Madeline, check the install directions for the range. Most specify that you can not have any wood for a certain distance above the range, but the Viking range I bought was clear that it had a zero clearance ( meaning you could put wood right next to it) on either side. My range is butted up against a laminate countertop on top of a wooden cabinet and never had any problems. If you get a true commercial range, it will likely require some clearance on all sides, but the home versions usually allow it to be installed right next to a cabinet. Good idea of you to check. My brother had a kitchen with a 30 inch cooktop, and wanted to install a 36 inch, fortunately, the guy they hired to make the cutout in the granite countertop was on top of things and pointed out that it would be a fire hazard because the upper cabinets would then be directly above the cooktop ( the existing design had a 30 inch wall cabinet set higher on top of the vent hood, and the cabinets on either side were much lower )

So, I priced a 12 x 18 x 1.5 Walnut cutting board... Hardwood Lumber Company $47.52 + shipping John Boos $105 (shipping included) A rather substantial price difference that will be magnified when you're talking in terms of island countertops. (Depending on how far you live from Ohio where HLC is located regarding cost of shipping.) For those of us on tight budgets and who don't mind investing a little sweat equity, it is a good thing to have lower priced alternatives.

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 just built a 5" thick walnut end-grain butcher block for a client. I used plain mineral oil. I let it soak in a couple of times. I use bees wax on many of my furniture finishes but think it would be weird to cut and eat food on. I'm sure it's alright but I would just use the oil. Make sure it's pure bees wax if you do use it many have other chemicals in them. Also for my own use I wouldn't use anything but maple. It's what's been used forever and it is just a clean wood. All wood darkens with a finish on it especially oil and especiall end gain. John