Reply #7: You know ......

[Stinky The Clown]

.... you already bought into the notion of a mixed material scheme. If you use the same engineered stone as you're using on the island for the areas immediately adjacent to the sink and then use wood for the rest of the counter, you could have the best of all worlds. A scheme that makes some aesthetic sense and one that keeps the wettest areas safe. Here's a tip ... if you do this, have your counter/engineered stone guy set the stone ever so slightly sloped back toward the sink. 1/8" per foot would ensure no water goes from the 'drainboard' area out to the adjoining wood and the slope would hardly be noticeable.

The tricky part is that to accomplish this little feat, you'll have a seam in the counter that falls in the middle of the sink. As you know, they have approved seam sealer/fillers that work with the (Silestone, Zodiaq, whatever) stone. That will make a durable seam and allow you to accomplish the slope - essentially an extremely shallow 'Vee' with the low point below the sink.