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 :)

Marble is a beautiful stone. You will need to have it sealed regularly (every 12-18 months and unfortunately if you're a keen cook you should be warned that it can stain and acidic things like lemon juice and vinegar need to be wiped up immediately. I say this as if you're anything like me you tend to share a lot of your cooking with your splashback. The alternative would be to look for a caesarstone type material in a marble pattern - Caesarstone and similar products don't need sealing, aren't porous and are more stain resistant. Good luck.

Hi there, we just do a wipe down every day for cleanliness ( can still see some marks with this) and a wipe and buff once a week to look as new. We have red wine, turmeric, beetroot, coffee drips, grey ‘pencil’ scrapes from plates. Oils are pretty much a daily addition on our benches too, and as it is also our backsplash it gets tomato sauce, spatters etc from cooking. All disappear with the wipe and buff method except for the pencil type marks which I use another Enjo product called marble paste on then follow up with the usual routine. I think you may have to make the hard decision between the fresh concrete look or a stone that shows less marks in certain lights- choose whichever feature will make you the happiest in the long term. Either way you will love your new space.

Thanks Kate, mine is more a kitchenette in a 1930's garage conversion - chrome tapware, red bricks, black cabinets and bamboo benchtop, high ceilings with exposed beams. It has a similar vibe to my fantasy kitchen but on a micro scale. The bricks are beautiful, with some kind of varnish on them already but they are super irregelur and bumpy. I love the idea of a hinged lid over the stove top, which wouldn't detract from the seamlessness of the bricks as I feel a glass panel would. Glass gives off that blueish tinge and would interrupt the flow.