I think your benchtop material choice really depends on how both you and your husband live and what level of natural wear you are comfortable with showing. Natural wood benchtops to me are very similar to natural stone or stainless steel. The surfaces will naturally age and show use, scratches and imperfections much more than say a caesarstone if it's a high use area but some people love that look and it goes well with an industrial or natural style. My wife and I thought long and hard about it but realised we want the benchtop to look as new and clean each time as possible so opted back for caeserstone (Ocean Foam) which hid small stains and dust :)

Are these the only options you want? There are so many beautiful reconstituted stone options so nothing is really black or white any more. Do you have a picture of your space and the rooms that open to it?

Hi Lil, I believe your original plan works much better than the revised version. While the notion of ideal working widths is great, the larger problem here is the post. I worked on a project very similar to this last year where a post could either be connect to, or separate from the island. What we found was that by separating the island the space between island and post became very awkward. It's not enough of a space to comfortably walk through or be seated at the island in front of. Instead of your room feeling open and generous in proportion, it is going to start to feel cramped and awkward. We have a kitchen in our showroom (Kitchen Studio Tauranga NZ) with a 6ft gap between bench and back wall and it works wonderfully. It allows someone to work at the sink and a second at the island with ease. Stick with the original plan. It will feel a lot more spacious, without compromising work flows.

it should be quite easy to change the size of the base cabinets to create knee space..usually about 30cms deep...i would expect a deeper counter would be the easiest (but a bigger piece of stone may be challenging and you might have to consider an alternative counter material) so consult a kitchen cabinet maker for specific advice and quotes and they should be able to reuse the existing sink, taps, doors and some or all of the cabinets for two options : a new smaller base cabinet or a deeper counter so ask for quotes on both options but first line up some chairs to decide if the bigger counter is comfortable in your room