Just to clear up a few things. Waterlox is manufactured using Tung Oil  which is pressed from the nut of the tung tree; Phenolic Resin/Bake-A-Lite; Mineral Spirits and driers and heated/polymerized into a varnish. The solids that remain on the wood after it has dried are 90% renewable as they are tung oil and phenolic resin  both are non-toxic when dry; however, someone with a tree nut allergy could have an allergic reaction to tung oil. Keep in mind that US Money is printed with tung oil based inks. Waterlox can be used on working surfaces such as counter tops, and is used in that fashion on a daily basis. Once the product is dry and cured, you are left with Tung Oil  a vegetable oil  and Phenolic Resin  a man-made resin. Both of these raw materials are on the FDA site as being food safe. However if you will be cutting on the surface and using it as a cutting board, we would not recommend using our finish for this purpose as you would cut through the finish and could have some microbial issues within the wood itself. If you will be cutting on the butcher top, you might look for a different finish that does not form a film like a mineral oil. Hope this helps, Chip Schaffner - Waterlox Coatings

Redstar, My husband has made and installed two lyptus end-grain butcher block countertops for customers. Both families had the countertops made for their island. I have provided a link to his website so you can see the projects. At the top of the web page is an island with no sink. Further down on the page is an island top with a SS undermount sink and follow up pictures after a year's worth of usage. If you will be cutting on this type of countertop, you would want to finish and maintain it with a food grade mineral oil finish. On the top with the undermount sink, the inside cut out edge around the sink was finished with Waterlox as a water sealant. There should be no problem with using an undermount composite granite sink. With the mineral oil finish, dishes sitting on top will not hurt it nor will your crockpot. If you don't plan to cut on it directly, you could have some other finish applied that will seal out water. Hope this is helpful to you. Here is a link that might be useful: Lyptus Butcher Block Countertops

The properties of warping of wood have been thoroughly studied and understood scientifically. Casual observations relating warping to finish (or lack thereof) are faulty. My mother had a butcherblock portion of counter for over 30 years, never oiled or finished anywhere, that never warped. I've had boards that warped and others that didn't, some finished, some unfinished, some partly finished. It's not the finish. Wood tabletops, countertops, decks, etc. are exposed to more water on the top than the bottom, causing the top to swell and try to expand. But the wood's thickness remains stable and prevents this. The cells of wood on the top of the board become compressed from their original cylindrical shape (like a soda straw) into an oval shape. As it dries out, the wood cells do not fully regain their original shape, so the top shrinks, pulling the board concave. This is called "compression shrinkage." Therefore, finishing the bottom of a tabletop or countertop will not prevent warping. Warping will always be cupping of the top due to swelling from wetness of the top and subsequent compression shrinkage. If lack of finish on the bottom caused warping, you would see the tabletop bow, not cup -- but this never happens. Or think about it another way: what liquid is going to soak into the bottom of your installed butcherblock counter, that a finish is going to block? It's not going to happen. And no finish blocks water vapor (from humidity in the air), only slows it a little bit, so this would make no difference in protection either. So if you want a tabletop or countertop not to cup over time, there are two things to consider. The most important factor is the quality of wood making up the butcherblock: the size and shape of the wood cells, their density, how the wood was cut in relation to the growth rings, and how it was dried. Butcherblock made up of dense, old-growth, quartersawn boards slowly air dried is going to hold its shape (even when totally unfinished), while strips of young, low-density, plainsawn boards are going to warp easily. Second, keep the top as dry as possible. Don't let liquids soak into it, or use a water-resistant film finish if you expect liquid exposure. It's not the finish on the bottom, it's how dry you can keep the top, that helps prevent cupping.

I just checked the John Boos site. The 72x36 (6'x3') block of 1.5'' maple top is $576. We bought all our Boos countertop from Old World Butcher Block for the exact same price as that on the Boos site, plus a "crating" fee that was worth every penny. I know you said you don't want to cut on it, so I looked at the "varnished" finish as opposed to the oil. (oil is less expensive) We went with (are going with? what is it when the island isn;t installed yet?) Boos maple butcherblock on the island (almost 13 linear feet, in an "l" shape) I LOVE the way it looks. I am so looking forward to using the island as a working space, but I understand your wishes for a clean, non-cut upon space. Still, $3200 for a tabletop is an outrage. Here is a link that might be useful: old world butcher block