Other materials I've looked at are Corian (expensive), and marble (only
slightly less expensive). And we don't want another solid wood worktop.

Until my parents decided to pay for our granite, we were going to have
Iroko. This wood is absolutely ideal for worktops and Belfast sinks, as it
is naturally water resistant, unlike many other hardwoods. It was the
typical wood used for laboratory counter tops. Indeed, my school's labs had
a wood that looked remarkably similar. It will last much better than the
Beech.

Shop around, you can get lengths of Iroko quite cheap on the Internet.

Christian,