I think it would look great in a dining room. If you are not willing to put wood or laminate, tile is always a safe choice. Just remember, if you have guests sliding their chairs in and out often, you may end up with scratching though.

A real wood butcher block top would look a LOT better. It's not only the grout lines, although that's a biggie. It would just look, well, "college dorm apartment", without the inexpensiveness of it. You can be creative on a budget, but sometimes thinking outside the box needs to stay outside the box if you want a certain look. If you're doing the tiling, it might end up being as expensive as a nice Boos butcher block. (A lot more than Ikea) If you have to pay to have it tiled, granite slab would be cheaper. You could even do a simple stained plywood top with real wood edging for a fraction of the tile and have a nice looking counter until your budget recovered to get the one you really want.

I went to the local Precision Entry door dealer this weekend. As far as realism, the factory stained wood grain fiberglass doors looked nicer than the Masonite Oaklite versions and leaps and bounds better than the Feather River product at Home Depot. They did not look as real as end-user stained Therma-Tru doors- but they are obviously marketed to people that for a number of reasons have eliminated the "do-it-yourself" fiberglass staining options. What is interesting is that you can choose a different color or stain for the inside and outside panels of the door. The door is not inexpensive (not a complaint, but an observation- it seems to be a better value than the fractionally cheaper Feather River doors I saw at Home Depot!). I was quoted $1650 for a half-lite fiberglass 32" door with the Lehigh glass (uninstalled and no lock hardware). A similar Therma-Tru was about $1000 or so, but would come unstained. If you factored in hired someone to stain the door, I expect that the cost narrows slightly. The storm doors offered by the parent company of Precision Entry were very nice too. In the end, $1650 is more than I planned to spend for a door that will not be THE "showcase" door, but may just be one of those cost adjustments I need to consider. I'll have to think about it, but again, I was impressed with the Precision Entry offerings.

I have a fiberglass garage door in white, and while I love the look, the insulating qualities, & light weight (easier on the opener's motor than heavy wood), I wouldn't want it in a faux wood look. When I researched entry doors, it seemed like the big complaint about wood-look fiberglass is that it fades after time and needs to be restained periodically. I wouldn't want to do that for a big garage door. The gel staining wouldn't be too difficult, but applying the UV resistant poly coats would give me pause. A wood door's maintenance would be just as demanding, and wood is heavier (needs more powerful door openers) and is prone to warping (which is why we got rid of our old wood doors). I would think a steel door in a faux wood finish would have the same maintenance issues as fiberglass. It's not so much the door material as the coating on it -- stains & poly don't stand up to heat, sun, rain, & snow well. So just as long as you know what you're getting into. A wood look door may well be worth the effort & expense to you. And maybe your DIY skills are way better than mine! Wood garage doors seem to be the fashion now. Over in Advice, many are asking how to update their homes. The popular answers are 1. Don't paint the brick, it's a maintenance hassle; 2. Replace your garage door with a stained wood door. I question the responses because in my experience, it's the opposite: stained wood garage doors are a maintenance hassle, but painted brick is not if prepped well (is in good condition, sparkling clean and bone dry before painting).