Do you have a reason why breakage on counters is a special concern?

Marble is a stone, so if you drop things, yes, they can break on it. But at counter height, you aren't likely to drop things the same way or distance as a floor. I have glass serving bowls, china bowls, glass measuring cups (Pyrex and thinner lab glass type), stemware, table glasses, and lots of other breakables. I've had things break from banging the sink, faucet or other things while washing and, less often, a pure to the floor drop, but I don't think I've ever had anything break because of the counter -- even with DH's depth perception issue. But that is also the same as laminate, tile or any other counters I've had.

I have marble and when I have have dropped a glass on it not only does it shatter but my marble scratches or gets a white spot where the impact was. These do not bother me...my wood floor has etch marks and scratches too but if you want it to always be pristine marble is not for you, for when you do from time to time drop things on it or drag items across your counters you will get scratches because it is a softer stone. What i have learned in my research is that no material is perfect so look more at the pros you like and forgive the materials natural weaknesses.

Not worried about pristine, I just don't want to break my grandmother's mixing bowls. It's going to be a working, farm kitchen, so no perfect surfaces, here! LOL

If they belonged to your grandmother and she used them and you use them now, I can't imagine that your using them and setting them down on a marble counter would be harder on them than other counter surfaces. I have some thin glass bowls and other pieces. You'd really have to bang them or slam then down to break them. Accidents can happen, but I wouldn't worry about a counter being too hard.

With respect to whether something would break when it hits it, I don't think you will find any real difference between marble, granite, tile, quartz. If you are really concerned about this you might want to consider wood counters.

Sayde- That's exactly what I've been thinking...would it be better to have a wood top on the island, with a marble inset (for baking) or a marble countertop with a wood cutting board? I can see benefits to both and may end up combining the two. With a bigger island, that would probably be the obvious choice...but my island is going to be about 5'6" x 3'6". Not tiny, but not large, either :)

Lavender, we have marble perimeters and a wood island. The island is only 30 by 48 inches but we think it is quite large enough. We never prepare food directly on any of the surfaces, both to protect them and because it is just easier to use boards -- lift the board to sweep the food into a pot or bowl, take the board to the sink to wash it. Using cutting boards just makes more sense to us. Even when we're baking, we use a really big Epicurean cutting board (they're basically paperstone) to roll out dough. And we put big terry towels all over the island under the cutting board to keep the island clean. I just think it is easier to deal with the mess by being able to move the messed up surface to the sink than to bring the sponges and stuff to clean up the countertops.