Mine was $27.69 per square foot. It was for Black Walnut plank construction, but I did the oiling myself. You need to get value. not just plain old cheap. A 26"x36" from em was $180. Any company that won't tell you how much it will cost (and tell you pretty quickly) is either going to be $$$$ cuz they are racking up custom charges in your quote or they really aren't a pro. When you deal with wood, its Super important to use a reputable source. For example, a random guy who says he can make a top for you for cheap may get the wood from a source who doesn't monitor moisture content. Because moisture content is critical for wood countertops (and the good/long lasting/moisture balanced kind is more expensive) you Have to know your source. Trust me. I had a BAD experience with a BAD source. I ended up getting a good deal on a quality one at long last - thank goodness - but by that time I had already spent mucho $. Oh, did I mention after my first BAD purchase I tried to just glue the boards together myself. Also not a good idea. Wish i'd done it right the first time.

Thanks for the kind words! Also for being supporters of the black lines/patina :) We are really trying to rehab rather than replace (reduce/reuse/recycle!) in this kitchen, and I am embracing the well-loved look. detroit_burb: I think it is maple, and I agree that it certainly will outlive me! We are definitely keeping the cabinets, but will likely paint, as their color clashes with the counters (the cabs are sort of peachy/rose which just looks odd with the counters). mermanmike and shanghaimom: Good idea! Others have suggested a bright blue (in person, the blue in the tile is pretty bright), but I like navy better, at least on the island. That Hale Navy is gorgeous!!! (I think I'll do the perimeter cabinets in a lighter cream/off-white color.) I have also considered lighter blue-gray or greenish gray for the cabs. My contractor wants me to look into colored stain (like a navy stain) so the grain will show through, but I think -- and others have pointed out -- that there is already a LOT of texture in this kitchen, so losing the wood grain might not be a bad thing.

I just did mine with a low angle smoothing plane (there's a fair amount of curly maple in mine, and I wanted to avoid tearout). It was fast (took less than 20 min for the whole process on a 42" square top), no dust, and came out great. If you have many cut marks, dings, and such you want to get out a cabinet scraper will take forever and your thumbs will get sore ;-) ). Refinished with a couple coats of 100% tung oil (not a tung oil varnish, or anything they sell at the hardware store as "tung oil" or "tung oil finish") this time, have used walnut oil in the past. You want a polymerizing oil.

We have a counter with about 6 foot run of end cut light color wood that over 20 years old now. I don't use anything. Normal cleaning is with a sponge and water or alcohol and a sponge . Since its light in color a can will leave a ring if is sits wet to long so my heavy duty cleaning is hydrogen peroxide ( the simple grocery store type 3% solution )with a lightly abrasive type sponge. If I have a bad stain I just pore it out and lay a kitchen towel over it to keep it wet ( use gloves it will dry your hands out something awful ) . The counter is used for working with dough and flour. My wife thinks she should use it as a cutting board ( that's why she had it installed ) which is the same to me as dragging fingernails over a chalk board . Please don't use you counter top as a cutting board use cutting boards.