I am klutzy and have marble. I wouldn't say there's a "little" patina. There is a lot, and I don't think it's because I'm clumsy. There's a lot of etching all over creation, and I think that'll happen no matter who you are.

The only thing I can really point to that was my clumsiness at work is the large ding in the edge of the marble surrounding my undermount sink. That's from when I started to drop a plate and tried to save it by inexplicably smashing it downward against the edge of my marble.

I'm still happy with my marble, but I think you have to be really, really, really chill if you're going to have it. (I'm naturally not fussy, plus we got a great deal on ours that makes me especially un-particular about it.)

But I think the same can be said of wood. Both marble and wood will mark up quite a lot from normal person use, let alone clumsy person use. And how good the counters look while marked up depends a lot on how much movement the wood/stone has naturally (a livelier pattern will hide more) and mostly on your perspective.

Of the two, marble would work better with the steam you're concerned about. And you'd not have to worry about water around the sink causing issues.

Both marble and wood will get marked up. The wood will be protected from a lot for quite a while by the finish and you can sand it and refinish it. The marble will etch and may not ever look etch free again, you will not be able to refinish the marble (although a professional may be able to help).

Is the butcher block you're looking at from ikea also? The amazing price of it there was what sealed the deal for us.

We currently have a tabletop made out of a piece of poly sealed plywood (just a couple of spray coats) that my kids use for everything: schoolwork, eating, crafts, you name it. It has had pretty much everything happen to it - spills, being drawn on, water sitting on it for indeterminate amounts of time (days, in at least one instance) - and it has held up amazingly well for two years.

I think that the butcher block that we are putting in the kitchen will be even better wearing with several coats of waterlox on it!

So, you can tell what my vote is :)

Both are living materials, and age beautifully if you can accept it.

I have a Maple butcher block counter that is 30 years old and still going strong. Gets hard everyday use slicing, dicing, and chopping...:)

Hi Izzy, I'm getting the bodbyn gray cabs from IKEA and the walnut butcher block, which I'm going to stain black and then waterlox it. (Sweetsarahbeth, I'm with you on the great price!!)

So it kind of depends upon how you are using the word "patina." For wood, "patina" refers to the film that forms on the surface due to a lot of polishing. One of the biggest "sins" you can commit with an antique is to strip the patina off. Your wood antique will immediately lose a lot of its value. The same is true of antique firearms; you never want to strip the patina. For stone, like marble, "patina" refers to the fact that the stone, over time, absorbs stains and other colorations, like a natural stone in the woods with a lot of moss, the stone will take on a green hue over many years. The patina is not only a natural process that will occur with stone, even sealed, but the film itself is actually a protection against oxidation, i.e. rust. Many would say the patina of a stone, metal, or wood, is what gives it its character and charm.

But if you're using the word to mean all general etching, or marking up of the material via dropping stuff on it or the french press example you gave, that is a different story. And I think the answer is, it depends upon what you like, what you're willing to live with, etc. Cookncarpenter said it well. Both wood and stone are natural products and natural products age over time. What would be acceptable or unacceptable to you? Neither one will look the same in 20 years, so I think it's how it will age that you should think about. Will you be heartbroken if someone drops something really heavy on your marble and it gets dinged? If someone strays off the cutting board and cuts up your butcher block, will that be OK? (Although, like cookncarpenter, my butcher block will be used to prep food.) If you're worried about the french press, is there something you can set it on, some sort of base, so it won't damage the wood?

The advantages of butcher block are that it's less expensive to begin with, and you can indeed sand out any oopsies. The advantages of marble are that you won't have to worry about the french press, and as jilllius said, you won't have to worry about water damage around the sink either. If you go with butcher block, be sure to put a vapor barrier between it and your dishwasher. IKEA sells one, and I'm sure Home Depot and the other big box stores do too.

You can also consider what you mostly do in your kitchen. If you chop a lot of veggies like I do, I think butcher block is better for that purpose. if you do a lot of baking and make bread or pie crusts or pizza crusts, marble would be better because it's a dream to roll stuff out on. And of course, there's the very important matter of what you prefer. (EDIT: I mean that seriously; I just realized it might sound like I'm being sarcastic, but I'm not. Your personal preference is very important since it's YOUR kitchen!) If you can afford either one, and all other things being equal, which do you like the looks of better?

I hope this helps and I hope you're having a great evening! :-)

I have 16' of maple butcherblock I made myself. The joy of it is that I can sand it down and kinda start over if it gets marked up. That said, I barely cook, so it's hardly an issue. If you're worried about water around a sink, seal the stupid thing well. That's all it takes. BEFORE the sink and faucets are installed, seal the edges.

I plan soapstone on the other side of the kitchen, so Wilsonart is doing the trick very, very well right now.

If you're looking for a countertop that will remain factory perfect, don't buy either one. Really. That's the bottom line. It depends upon your habits, as Debbie B. mentioned.

Looking forward to seeing your kitchen!

Debbie B, Ikea doesn't sell walnut butcher block, only beech, birch, or oak. The walnut countertop, like all the Karlby counters, is just particle board with a thin layer of veneer over it. I would stay away, because if that gets any water into it you have BIG trouble. And your ability to "sand out any oopsies" is going to be seriously limited.

If you don't want to stain the Hammarp (the real wood ones), then you can get walnut BB from other outlets, like Floor & Decor (although I don't know if they have a store out your way). Craft-Art has lovely walnut, but shipping from GA to WA might be prohibitive.

ETA There have been several folks here who have created beautiful walnut stained BB starting with the Ikea beech.

If you want black, Debbie, try india ink on beech. See brickmanhouse's amazing kitchen for that:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2678448/finished-kitchen-circa-1840-working-farmhouse-ikea-budget-reno

Izzy, if you use honed marble you can polish out etches. I honed and hand polished a used marble table top, and when it gets a new etch, I use a scrubby or a smoothed sanding sponge. There are numerous GW threads with details--here's one.

In the interest of full disclosure I should say I used to polish out new etches. The kitchen is a few years old, and I don't run for the sanding sponge as often--only if there's a really noticeable one, as when my grandson was recently experimenting with lemon juice. He wasn't studying the effects of lemon juice on marble--the marble was just there.

Hi Izzy, I have both Carrara marble and maple wood as my kitchen countertops. No matter what you do or how careful you, if you plan to use your kitchen, the marble will get etched and maybe few chips in it and the wood will get dings and maybe water marks if not sealed well.

We've been in our house for just over 6 months and the marble has plenty of etches in it already and a chip too from a heavy bowl being banged into it. And the wood island which is where we do most of our prep, wash dishes and entertain has a some dents from can's being opened and other sharp things being sat directly on the wood.

The etches and dings are only noticeable at certain angles and apparently only to me! Both surfaces are incredibly beautiful and I wouldn't change either one out for quartz, granite or anything else. I believe that the patina that these surfaces are developing only improves their character and appearance. But, I never wanted a perfect kitchen, I wanted a working kitchen that I would get me excited to work in it everyday.

Debbie, what kind of vapor barrier do you mean for between the DW & the BB? I hadn't heard if that before, I was just going to waterlox the heck out if the bottom if the counter in that area!

Thank you so much for all of the input--it was extremely helpful! And thank you bbtrix for posting a photo of your kitchen--i haven't seen the ikea cabinets paired with walnut and marble, it looks gorgeous! It makes me even more excited for the final kitchen since I can envision it more. I'm planning on going with glass cabinet uppers too. We're twinsies.

It's awesome to hear that commentators have loved both surfaces, even with the occasional etch or ding-I think I'd be really happy either way.

I would still be stuck since I love them both so much, but based on my trainability and the particulars of my kitchen, I think I'll go with plan B-butcher block on the galley sides by the stove and sink, with marble on the pseudo island at the bottom of the galley and as a mosaic backsplash (arabesque or mini brick). The kitchen faces north, and since it will be a narrow galley, white cabinets plus marble might look a little cold and overwhelmingly white in such a small north-facing space. Butcher block would help warm it up, and I can get my marble fix with a marble mosaic backsplash above the butcher block and marble on the pseudo-island at the bottom of the galley that will be the baking area (there's currently a walk through area 50 inch wide to the living room, where I'm putting two base cabinets in). I suspect I'm also more likely to be able to train myself to put hot/steamy/wet things on the marble island or the range than I am to train myself not to accidently whack things on the edge of the counter top.

Thanks for pointing me to staining the Ikea beech butcher block a walnut color! .It looks great and would be so reasonably priced, even if I pay the contractor to cut and install it (I'd stain it and waterlox it on my own, although I don't have the best record with staining things. Wood conditioner was a recent revelation). I'm torn between going with that for the fantastic price and walnut or sapele countertops, which might be easier to repair on my own since I wouldn't have to restain them. Craft art actually sells DIY countertops, so I might see how much he would charge to cut and install them if I waterlox them and how that compares to pre cut and finished craft art tops--it might only come to $500-700 more than the ikea countertops, but $1000 less than the fully finished craft art tops if my rough calculations are right.

p.s. for future reference for those thinking about marble, I had a chance to pick up a piece of acid honed marble and play around with it, and I was fine with most of the damage I managed to make in the space of six hours. That included curry powder, pomegranate juice, a lemon slice, red food dye, and a couple of other liquids left on for 4-5 hours (some raised white marks and light etching from the lemon, but no stains), a rather heavy pestle dropped several times (left some very small white marks) and banged against the sides (left dents on the side, but not the big chip that was left in the quartz I sampled), a crenelated soy sauce bottle bottom twisted on the top (left some marks that I rather liked) and scratches from a quartz sample dragged across the top (my least favorite, but I can see how it could buff out with some sand paper or even a scrubby kitchen sponge over time). The acid honing really seemed to help diminish the visibility of etching, and I definitely plan to do it for the marble for the pseudo-island. Unless I go with the marble looking quartzite remnant that caught my eye...

I'd consider marble for the perimeter and wood for the island. Wood around a sink doesn't sound that durable to me.

izzy, my island was DIY Craftart. I purchased two slabs to create my 4 1/2 x 8 ft island. It cost $1,390 including shipping 1 1/2 yrs ago. I thought it was very cost effective for the quality. You might post a pic of your layout to get more opinions on placement.

Love the look of my walnut cutting board next to the cabs.