It's ceramic but I can't find anything exactly like it after a quick google. I thought Duravit, at first. Nothing like it on their page, though. Ikea has something similar, but the faucet holes aren't off-set and the sink shape is different. Here is a link that might be useful: Odensvik sink

vermonter 2009- In our last house we used Boos maple counters, they were well made and Boos was great to work with, good customer service, product arrived on time and in the correct configuration. Their work is good, but quite utilitarin (no fancy style edges, no exotic woods, etc.). I have heard that Brooks makes nice stuff, and is more of a custom shop, but while I have seen their stuff in a showroom, I have no direct experience with their products. We have an American cherry butcher block that is over 25 years old, and well used (we cut on it daily), the color is still vibrant and the unit looks great (it's a Pompanoosic Mills product). Nice choice. Good luck- sandyponder (ex Vermonter)

It took me multiple readings of this thread to understand your room's dimensions and obstacles but I think I finally got it. Think being the operative word here. I'm sure I missed something. ;-) Anyhoo, it seems to me that the biggest hurdle you face is having too many interruptions on each length of wall. I agree that if at all possible, the DR hutch and built-in ex-ironing board cab should be kept. And it seems a shame not to take advantage of those recesses on each side of the DR hutch. So I turned my attention to the opposite wall and and played with the idea of moving the doorway from the outer room into the kitchen. I realize this means moving utilities and all that but it might be cost effective if it means you don't need to do as much customization of cabinetry in your kitchen. I just checked and with a few minor tweaks, you can make this plan work with Ikea cabinets. This is what I came up with: The outer room will be on large space, a mud room with utilities (behind doors), W/D and whatever else you want to keep out there. Moving the door down to the end gave me enough room to put the fridge, DW, sink and range all in one section of your kitchen, creating a very efficient work zone for 1 cook. The fridge is slightly recessed into the wall so that it's bulk is less obvious. The DR hutch is bordered by 2 pull-out pantry cabs with a shallow cabinet between them. You could mimic the DR hutch, giving a nod to your home's past. It also gives you a decent section of shallow counter to set down bags of groceries or a place for small appliances such as toaster, coffee maker, etc. You can fit the GE spacemaker MW above (it fits in a 12" deep upper cabinet). You could also make this section standard depth, sitting slightly proud of the pantry cabs on either side. You'd still have a 49.5" aisle, which will help your smallish space feel less squished. As someone above suggested, I moved the ex-ironing board cabinet. I shifted it over towards the window, next to the range so that it can continue its life as your spice cabinet (love this!). With all the storage on the DR hutch wall, I think that you just might be able to go without upper cabinets elsewhere, which will also help your kitchen feel spacious. You can fill in the old doorway space with an interior window - fixed or working, your choice. If the view isn't nice but you want the light, put in a real or fake stained glass window or other type of obscure glass. Or you can just make it a wall. Note: aisle measurement is counter edge to counter edge. I assumed a 1.5" counter overhang.

Can you get contact info for the woodworker and talk to him directly? If he's done this before, he surely has photos and samples of his work---it may just be that the contractor doesn't have any of that info. You can probably tell pretty quickly from talking with him whether he's built butcher block before. (We priced ours with our cabinetmaker, and he could give us a detailed breakdown of different prices and finished results for edge v. end v. side grain, various types of woods, etc. and could describe the pros and cons of each construction style.) If Wood Guy can't talk wood species or grain with you, he definitely should not be doing the work---but I would absolutely believe a scenario where Wood Guy might be great if you talk to him directly, but the contractor might have no clue how to talk wood talk. We just finished finishing a butcher block slab, and I will say that if you use a good quality finish, you will spend more than $100 between the product and your time to do the finishing on an island-sized counter. It's not hard, but it's time consuming. So if you are really comparing apples to apples (same wood, same board style, etc.) then it may be worth it to have the local guy do it, especially since there's a good chance that if he's an experienced carpenter/butcher block guy, he'll come install it too. (Also not hard to do, but I always feel more comfortable letting people who built things drill into them!) The Craft Art stuff is beautiful if you have any concerns about the local guy, though, so it's a good option to have. Good luck!