Someone asked me in a private e-mail about butcher block countertops. I thought I'd answer here in case anyone else is innerested.
The wood used to make them is light colored, very tight grained hardwood. It used to be all maple, but that may no longer be true for all of it. I know the commercial stuff with a name brand still is, but not as sure about other stuff. In fact, the only maker I am sure of is John Boos and Company. Their stuff is still 100% hard rock maple. (I will *not* do a hard rock cafe joke here, okay? :)) (
http://www.johnboos.com/)
Other woods are sometimes used for aesthetic reasons. Cherry is seen. Teak, rosewood, some others. They all have in common a close grain. Oak, for example, is not a good choice as it has an open grain and prominent pores. And it is *easy* to get stains on it. Birch is often used in place of maple.
A note about dimensions: Your counters are more than 24" deep. They're at least 25", and maybe even 25-1/2" or 26". Make sure the counters you buy will work in your kitchen. Remember, your base cabinets are most likely to be 24" exactly. The doors add to this dimension by their exposed thickness (1/2" for semi-recessed doors and 3/4" for full overlay doors). So 25" deep for the countertop is the absolute minimum.
Wood is easy to install - just screw it from below through the webs in your base cabinets. You can do this with long drywall screws. Just be sure to predrill the countertop. The wood is probably so hard you'll have difficulty screwing into it, even with drywall screws. If you make a butt joint, say at a corner or between short runs, caulk the joint. I'd suggest clear silicone caulk or sealant. You can get that at your local home center, hardware store, or Lowe's (please don't shop at Home Depot .... they support the current dictatorship). I would also advise caulking the joint where the counter meets the wall - no matter what you plan for a back splash. Tile would make a good back splash
Your new wood counter has care and feeding needs.
Water can stain the wood permanently and irrevocably (so deep it can't be sanded out). Water stains on butcher block tend to be dark ..... black, even, and quite unsightly. They are, however, easy to avoid. First, apply some sealer to the wood. This can be mineral oil, which needs to be renewed every few months, depending on how you use the counter. The nice thing, however, is that after a few years of oiling them, the counters will be deeply protected and will need less oiling .... and then, maybe just in the sink area.
You could also apply polyurethane to them. It is more permanent than mineral oil, but will chip or wear away with time. Just make sure that any finish you put on it is food safe. I'm not sure I'd use deck water sealer, for example. But there are many concoctions sold specifically for wood counters and cutting boards.
The real problem with water almost always is confined to the area next to the sink rim. Spilled water on the counter surface will likely evaporate before it causes any real harm to all but very new wood. Older wood will have absorbed a bunch of naturally occurring food oils that are quite inert, but provide some modest protection. Of course, you'll have been mineral oiling it every month, so we really don't need to worry anyhow, do we? :)
Just make sure your sink's rim is well sealed to the counter. The usually pathology of sink rim water stains is that water stands next to the sink rim. It finds its way under them, where it is dark and quite airless. the water is absorbed into the wood long before it evaporates. The wet wood turns black deeper in the wood before it does on the surface. By the time you see the black, it could be too late. Even if you don't want to polyurethane the counter, I'd suggest applying it locally to the sink cutout and the area that will be covered by the sink rims, allowing the poly to extend a half inch or so beyond the sink rim's outer edge. If you use a matte poly, you'll never see this. But it adds what may well be all the protection you need.
Hot pots are not that much a worry. I am pretty sure a red hot cast iron skillet will scorch a wood counter, but I don't think a pot of stew will. If you want, buy a cheap-o wood cutting board and experiment on that. See what scorches it and what it can tolerate. I don't think there's any need to be religious about using trivets on the counter, but you're probably better off not routinely putting hot pots on it. It is likely better than laminate (or even corian), but not as good as stone, quartz, or metal.
Don't use it as a cutting board. I repeat, do NOT use it as a cutting board. Okay? Got that? Your "butcher block" is not ..... a butcher's block. Just look at the scars on that wood cutting board you have. Or look at a well used *real* butcher's block. Scars, indentations, cuts, total loss of wood. Do not cut on it.
Wood will stain. New wood is very prone to staining. It gains stain resistance naturally as time goes on (it absorbs the naturally occurring oils in foods - that oil is so small an amount that it *usually* doesn't turn rancid, but it does serve to add some modest protection). Oiled or sealed wood is not that prone to staining, but it can still stain a bit. The staining is likely to be more of a general darkening rather than glaring spots or rings. It is likely you'll see a dark area where you tend to do most of your work, even though you're not cutting right on the wood (you're not cutting right on the wood, are you?). For me, that's just patina ..... the charm of wood counters ..... the mark of a lovingly used kitchen. To others, however, its a stain. Home buyers tend to see this type of stain. So does your mother-in-law (who already knows you are completely incapable of taking care of her dear spawn and fails to understand why you even exist, but that's another story).
The cure for a stained wood counter, however, is duck soup simple. Sand it! If you're just doing a small area, use something like 100 grit (wrapped around a scrap of flat wood to you don't make the spot concave) to rough the spot out, then finish with 180 grit and reseal. If you need to do more, use a belt sander. Just be careful. Those suckers can eat some wood in a hurry! And no matter what method you use, sand **with** the grain.
All in all, wood is a pretty good choice for a countertop. The only *real* downside is the water issue,a nd even that is not all hard to prevent. Just exercise some normal care.
Tile makes a nice backsplash for it. But so does metal. Some sheets of stainless (or zinc, or copper) cut to fit and applied to the wall between the counter and the wall cabinet works well. Just glue it on with some construction adhesive and seal (very, very well) the joint between the counter and the metal.
One final note ...... NSF (the National Sanitation Foundation) has found that wood is less prone to being a pathogen harborage than some materials you'd think were very safe. Wood holds less in the way of bugs than does the ubiquitous polypropylene (white plastic) cutting boards! Yup. S'true. Look it up. You'll be quite surprised.