I guess that depends on your look and style. I have a friend whose small island (5x2 maybe) is entirely chopping block and she uses it directly everyday for anything not meat related. Every so often she oils it. Every few years she sands it slightly down. It has great character 10 years later.

I like the soft nature of a wood counter and never worry about breaking dishes when setting them down or hot pans. I keep wood boards all over my counters so, our plan is to incorporate two removable chopping boards just a bit less than the thickness of the counter and in the counter. Each will be in a cradle of stainless. One will be a 27"x12" right of the cooktop and one will be 51"x24" at the end of an island. Boos boards.

Have fun designing.

I had butcherblock counters in my last ktichen. I cut directly on them. I oiled them with mineral oil. You can oil them with mineral or other food safe oils. Or you can finish them with something like waterlox, but then you cannot cut directly on them.

I was fine with the patina from cutting and even fine with the small stain from food dye (making icing for cookies--was too deep for me to be able to sand it out). But I didn't like how they held up near the sink. Perhaps if you are more careful than I am about splashing or perhaps if you oil more frequently or if you chose to finish with something like waterlox, that would take of that issue.

Butcherblock is the common term for the kind of wood counters that are like cutting boards so you might find more information by searching on that term. There have been lots of thread on the topic here in the past though I don't remember any very recently.

Thank you for your insight! I have one of those farmhouse sinks and it's pretty big. Water hopefully won't be a problem. I like the idea of using the counter top to cut on. I'll still have cutting boards and a granite slab to do pastry on. I like the "used" look. Hoping to post pictures as soon as we're done!

We has a Boos block top on our small island in our previous home (pre-remodel). I think you can see the "patina" in this picture. I think we sanded it down once in 20 years, and oiled it very infrequently. If you're ok with the look, then go for it! It certainly was very convenient.

If you are using it as a chopping surface, it's worth considering an end grain butcher block, as the surface is harder. The old, thick butcher blocks you see are usually end grain.

If you just mean the look of a chopping block (aka wood), I have wood counters in my kitchen from the 1960s that have held up beautifully. They're polyurethaned, and I can tell that if the previous owners weren't a bunch of lazy butts, they'd be perfect everywhere, even near the sink.

The great thing about wood is that you can choose how waterproof to make it based on how you treat it. Oil for a low-sheen natural look but that will be somewhat porous, or poly for a really durable and wipeable (slightly shiny) look.

Unless you go for genuine Boos-style butcher block, wood counters are the prettiest and cheapest countertop IMO! IKEA's 9 foot long butcher block is $180 or so (depending on your location) and just needs oiling OR poly and sanding.