I think that Christopher Peacock kitchen does have a lipped cutting board sitting on top of the marble -- just like the oldalgebra and homepro01 have mentioned. I suspect it looks different because if you are Christopher Peacock, you get a wood artisan to create a custom piece for you and it is made to fit over the edge of the marble and back under to the cabinet so that it looks perfectly finished and it stays in place better when working at it. If you are going to pay for a CP kitchen, you certainly aren't going to photograph your kitchen with a cutting board you could buy off Amazon, and if you are CP, this is one of those things you sell your client on -- art as function. Looks great and protects the marble even if you don't cook in the kitchen.

You said that you are "fairly anti-granite" but haven't mentioned what bothers you about it. If you don't like pattern, there are some that are more uniform. There are also many that are very easy to care for if that's the concern. If you are willing to consider it, it should be possible to get slabs in the side you need. It may narrow your choices. Our island is 8 feet long but we have a pretty big L so we needed at least 10' to do our L counters with only one seam. The granite (one of the blue types) that we wanted normally comes in smaller slabs so we thought we were going to have to live with two seams in the L. Actually the first slabs we found would have required a seam in the island which we would have dealt with by using a bookmatched pair of slabs (well done it is a very nice look - one half is the mirror image of the other). Then we found slabs big enough for our island. That slab yard checked its other locations and found larger slabs for us - 124" by 54' - something we never expected in our granite. So if you are willing to do granite, it is possible to get slabs large enough though it might limit your selection somewhat and you might have to go from slab yard to slab yard to find something you like in the size you want. You also have to find a fabricator willing and able to deal with handling a larger top.

Maintenance varies. As I mentioned, mine is pretty much bullet-proof. I don't seal it or do anything else "special" to it. Occasionally, if I want it to *sparkle*, I'll use Method cleaner, but by and large I just use what I used on my old laminate...detergent & water. One thing, on the laminate (and probably light-colored stones), if you overdose on the detergent you will get a detergent haze but you can't see it. I have polished Absolute Black Premium so the haze is noticeable. But, we've learned to go light on the detergent and we're fine...and we go through less detergent now as well! (The "less is more" mentality has extended to everything...an unintended good side effect!) The "being very careful" stage is just the "new car stage"...it's new and, at least for me, I'd never had stone b/f so I needed to learn what & I could & could not do on my own (I'm one of those that likes to know through experience, not just what I'm told!) What have I learned? Nothing seems to hurt my stone...I no longer worry about anything...I now treat it with even less care than I did the laminate! It's nice not worrying that I'll stain it if I leave something sit (I worried about it w/laminate all the time b/c my mother's laminate has a lot of stains...of course, it's a light tan and 39 years old! It watched six of us grow up!) [And *sigh*, I now have my first big ding on my cabinets...we've filled it in but I can still see it...no one else notices it, but I do!!!] HTH!

My sink run is 14 ft long, I have an Ikea oak butcherblock countertop and we seamed it at the sink. They tell you not to do that, but so far ours has been fine (1 year and a couple months). My sink is a Kohler Vault, which has a wide flat rim at the back. The rim covers most of the wood seam and honestly the seam gets less water/wear there than it would if it were across the middle of my prep area. My countertop was put in by my cabinet installers, who had lots of experience with Ikea products (and did an excellent job overall) but were not trained carpenters; a decorative seam would have been more than they would have wanted to tackle and I doubt they would have had the tools to do it correctly. If your mom is hiring a carpenter to do the countertop, she may have different options. But for my kitchen I elected to keep it inexpensive and simple and put the seam under a topmounted sink. The installers screwed the countertop down tight at the sink (also something you aren't supposed to do but I haven't noticed any problems yet, and we do have humidity swings). The seam wasn't perfectly abutted so I filled it with matching wood filler and finished the whole top with many coats of Ikea's Behandla oil, which produces a hard film (I know because of the hard film it left on the wall :) -- it comes off with rubbing alcohol so no worries). You can see the seam at the front edge but it's not at all noticeable at the back. No problems at all with my topmount sink, by the way. Our old one was cast iron topmounted with silicone caulk, and the caulk had mildew spots (granted it had been there about 25 yrs). I am not sure what my plumber used for our sinks but he chose the sealer specifically because of the wood top, and he said it wouldn't mildew like the other one did. And it hasn't so far (so little is visible I'd probably never know anyway). Our second sink is the round topmounted stainless one from Ikea. No problems with it either. Not on topic but in case your mom asks: I like the looks and function of the Vault very much, would definitely recommend the low divide for anyone who likes double sinks as I do, but wouldn't choose a square-cornered sink again if I had another good option (I wanted a flat-rimmed stainless sink and the Vault was the only one with a low divide that I could find at the time). The round Ikea sink is much easier to clean inside. Here is a link that might be useful: Kohler Vault