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Handmade Butcher Block Kitchen Counter Top

I set out to make this for myself with the specific goal of going wild in terms of cost is no object.

I had the cabinets you see in the pics from Home Depot and the only counter tops they had in stock were crap, at least IMO. I wanted to somewhat compliment the color or shade of the cabinets, which I think I did decently, but I also wanted to go all out on wood species. By all out I mean the prettiest grain patterns I could get. This was a few years ago and unfortunately did not record anything about the project and lost a bunch of close up pics I had taken.

Looking at it now I can see Spalted and/or Ambrosia Maple (I honestly can't tell them apart), Curly Cherry and Whatever flavor of Cedar was in stock that day for the back splash. There may be some poplar, hemlock, or basswood in the to break up the pattern. To stay within the color scheme I skipped Walnut and Purple heart etc but still spent $300+ just on wood. Then there were many hours of milling, gluing, planing and sanding followed by 2-3 applications of Howards Butcher Block Conditioner. I could have used any oil finish but made it food safe for the hell of it. I rarely use stain because I want to make the grain pop not hide or mute it.

If you would like a real wood color coordinated butcher block countertop for kitchen, island, table, game room or whatever that would be much nicer than any box store option email me.

This came up about 1/4" short which made me kick myself but is 6' long by 24" wide by 2" thick. If you're familiar with planers you would know that the widest planer you can get in the sub $1,000 and run on 110v range is 13". I don't even want to think about what it would cost for a 24"+ wide planer. Instead, I bought a commercially made aluminum planer "sled" and a huge Dewalt router, 3hp I believe. My tables or work benches are the size of 1 full sheet of plywood so 4' wide by 8' long. Leaving room for sled and router travel that means I can build up to 3 1/2' x 7 1/2' but can only plane any product up to 3' wide and 6 1/2' long give or take a few inches.

If someone wanted me to build something bigger than that and was willing to pay the crazy cost I would have to start by building a table big enough to accommodate the project. I think my sled would go 5' wide possibly a little wider and the length is only limited to the length of the table. The sled has no length limitations.