QS Oak is very distinctive. I would say that your options are pretty limited: Teak goes pretty well as a contrast to oak as would walnut. It all depends on the stains you choose. A solid piece of white oak would for sure work; you could use a complimentary stain if you want to avoid a monolithic look at that end of your island. Personally, I would stick with my granite or, if you really are concerned about coldness/hardness and don't want oak on oak, go with a painted countertop (with more than one coats of conversion varnish).

ADK_will

I really am pretty against the granite on the raised counter. I just don't like the feel of it personally, although I think it is a good surface material. I am trying to find something complementary, but I agree, it is pretty specific to that wood.

I thought of painting it, but I am not sure how that would hold up with a lot of use. What is conversion varnish?

Hi,
I, too, have QS white oak, and a lot of other wood to boot. For my table, I had a top made of maple with two strips of cherry. I think maple is basically a foolproof color. In your case, the finish is giving more emphasis to the oak grain, and you might want to avoid another wood that has a active grain, which is why maple would work.

If you wanted darker, maybe walnut, with a warmer finish. If you wanted really dark, QS oak stained nearly black would be very dramatic.
Casey

First, I agree with you about wood being more comfortable for the raised bar than granite. Your quartersawn oak is beautiful. I think the most inexpensive way of doing the wood countertops would be buy Ikea butcherblock and stain it with India ink. You can control how dark it is by how long you leave the ink on and how many coats of it you use. With black wood tops you wouldn't have to worry about it not going with your cabs or taking the spotlight away from them. The other option would be to do white oak and have them stained the same color but more saturated than your cabs. Good luck, and I hope you'll let us know what you decide to do!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and the thoughts. Your kitchen is very pretty, Casey. My dad is a woodworker and he is visiting some lumber places with me next week when they visit, so the cost is important, but I think we will be able to make them for a lot cheeper than what else might be out there. At least that is what my dad thought when I sent him the Ikea prices, since I would need multiple counters (our raised counter is 158" W x 16" D).

I will have to look into that India ink. I have never heard of that before.

Check out Brickmanhouse's kitchen (link below). Here's what Brickman said about doing the counters with India ink:

"Several posters, about the counters: Believe it or not, they were really EASY. I read on the woodworking forum here that people were having trouble getting a true black stain, and that india ink would give a flat black look. I figured, since the counters cost a grand total of $280, and I'm in and out of art supply stores all the time anyway (see paintergirl94's comment above!) I'd give it a shot. If I hated it, no big loss-- I'd just regroup and figure out a Plan B. The india ink went on black and solid (no streaking or blotching) with a sponge brush, and dried in a matter of hours. I finished with 4 coats of Waterlox regular, 2 coats of Waterlox satin, and installed them. Time consuming, but not difficult. They've been in since December, and are holding up great."

This is not quite halfway down the page that I've linked.

Here is a link that might be useful: Brickmanhouse's kitchen reveal

I like walnut or teak, but maybe even Cherry would work. But I prefer dark counters. Also, in a classic Craftsman kitchen walnut or cherry (American, not Brazilian) was often combined with Quartersawn Oak.

flwrs, thanks for that link. I have never heard of doing that before, but it really looks beautiful. I might consider it in the black too. Hmmm, good food for thought.

natschultz, I love walnut and cherry. We are doing American cherry for our vanities, and we have it for our bedroom furniture-so it also might be a possibility. It is a little soft, but I don't mind if it gets some dents from the kids eating up there. I am all for a little patina.

I vote for a 2 inch thick slab of teak or walnut or bubinga or some other tropical wood.

{{!gwi}}

If you can afford it, end grain butcherblock is very dramatic and works with lots of looks from mod to quasi-historical. Gives a checkerboard look that doesn't need to match anything else. Anyone have an image?

I think the QS oak has amazing grain of its own and wouldn't want it to fight with other strong grains like the exotics shown above. I like Casey's maple suggestion for the simplicity and for the contrast you mentioned. Florantha's end grain checkerboard suggestion would be a subtle but nice geometric pattern...Something interesting to put with the quartersawn grain, but not in competition. I'm afraid a dark/black stained wood counter will make it look like you're trying to emulate the Virginia Mist you'll have on the rest. I'd want each material to be able to shine on its own.

Try this link and see if it works...it's in my dead section of Flickr account...from Timeless Timbers of Ashland, Wisc.

They sell wood products salvaged from places like the local bay in Lake Superior. Amazing colors. Photo shows birch end grain butcherblock as sold in gift store cutting boards--one is oiled and one is unoiled for comparison. Colors include yellows and browns and some greens and sometimes a blue.

This wood was super-old-growth when it was cut, so it had very dense grain from slow growth. The salvaged logs are "sinkers" that did not get shipped out during logging era.

It ain't cheap. We priced out side-grain butcherblock for our project ($600 for two pieces each four square feet but am I remembering right?). It would have been a Killer Piece and would have made us an amazing space but we decided to go with humble Ikea beech for reasons I won't bother with here. Not sure if the prices still hold the same--economy is different now.

If you search the GW you might find more discussions of reclaimed lumber products.

Here is a link that might be useful: Timeless Timbers cutting boards--salvaged lumber

Rhome, great points. And since I so love your kitchen and your tastes, your advice holds a great deal of weight!

Floratha, ironically, my parents live very closed to Timeless Timbers, so I have considered it several times. I live in MD, but my parents usually drive out here from Lake Superior, so I certainly considered it. We are doing many sustainable things in our home, so I love reclaimed stuff. But I am also trying to stick to our budget as best as possible, and I think the reclaimed stuff is probably out of our reach.

My upper cabs are quartersawn oak (bottoms are painted) and I have a standard maple butcherblock that I think works OK with it. But if I had a longish stretch of countertop to work with it, there are a couple of things I'd consider. My first choice would be end grain (the checkerboardy stuff) walnut or something else stained darkish. What I love about QS is the sort of pin-stripey look of the grain, with the rays. It's more angular, less swirly than many other wood grains and I think the angularity of the end grain butcherblock would look fabulous with it.

If that were out of the question $ wise (as it was for me), I would look for another wood that had either a very tight grain, with few swirls ...ie. maple...or another quarter-sawn wood. Ash typically compliments oak, for example. What you don't want (IMO)is an exotic wood with a big dramatic graining. It would fight.

Thanks, Melissastar. I love the checkerboard look, but I am afraid it might overwhelm the rest of the kitchen since that countertop run is basically 13 ft by 16". That just seems like a lot of checkerboard pattern.

That sure is a lot! Sorry, I guess I didn't pay enough attention to the earlier posts. Then, as I said, I'd go for something with not a lot of dramatic graining, and either much lighter or much darker in color. Walnut, maple, ash all seem like good choices. Maybe birch as well.

What about a frankly fake finish in laminate--brushed aluminum or zinc? or other metal? Or the real thing?

No worries, melissastar, I do the same thing with other people's posts all the time! I appreicate the feedback.

Florantha, I am not against laminate in general, in fact I like many of them alot. However, while they are warmer to the touch than natural stone, I really love the feel of wood to the touch. I guess I spend a lot of time in midwest diners and bars that had wood counters :)

Found some "checkerboard" countertop images...

Here is a link that might be useful: Rummage around on website--Grothouse Lumber in Penna

We used a butcher block for the island with quartersawn cabinets

I think copper would look beautiful with your combination of wood and granite. I know you said you like the feel of wood, but I just wanted to throw out there another option.