Lumber Liquidators has cherry butcher block in 12' lengths for very little money. poorowner discovered that they weren't cherry all the way through, but this shouldn't matter in your application as there won't be any sink cutouts and you'd place a plastic or metal grommet thingie for any cord holes that you might cut.

I will need something similar in our office. If I used the cherry butcher block, how is it attached/installed/supported where the 2 pieces meet? In my application I will have a chair in the corner.

Hi,

I have been looking at wood tops for my kitchen counter and IKEA has extremely inexpensive options in wood as well as laminate. They get overall good reviews from people who have it in their kitchens. Although, if you are using that area as a homework area, you might want to stay away from wood as pencil marks will dent it and it won't remain smooth.

Good luck!

How about a plywood base with a laminate covered top?

Or just stain or painted playwood cut counters for that
corner?

Here are some ideas..

Study Minimalist from Doityourself.com

Handy Guy Shawn

Simpliedfied Building

crow workspace Doityourself.com

Kitchen Desk Area made of plywood

Cameronmoll

Here is a link that might be useful: Do It yourself ideas

I recommend butcher block from IKEA. Fairly cheap (I'm thinking the longest piece they sell is about 8 feet and costs less than $200). We used the oak butcher block in our kitchen and also for some shelves and for a long desk in my husband's office. We finished it with tung oil (except for the office where my husband was too eager to get in and start working and we never finished the wood at all. It still looks pretty good 4 years later, although it doesn't see really heavy use.

We didn't have to join two pieces in any of those applications but in my office we reused a piece of oak counter, cut in half at a diagonal and mounted in an L configuration, with the seam coming straight out from the corner. The carpenters just used glue and brackets underneath to connect the two pieces and it's held up well over four years of very heavy use. I have seen references to other ways of connecting two pieces of butcherblock (biscuits maybe??).

You can get large brackets that will hold up the counter without cluttering the floor.

http://www.supportbrackets.com/workbenches.asp

I would not use wood on counters where the kids will paint, draw etc. I had Ikea butcher block countertop in a rental. It did not wear well.

I would use prefinished laminate from Ikea. Go to Ikeafans web site and they have lots of ideas regarding how to finish the seams that are nearly nonvisible.

I also like the idea of apple core plywood varnished where the edges are showing. You need to use good quality/expensive plywood to do this and this may cost you more than Ikea laminate.

Consider a local laminate countertop shop. I think that the stone countertop mania has made these guys rather hungry. You might be pleased to see what options they can give you.

Plywood over 8' long isn't readily available. Longer lengths are usually special order items, i.e., expensive. But, the good news is that you'd need only one sheet.

For 'inexpensive', your best bet is either butcherblock from LL, etc., or laminate. Home Depot stocks premade laminate tops that are very reasonable. You could buy the kitchen counters from there & rip off the backsplash portion since you need only 21'' depth.

The benches and counter for our mudroom are walnut veneered plywood and they look great. You really can't tell the difference between them and the solid walnut desk top. As Ci_lantro says, it may be a bit more costly to get a longer than 8' sheet but you'll only need one.

Cheri - Do you have any pictures of your walnut veneered plywood? Where did you purchase it? Do you mind me asking what you paid?

I don't know how much the plywood cost, only that the cabinet maker told me he used it for the bench and hutch because it was a lot cheaper than solid wood. I'm afraid the picture quality isn't very good...had to use my phone.

This is the plywood counter

This is the solid walnut desk top

Thanks Cheri! I really appreciate you posting those pictures. Your counters look Great! :-)

Two other options you might want to consider. One is plyboo-- bamboo plywood. Most people who use it leave the edge exposed because it is really pretty. It isn't cheap stuff, but relatively straightforward to work with.

Also you could consider a zinc countertop. Rotometals use to be limited in their lengths, but they can now cut at any length. You could get two pieces, solder the joint together, and buff the whole thing out. We did a small zinc counter in our laundry room and it was quite easy. Rotometals has tutorials on youtube for DYIers. My only recommendation is to take the sheets to a sheet metal or roofing shop and they can use a sheet metal break to put a really nice uniform hemmed edge on the counter.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rotometals

thanks everyone. Definitely need to check into these options. Wondering if veneered plyowood comes in 9' lengths... guessing it would be a special order type of deal.

And plyboo sounds interesting too. Thanks again for all the great ideas!

The butcher block will be fine as a desktop if you polyurethane it like you would a floor or a table top. Then you could stain it any colour you like (mahogany?), which you would not do with a kitchen counter because none of that would be food safe, but for a desk it won't be an issue. And the advantage of the butcher block is that when you cut it to fit you don't have an unfinished edge to finish like you would with a laminate or a plywood.