Every choice has pluses and minuses, in the end you have to choose which plus and which minus matters the most to you and/or which have an easy fix (like using a cutting board under the crockpot; at work we have an extra piece under the big coffeemaker). budget mattered a lot to me (and I hated formica) so, I ended up with a lesser expensive granite and am very happy, no sealing or extra work for the stone I chose. I had formica previously which looked like h#*! from the day I moved in and didn't get better (except that I could use bleach to remove stains) so those of you whose formica looks like new after 30 years must be taking appropriate care -- using cutting boards (mine had little cuts all over) and so forth -- where my previous owners did not. But, I read that formica now is much better quality than what was installed 30 or 40 years ago. I looked at Burled Beach and liked it. It looked a warm sand-ish color on my samples in my house, but I saw a demo kitchen of it at a big box store and it was a warm greenish tone (I still liked it) under their fluorescent lights. You always have to ability to STOP and make changes unless the cabinets are all already made. If he is just now starting it might not be too late -- call him now! PS do you have an IKEA near to you? Most counter materials are less expensive there.

What a gorgeous kitchen! I'm jealous of all that beautiful wood. The character of the wooden beams and wooden base cabinets bring such warmth and personality, it almost feels like the outdoors are coming in. I had looked under your name in the finished kitchens blog to see if you were there, really appreciate you sharing the photo. Your backsplash is so pretty, just the right amount of bling and lightness. Where did you find it? I'd like to do he same thing, with subway glass tile everywhere except right behind the stove, do arabesque there. If I had a kitchen like this, I'd want to cook a lot too. =) Love hearing that cleanup is easy with a stain resistant grout, that's a great tip, I'll be sure to ask for that too, Was it an epoxy grout?

Do you know who makes those cabinets? Info on the pic says they were custom made. But you can use this picture as an inspiration picture. Start looking through your yellow pages for custom cabinet makers. Also ask friends where they got their cabinets. If you are looking at big box stores, I would say Kraft Maid from Lowe's would be a good choice. However, price out custom, there are many on here who got custom for the same price or less as big box. And do you live near an Amish area? Some on here have gotten great custom Amish cabs at great prices. Again, ask around. And if you do a search on here, lots of very happy Ikea cabinet owners. It shouldn't be hard to find what you are looking for. Also, where would I find solid surface counter tops? Lowe's sell's LG Hi-Mac and Home Depot sells Corian around here. There are other brands as well. (Joseph Corlett could list them all, I don't know them all, as I am focused on Corian myself) Again, try looking at kitchen and flooring shops in your area. You can also go to the website of any brand and they should have a dealer locater. Now Joseph will say they are all the same. Maybe they are, but all I can say is, in researching (an insane amount) LG Hi-Mac "seems" to have an awful lot of cracking issues. Corian use only their trained fabricators so maybe that's why there are less issues. Thank you so much for the great suggestion and for the photos. You are very welcome, I'm glad I could be of help. :)

Check out GWer elizpiz's gorgeous kitchen with its gray-green cabinets and time-worn, comfortable look, Finally - Elizpiz's Finished Kitchen. I think her cab's color looks great with the wood-wrapped windows so I think it would work well with butcher block counters. The painting technique is going to be more labor intensive but it would definitely suit a 100 year old farmhouse. Here's the link to her photo album. Elizpiz's kitchen is still one of my hands-down favorites. I'm so glad the photo links still work! And just because I have a little time on my hands, here are some other kitchens with gray or gray-green cabinets. A few tilt more gray-blue, which I think would also look good with your floor and butcher block counters. Farrow & Ball French Gray on cabinets. Reads a bit minty green on my monitor but that could be because the floor reads taupe (your floor reads taupe-y on my monitor, too.) Benjamin Moore's Alexandria Beige SW Coastal Plain Farrow & Ball Manor House Grey Hit the photo limit.