I will try to get a picture taken here in a couple days. We've got the countertops off right now so we could cut out the sink holes on the router table. Another beautiful thing about wood. They are light enough that I can move the perimeters by myself, and two of us can move the island top. I think it weighs around 90 lbs. We've had them out a few times now for construction projects so they wouldn't get dented and scratched with tools and such. We used a marine varnish (can't remember the name off hand) just right around the edges of the sink where we thought water might be an issue on top, bottom, and edge, no problems when we took the drop in sink out, but will be doing undermount with the new sinks. If it looks like we might start having problems, we'll do something other than oil over the entire top, but I don't see it ever being a problem. I'm pretty religious about oiling in the most used area. Less often on the seating side. I think there are 3 different logs in our kitchen, and the darkest was kept for the tops, but walnut fades unlike most wood, so my floors are already lighter than when they went in a little over a year ago. I haven't noticed a significant change in the tops yet. I do believe oil makes for a deeper darker finish than the polyurethane which brings out the oranges and reds more. The knotholes in the floor are by far the darkest and prettiest areas. I took a picture of the most used area of the kitchen floor, where we had the table and chairs. We moved them to the kitchen when we ripped out the dining room floors and just now moved the table back to the dining room (procrastination is what we do best). Now that the table and chairs are out, I will probably lightly sand and recoat that area of the floor. All scratches seem to be in the finish (oil based polyurethane) and not into the wood itself. I can't feel any of them when I rub my fingers over them anyways. Not to bad for 5 chairs being scooted around every day. I'm sure there are thousands of tiny scratches that aren't noticeable to the naked eye, but if I can't see them with the sunlight beaming in, they don't exist lol. The countertop scratches aren't as noticeable, most likely do to the fact that the oil actually soaks into the surface, whereas the poly sits on top of the wood. I'm sure there are probably knife marks where I've neglected to reach for the cutting board or where I've slid a heavy cast iron pan, but I certainly don't go looking for them and none are big or deep enough to draw attention. I'm pretty sure at one point I found a child's drawing somewhat imprinted into the top, but I've either forgotten about it, or it's gotten enough abuse that it blends. I circled the biggest scratches in the picture, because I'm not sure how big it will be when it posts. They are where the two chairs that were unknowingly missing a pad on a leg sat. There are other smaller scratches that don't pick up in the picture, but again, not noticeable unless you get down on your hands and knees and look for them.

I had a similar color scheme in my last kitchen. All white cabinetry with seeded glass uppers. Counters and backsplash were marble slabs. Floor was a very dark coffee stain. I also had an oak butcherblock counter from Ikea that I adored. I didn't stain it because I wanted to use it as a work surface. It held up remarkably well! The cabinets below were painted a color called french pear. Sort of a yellow/green/grey I included a link that has a similar color with butcherblock. There's only one pic that shows the island well so you may have to hunt a bit. As for perimeter counters I always think soapstone or paperstone looks nice with white cabinets. They both have this matte finish to them that makes them absorb light in this lovely soft way so that the difference between the black and white is less stark. If you want something lighter you could always go with a quartz or stone that resembles marfil marble or limestone in a honed finish. (I don't recommend using either on kitchen counters as they're too soft). Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Island with butcherblock and green paint

poorowner, I'd love to tell you it will be fine since I have an undermount sink, but I really don't know. I saw another member on this forum have an undermount with butcher block so I decided to go for it. My sink is so deep that not too much water ever makes it up that high though. Also, the Waterlox makes the water bead and not penetrate the wood. We did put on five top coats however. We also put bb in our kids bathroom counter. I knew they would destroy it going in, but wanted a cheap update instead of a complete remodel. It has been there about a year. The only trouble spot is where they would put a cup that had water on the bottom of it in the same spot for several days. When I noticed it, there was a tiny bit of black and the wood had formed a hump and was soft. After drying out you really don't notice anything.

Thank you so much for all of the input--it was extremely helpful! And thank you bbtrix for posting a photo of your kitchen--i haven't seen the ikea cabinets paired with walnut and marble, it looks gorgeous! It makes me even more excited for the final kitchen since I can envision it more. I'm planning on going with glass cabinet uppers too. We're twinsies. It's awesome to hear that commentators have loved both surfaces, even with the occasional etch or ding-I think I'd be really happy either way. I would still be stuck since I love them both so much, but based on my trainability and the particulars of my kitchen, I think I'll go with plan B-butcher block on the galley sides by the stove and sink, with marble on the pseudo island at the bottom of the galley and as a mosaic backsplash (arabesque or mini brick). The kitchen faces north, and since it will be a narrow galley, white cabinets plus marble might look a little cold and overwhelmingly white in such a small north-facing space. Butcher block would help warm it up, and I can get my marble fix with a marble mosaic backsplash above the butcher block and marble on the pseudo-island at the bottom of the galley that will be the baking area (there's currently a walk through area 50 inch wide to the living room, where I'm putting two base cabinets in). I suspect I'm also more likely to be able to train myself to put hot/steamy/wet things on the marble island or the range than I am to train myself not to accidently whack things on the edge of the counter top. Thanks for pointing me to staining the Ikea beech butcher block a walnut color! .It looks great and would be so reasonably priced, even if I pay the contractor to cut and install it (I'd stain it and waterlox it on my own, although I don't have the best record with staining things. Wood conditioner was a recent revelation). I'm torn between going with that for the fantastic price and walnut or sapele countertops, which might be easier to repair on my own since I wouldn't have to restain them. Craft art actually sells DIY countertops, so I might see how much he would charge to cut and install them if I waterlox them and how that compares to pre cut and finished craft art tops--it might only come to $500-700 more than the ikea countertops, but $1000 less than the fully finished craft art tops if my rough calculations are right. p.s. for future reference for those thinking about marble, I had a chance to pick up a piece of acid honed marble and play around with it, and I was fine with most of the damage I managed to make in the space of six hours. That included curry powder, pomegranate juice, a lemon slice, red food dye, and a couple of other liquids left on for 4-5 hours (some raised white marks and light etching from the lemon, but no stains), a rather heavy pestle dropped several times (left some very small white marks) and banged against the sides (left dents on the side, but not the big chip that was left in the quartz I sampled), a crenelated soy sauce bottle bottom twisted on the top (left some marks that I rather liked) and scratches from a quartz sample dragged across the top (my least favorite, but I can see how it could buff out with some sand paper or even a scrubby kitchen sponge over time). The acid honing really seemed to help diminish the visibility of etching, and I definitely plan to do it for the marble for the pseudo-island. Unless I go with the marble looking quartzite remnant that caught my eye...