momof2doxies: thanks for the photo! That helps me visualize. I think if I do BB there I'd have to do something contrasting -- either striped like yours or end grain. shanghaimom and ci_lantro: reinstalling the Jenn-Aire as a functioning cooktop is not possible. We have a stone house and the exhaust vent to the outside is already covered up and re-stoned, so I can't hook it back up. (We had a lot of stone work/patching done before we moved in and had the vent patched at the same time, before we really discussed options for dealing with the big hole!) This is a strange and quirky house, so the patched counters will just have to be one of its charms!

I'd want some fairly substantial support at the front edge of the marble. 30" is quite a distance for marble, especially if it's 3/4 inch. If you put a 1x2 under the front as weedyacres suggested, it would be easy to hide a length of 1" angle iron behind it and get much more strength.

You can have laminate countertops made in any thickness you like -- provided you don't go so thin as co compromise the structure. In the 60s 1" thick laminate counterops was the rage for a while. We still replace a lot of it. The 1-1/2" standard laminate thickness serves no particular purpose. It just happens to be what you get when you glue two 3/4" board together. We commonly have tops made 1-1/4" thick to match Formica's ideal edge thickness. Other edge fabricators will go as thin a 1-1/8" which is about 2 cm. This helps the illusion that the laminate is stone since stone tops are typically 2 cm.

We used Denver Bath and Granite 4 Less a few years ago when we redid our guest bath. All of our vanities are custom made by PO and of course none in standard sizes. DBG4Less (now apparently a new website nestappeal.com) trimmed a stock-size granite top to fit our offset-sink odd-width vanity that we took home to install. They ship but we live in northern NM and were visiting Denver to check out a jet tub anyway so we went to their shop. Viewed, selected, they trimmed it, we put it in our minivan and off we went, all in one afternoon--pretty nifty! We were DIY and so attaching the sink and installing the top was fine with us. They now look to have many more sizes, even for our other odd size vanities, and more material selection. I have no affiliation with this company and am just relating our experience with them, thought it might provide you with an option to check out. HTH