The maple would be slightly harder but probably not enough to make a real functional difference. The maple will be more blonde, of course, while the mahogany more red. I tend to think that with the dark blue the maple might be a better fit. Can you get samples of both so you can see what they look like in contrast to your blue paint?

My kitchen is similar but I painted the island my DH made in buttermilk yellow. He also made a walnut top for it and then I put 5 coats of Waterlox on it, sanding in between coats. I LOVE it! That said, we will NOT be cutting on it and we don't eat at it, but we do serve on it. It's just the two of us most of the time. The walnut is very hard and I think it makes a great choice in a farm style/cottage kitchen so maybe look into it as well. I'll try and take a few pics this weekend.

I second what hest said. As far as being appropriate for a modern farmhouse look, maple has always been used in country homes since it grows all around the eastern parts of the US. Mahogany is a tropical wood not found in this country.

"True" mahogany comes from Latin America, and some from Africa. "Philippine" mahogany isn't true mahogany. Much true mahogany, if not all (not sure), is listed as "threatened", and is becoming rare. It's a big part of the logging problem in the rainforest.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I will try to get samples and see how each looks, but based on some of your comments, I'm leaning towards maple.

FWIW, I agree that lighter is better, although I think it depends both on the size of your kitchen and on your flooring... I do love kitchens where the colors in the island are directly inverse to the colors on the perimeter cabinets. In other words, a blonde wood would be lovely.

Have you considered bamboo or Lyptus? I'm putting those out there as an plug for green choices; although, honestly, I'm not sure I'm crazy about bamboo countertops. (For the other greenies out there, I believe coconuts will be available sometime in the next few years as a woody countertop option.)

I'm attaching a link to a woodworker who has a good page with pictures of many woods and with a chart (scroll down) that compares the hardness of the woods. Everytime I post a comparison chart it seems like it gets blasted down - they are by nature generalized, and we here on the Kitchen Forum are PPP (pretty picky people - but it's still a useful tool.

Good luck,
Cate

Here is a link that might be useful: Wood Colors and Hardness Comparison Chart

as someone who had a similar decision to make and ultimately went with the Mahogany (African Mahogany), that would be my choice. I love mine!

Although, your best bet is to put all your potential materials together on a design board to see which looks best as the flooring and cabinet coloring do make a difference (you can see what I am talking about in the last kitchen picture on page 2 of my pix).

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: pix of our kitchen with Mahogany island top

We have a similar kitchen and decided to use mahogany. I had some guilt feelings about the sources of mahogany, but decided the tree was already dead so someone should make good use of it. :-)

Here's a link to pics.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen pics

Wow, you guys are great!
Thank you Cate for the link to DeVos. I read about them on another post, but this was the first time I checked out their website. Great photos of all the different types of wood. I like the Lyptus.
Tonda, what an amazing kitchen! Love the long channel sink in the middle of the island; very dramatic. Does the Mahogany hold up well around the wet areas?
I thought I'd include a picture of our island with the flooring visible to give an idea of the materials and colors we have. Hope the link works!

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Kitchen Island w/temporary plywood top

Thank you for the kind comments. Your kitchen is quite beautiful too!

Does the Mahogany hold up well around the wet areas?

Like a charm! We put several coats of Polimerized Tung Oil on it (two years ago!!!), and the water beads right up on it. It also keeps the wood looking new. We also used exterior grade caulk between undermount sink and wood top.

Here is a link that might be useful: Polimerized Tung Oil

They build boats out of mahogany; yes, it holds up well.

Thanks everyone for chiming in and sharing your opinions and your amazing kitchens!
I pulled the trigger last night and bought a John Boos maple edge grain island top. I think a darker wood like, mahogany and/or lyptus would also have been beautiful, but I was flipping thru a magazine and saw a blue island similar to ours. It had a maple butcher block top and that just made up my mind for me.
I'll try to remember and post pictures after we install it!
Thanks again!