You need to do some homework. Every material has it's pros and cons, and it all comes down to what you are willing to live with. "Best" is completely subjective. Frankly, if my DH had not felt so strongly about our using a "higher end" counter top (we ended up with engineered quartz) I would have done a laminate. They are durable, warm, soft, and very inexpensive. Completely low-maintenance if you are not careless about using them. Our quartz will be fine, and looks fantastic, but we spent nearly three times what we could have spent on a high-end laminate. IKEA has some DIY laminate for incredibly little cost if you are willing to put in the effort and will buy you plenty of time to do some research on your countertop options. Here is a link that might be useful: IKEA wood and laminate countertops

Gwent, my GW email doesn't work....but anyway, we left that house last year and I'll have to dig up some pictures. The only ones I have handy have no backsplash--we took over a year to pick that out. We had natural stained red oak floors to match the rest of the house (pretty light) and medium cherry cabinets in a reddish tone. We only used Motawis for highlights (Ladybell I think in greens)--a 6x6 over the cooktop and 3x3s at the ends of the counter runs. I think we used 4x4s. I should remember this--we installed ourselves. But it's early here. We used a glossy white handmade subway for the field tiles and a grey grout, sort of SS color but what I was trying for was that old concrete-looking stuff you'd find in old tile jobs. Have you considered tile for a counter? If I didn't break things so often, that'd always be my first choice (except it's too hard to pick out). I would want a machine made tile for the countertop so it would be very FLAT, of course Laminate might work out very well, and even dark colors. Just use more lights! People seem to find soapstone easy to care for and it would be pretty appropriate in your part of the country (even if you did end up with something imported). Whatever you get, the tiles will pop on their own. That's how they hooked you! I wanted to use Motawi's Sweet Pea line in it entirety on my new kitchen but they discontinued it. That was my favorite border pattern...it would have looked weird in THIS house anyway, but I was willing to overlook that. Anyway, if you haven't communicated with the people at the pottery, they are very nice and may have some ideas. We drove over there many times dragging a baby while we made up our minds and the staff were helpful. Now that we've relocated, I've emailed them a few times and they really are awfully nice.

Heatheron40, very nice. I asked a question about doing a tile countertop in our guest cabin recently as I feel like the look would complement the cabin aesthetic. Also I’m dying to learn to tile and thought it would be a fun place to start as it’s not an everyday space and I could take my time. Most of the responses were against. Basically stating the grout would make me crazy. The guy at the said what you’re saying I think, he said that modern grouts are more resistant to staining and such, and also to go with a tinted grout of some sort. I love your use of pattern to give it interest and intention!

commenting b/c I just found this thread and I really want to know too! Would love to see pics of the hickory cabinets as well, if they're done. Hickory is one of my husband's choices for the kitchen.