Winegeek,

sound like you may need to get some more quotes, unless you have a fairly expensive granite, your granite may be high too.

Hopefully, some of the other GW'ers who have recently installed Butcher block can help you out with specific prices.

Just doing math in my head, that's about $166 per sf? I was quoted $120 for 1 1/2" thick edge grain. End grain is more expensive, as is 2" thick. Edge and shape makes a difference as well. I don't know if your price is reasonable, but from the pricing I did nice wood counters in anything other than maple are more expensive than granite unless you have a crazy expensive granite.

We did a maple edge grain island that's 4 ft x 8 ft, and it was about 2k, which was much more expensive than I had thought it would be, but which is less than what you've found. Try grothouse lumber (glumber.com) or boos - see if they give you a better quote.

Endgrain is more expensive than edge grain. Each little block has to be cut and then glued together.

Quick look at johnboos.com has a 36x25x3" piece of end grain butcherblock at $577. When our bb was installed it took one guy about 30 minutes.

We went with not end-grain on our whole island - a space 87"x72" (l-shaped). Installation was very easy as Boos provided all the hardware necessary - it sits on the cabinets that make up the island.

Butcherblock is wonderful, for sure. End grain IS expensive (same size piece regular edge grain as above at Boos is $183 - but the counter is 1.5" high, not 3") You can do it and not break the bank, but you have to decide what the compromises are.

It's been pointed out to me before that it's misleading for me to use figures from this Pacific NW company (because it omits shipping costs) but the link below shows some figures on the differences between regular and end-grain butcher block.

Here is a link that might be useful: Butcher block prices for end and regular grains

i recently got multiple quotes on custom BB island top. end grain maple, 2" thickness, about 30"x72", ogee edge, with extended corners on one end.

grothouse lumber came in the highest at more than $4,000 including shipping. another local company wasn't much cheaper, and a company in NC quoted me a bit under 3 grand.

i considered going to edge grain, but i really wanted this to be a work top and my wife doesn't want to deal with having it so marred and scratched up, which is why i wanted end grain.

so we decided to use the same quartz that we're doing in the rest of the kitchen, and i'm going to buy a really big 3" thick end grain BB slab to work on for a couple hundred bucks.

compromises.....

Like others have pointed out - wood species, thickness and end vs. edge-grain all can make huge differences in price. I have a smaller piece than you in 3" thick, edge-grain black walnut and I paid almost double what you were quoted. Not sure if that makes your quote easier to swallow but I don't think it's an absurd quote, to be honest.

Edge-Grain is really the way to go when choosing hardwood countertops. You can triple the cost if you want the same size countertop in end-grain, simply because it takes three times the amount of material to build it. End vs. Edge Grain? Not really to much of a difference at all. There is really no reason you have to buy end-grain over edge-grain as both will show scratches over time anyway. Scratches are easy to repair by simply sanding and applying mineral oil which should be a part of your butcher block countertops regimental maintenance anyway. The only true benefit of end-grain really comes into play when you are actually slaughtering large animals and need to cleaver your way through bone on a regular basis. All of which you will not be thinking of doing on a granite top.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Butcher Block Top

I second Grothouse: glumber.com

I always start with ebay for such items. here is one...looks like they can do custom sizes.

Here is a link that might be useful: ebay BB

I am sorry to say, but grothouse was twice the price of any other wood top we priced. Maybe their product is that much better, but we can do a soapstone island for the same price they want for a walnut top. We found boos was cheaper from old world butcher block or other web sites.

I got a decent quote from Blocktops, about 1500 shipped for a walnut 4'x6' island top, with the short ends scalloped, and some sort of ogee edge with furniture finish. Devos was twice the price without even the shipping added (around 3200 shipped). I'm only going by price, can't vouch for workmanship. I didn't contact glumber yet.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blockhead Blocktops

Dear sales@thebutcherblocktop.com,

Be very careful of the rules against sales and marketing on this site. I'll try to give you the benefit of the doubt for now.

I understand there is more labor in creating an end grain BB, but I certainly don't follow your argument about three times the material. The volume of wood is the volume of wood, with the exception of cutting loss. I can believe there is more lost due to cutting in an end grain block, but three times???

Or are you just saying that end grain blocks are typically thicker? I haven't ever had an explanation of why that is. I have assumed that a thinner one would be too inclined to warp or split. I know I have had an end grain block about 12 x 18 x 2 that has held up for a couple of decades of constant use.

If you intend to cut on it I think there is a major difference between edge grain and end grain. Not so much in how it looks but how it feels under the knife. I do think the cuts on it don't show nearly as much.

If you don't intend to cut on it than edge grain may be fine. But I don't really see what the benefit is of edge grain over a plank or glued up flat board top. The edge grain isn't any stronger than the flat surface.

I notice that you don't have any end grain counters for sale. Could that be one reason you prefer edge grain?

I stumbled across this website when researching butcher block to make a table out of. They claim to be the most affordable out there - but I am not sure if this is what you are looking for.

Here is a link that might be useful: Perfect Plank Link

We've been looking for an interesting piece of BB and found one on ebay at the store pharaoh suggested. It has a diamond-shaped inset of end grain dark walnut with light maple surround and a dark maple surround. I believe in serendipity - clicked, oggled, loved, BOUGHT!

One less item on my list. Thanks pharaoh!

In my researching I came across Spekva countertops. They are gorgous, and they have a large selection of woods and styles. I never got a price, but I would imagine they are $$$$.

I noticed they had a really nice custom butcher block counter in the next to last This Old House (in Newton). As I recall it was made someplace in the south. Again that would be a pricy solution.

In response to paul_ma,

I dont need your benefit of the doubt, but thanks for offering. Im here answering/asking questions just like anyone else. I answer questions in many forums in the realm of my profession unlike you I see. Skilled woodworker are you? How long have you been building butcher blocks? Yes the volume is always the same, blah blah, but thats not what its about at all. Its about usable material. There is always more usable edge-grain than end-grain. Its the yield that matters (for you engineer types). The waist factor for end-grain tops is around 30-40% but im sure you knew that too.

As for our website we simply do not list end-grain countertops because they simply are not a big seller. We list standard edge-grain tops. End-grain is not standard and is typically ordered by the rich and famous who have no real applicational use for it anyway.

Although I personally prefer the look of end-grain over edge grain its just not practical or cost beneficial for use in the countertop application. Why would anyone want to chop heavily on a $3000-$4000 end-grain countertop. Oh wait your only gonna cut on it.lol, then buy a chopping block or a cutting board and save a couple grand. If your simply buying an end-grain countertop for looks than good for you but dont complain about the price when you do. Either way at some point whether its end-grain or edge-grain it does not matter as both tops will need to be serviced after time.

Why the comparison between granite and butcher block anyway? Does anyone sit here and mill around about the price of plastic laminate vs. granite or anything else for that matter. It is what is. When it comes to countertops just buy what you like. Nobody ever concerns themselves with cutting directly on granite tops or Laminate tops as we all know you just dont do it. With hardwood countertops its a plus. Does it scratch? Yes. They all do, but its the fact that it is safe to cut on and easily repairable that makes the difference.

touchy, touchy!

people are comparing granite to butcher block because that's the choice many of us are making.

i wanted an end-grain island top and after getting a few quotes, decided to do my island with the same quartz surface i'm using in the rest of my kitchen, so, yes, it makes sense to compare the price on the two products, even though you're correct that they're not the same.

i think it's great that you work in the industry and participate in these forums, but, if we're off base on things, educate us. i, for one, appreciate the knowledge, but i'm not sure why you need to put out so much attitude in giving it out.

Chris, this may be a silly question, I was on your web site and noticed you don't list a phone or fax number.
Just curious.

Chris,

Yes, I'm an engineer type, not a skilled woodworker.

And I am happy to be educated. I can sort of believe the waste factor on end grain is 30-40%. (Just more cutting means more waste on kerfs if nothing else.) But if edge grain had 0% waste and end grain had 40% waste that would still only be 1.67 times as much material, not three times the material.

I can certainly understand that there is a lot less call for it, and that it then will cost disproportionately more just because it is a low volume product.

Since you are educating us, can you explain why end grain is almost always much thicker than edge grain? (E.g. 3-4" rather than just 1.5-2".) Among other things that presents its own problems for use as a counter top, because the cabinets below need to be shorter. Sure its sexy, but is there any technical reason not to have a 2" end grain top?

Regarding why someone might cut on the top: I think "because you can". In my opinion the only real reason to choose BB over some other material is because you could then cut on it, and not need to drag out a cutting board. Whether that is enough justification is another matter - I went with granite because I didn't think so. If I wanted the look of a wood top, and wasn't planning on cutting on it, I think I would just go for a furniture grade top, not BB at all.

I had butcherblock; I didn't cut on it!

I used Blockhead for a cherry face grain top for a built in desk. The price was very reasonable, the top is beautiful and I didn't get any preaching or sarcasm when I asked questions.

Dee

Paul, I've seen a lot of 2" thick edge-grain wood tops. I used to have a free-standing island like that (now relegated to the workshop), and I think my workbench top is also 2".

But I'm also curious to hear an explanation on why an end-grain top takes 300% more material than edge-grain. Or why the waste factor is 40%, which sounds quite high.

The numbers don't really add up, so I suspect there's a mistake in the explanation or numbers. What I mean is, a 100% yield for an edge-grain top, and a 50% yield (50% wastage) for an end-grain top, means the end-grain takes about 200% more lumber. The waste factor would have to be about 66% to get to the 300% number.

Chris, I don't think anybody minds the information you offer; it's the link to your commercial website that violates this forum's terms of service.

Paul, you're right that there's no difference in "strength" (a simplistic term in itself) between "edge grain" and edge-glued planks. In fact, there's no difference at all except for the size of the pieces of wood, since "edge grain" doesn't imply that the exposed surface is oriented in any particular way relative to the trees' annual rings. However, the very fact that an edge-grain butcher block is assembled from many small, randomly oriented pieces can be of some benefit; when wide boards become wetter or drier as relative humidity changes, they can warp (or, more precisely, cup) fairly dramatically, whereas the warpage of strips that are a couple of inches wide is hardly noticable, and the random orientation of the strips means that cupping of one strip in one direction is likely to be countered by an adjacent strip warping the other way, so that the whole is more likely to remain fairly flat.

As to why end-grain butcher blocks would be thicker, consider two things:

1) Wood is kind of like a handful of soda straws glued together with lousy glue. Cutting across the straws requires some persistence, but a good whack at the end (such as when splitting wood for the fireplace) can easily cleave the whole bundle in two.

2) End-grain butcher blocks were originally intended for butchers, and had to (as Chris mentioned) withstand frequent blows from huge cleavers -- think back to your last mosey through a midwestern antique store, and the dished-out, foot-thick maple table that was buried in junk. You may like end-grain for its "feel under the knife" and be gentle enough that you wouldn't damage a thinner block, but the traditional expectation is for heavy impact so that's what manufacturers have to build for.

This thread has gotten me curious about butcherblock tops, styles and prices. I've taken a look at all the referenced companies above and found the Grizzly has the best price by far for an edge grain 1 3/4" top for an island.

Anyone know why their prices is so far below the others?

Here is a link that might be useful: Grizzly maple block