Kitchen Remod In Progress

[parishht]

My personal opinion, being as you are going for the rustic look,
one of three options:

1 - real butcher block
2 - slate
3 - concrete with slate tinting

The problem is these require maintenance and care to last long.

Personally, I hate when people put granite into
a house that is supposed to be rustic.
We have an old house tour every year in Berks county
and the slate just looks out of place in some of teh houses.

Here's a link to the yearly tour:

http://www.berkshistory.org/events/3cent.html

I haven't even considered slate I will look into it. I love butcher block, but it would get destroyed in no time in my house (refer to pic of two little monsters).
What kind of maintenance does slate require and how durable is it?

[parishht]

Butcher block is more durable than slate.

all three have to be oiled every so often.

Okay, the boss says we can go look at slate. She will not even consider butcher block because she thinks we have to much wood in the house (imagine the thought).
Reviews from friends hae been pretty negative on the granite we picked out. Too complicated seems to be the thought.

[msbhammer]

Slate will chip, love that stainless steal counter. Granite is great. It's strong and wont stain, BUt it sucks the heat out of anything hot, like your dinner.

[nipper]

I agree with your friends on the particular granite you showed, but there are tons of different granite out there which would look very nice and be less "busy".

[Stillrunning]

Looks great. If you really want to keep that brick work exposed I would pay the money to have a brick guy come in and do the work. I'm pretty handy and the few times I have done any brick work I mad a mess. Your spending alot on the kitchen and to have a professional come in should not cost that much. Plus they know how to match thing up and where to find matching bricks if needed. That new oven of yours will look great in there.

You are right I will probably end up asking a mason to step in after I tear down the little that is remaining.
Wife is really leaning towards the granite Marinace, looks great in person, a lot different then the pics. Some places call it RiverRocks.
Emailed family and friends and ended up about 60% for it and 40% against.
We will be tossing this around all weekend.