I would have your bench top supplier cut a thin batten of timber in the same 40mm thickness, and fix this as a front to a white melamine shelf. For a couple of reasons. Melamine is easiest to keep clean, whereas a varnish or oiled timber will require constant maintenance and resealing if it is used often, it will discolour and even with the sealant it does not like moisture, being natural, all timbers expand and contract in temp changes. Melamine is stable, and won't be seen from the viewpoint, and the timber front will make it look more substantial. Secondly, this thickness will be necessary to avoid shelf deflection, where lengths over 900mm will commonly sag under weight. Reinforcing your shelf with timber battens will avoid this, and the timber edge strip again hides it. If all this seems a little too hard, just invest in solid timber shelves of around 40mm, but have the tops laminated.

@juliede, I recently commented on another forum about timber versus tiles saying that hubby and I originally agreed on timber floors, as we both love real wood, and we have a local mill and the tongue and groove floor boards were, a few years ago about $36sqmtr and tiles were about the same again a few years ago. Recently I started thinking that tiles would be easier to lay than traditional floor boards given we're doing all the work on our build ourselves and we're not young but hubby isn't interested, as he feels the tiled floor would be too cold in winter, which would of course be true but how nice would it be in summer!!! Anyway, just a few weeks ago I looked at bamboo flooring available in a click style, so very easy to lay, whilst being 100% solid bamboo and I'm quite impressed to the point that I could really go for this flooring, problem is, well for me it is, it's over $70+ mtr. At over 100 sq mtrs in the home, that's over $7000 I can see now why allot of people decide to go wtih either tiles or real floorboards as these engineered floors are very expensive. Good luck with your choice. Cheers, Barbara

I have just had a stone benchtop installed cantilevered on 2 sides to accommodate stools. The stone mason said 350mm is the Max that can be unsupported. My cabinetry is 650mm deep with a 350mm over hang giving a depth of 1100mm. It is great! Speak to your joinery/stone mason and get their professional advice as they have to provide a warranty for their products.

I was in a similar spot with my renovation a few years ago and ended up going with engineered wood floors in a dark oak finish for the main living and kitchen area. What really sold me was the maintenance, so much easier to clean after kitchen messes, and the boards still looked good even after a few scratches from the kids. I found the better-made engineered boards with a thick top layer can be refinished at least once, and they feel pretty solid underfoot. In my hallway, I went with solid timber as a bit of a test; honestly, both have their strengths, but the engineered option gave me more of the color and look I wanted with less stress about upkeep. If you’re leaning towards a dark timber look, I found a lot of inspiration just browsing different styles at places that specialize specifically in natural wood floor, places that let you see the real thing laid out. It definitely helped me make the final call.