base of their island (their island and counters are Corian) so they mixed stone and laminate and it works beautifully. People take these things too seriously some times and by people, I mean ME.... but the truth is I've seen a lot of different styles and combinations and when they look good -- the look GOOD. Know what I mean, kmarcel?

Are the backs of the doors or drawer fronts finished the same as the exterior? You could do a test on those to see just how much you need to sand and what the stain will look like. I wouldn't think it's necessary to sand down to bare wood. With two different types of materials, you probably won't get a perfect match but I think you can get the colors close enough that it wouldn't be that noticeable. I suggest posting on the woodworking forum for more input on how much to sand down the finish. The folks over there are very helpful.

Like ravencajun, I had thought I wanted to get the new Formica laminate for a kitchen facelift in early 2015. They will send you big samples free of charge. I went to Lowe's to see more and was shocked to find that with an Ogee edge, like diymom79 shows above, that I could get real stone for almost the same price. I ended up using the Fantasy Brown quartzite that raven did, also.

Eam, It is 9/64 walnut over an MDF core. But we have it, so we're using it. if it only lasts 5 years and we have to get real butcher block at that time, I'm perfectly ok with that. We're doing quite a lot, and electrical alone will cost more than $6,000, out of a $30k budget, so we'll do what we need to. We don't already have the counter for the peninsula or espresso bar, so that's the part that's still flexible. Mamagoose, here is my Original layout thread. And above is actually the current working layout (didn't realize I posted the wrong one) with your suggested adjustment made in the prep area. I've added a 12' pullout to the right of the range and theres trash and a drawer stack to the left. We may not be able to move the dishwasher...the 2 1/2" sink waste pipe is outside the wall on that side, but we will if we can move the pipe back into the wall without too much added cost. We do have an 18" counter for oven landing. We went a bit bigger than the NKBA minimum, but not much. I can put a cookie sheet on it, so it gives me a bigger opening and coffee bar. I'd actually like to make it a full height pantry cabinet with pull out surface, but since that's the walkway, albeit a wide one, it's probably not ideal. And this photo that I found after I posted gives me hope that it might work. I did price it out today, and the cost would be about the same as doing same wood on the peninsula and stone on the coffee bar. So that doesn't help with the decision. Ali