Kitchen remodel - countertop

I'm an interior designer but I don't do residential projects so my knowledge of home stuff is limited. However, copper doesn't sound like a very good idea to me -- the real stuff is a very soft metal that will easily scuff and dent, it's extremely conductive (electrical wires are copper for this reason), it reacts negatively with certain acids (tomato, I believe is one food that shouldn't touch copper), and will oxidize to a matte green colour unless constantly treated. I've never seen it suggested for such a high-abuse surface as a kitchen countertop, but maybe what you have is something that looks like copper?

That said, I had a tile countertop for years and loved it. The only problem was the grout must be cleaned and sealed periodically. I've just moved into a new place with granite countertops that seem to be pretty good (although I don't cook much now, so I may not be the best test). If I were to renovate, I'd probably look at stainless steel, like all the commercial kitchens that I design, or solid surfacing (eg. Corian) which comes in some wonderful colours.

I've been on the Corian bandwagon since I moved to this house, which has 'em (Corian countertops). I'm just thrilled with how much abuse they take and still look great.

What Tico says about copper makes a lot of sense.

I'm considering different countertops too. Thought about copper or zinc - I've seen copper used at a coffee house, and zinc used at bars...
I think copper comes in different thicknesses - I did look at some online site about it.

I think I'm going to end up doing tile over plywood myself, but we'll see.

I also considered butcher block, but it is now wildly expensive, from what I can ferret out online, in contrast to when you used to be able to buy lengths of pine butcherblock for not much money. I know it wears, but I don't entirely mind wear, especially if a material is inexpensive - and I was hoping to do some of the counters in butcherblock.
I may end up just doing laminate as a cheapo alternate (with the odd addition of a baking stone or two here or there, until I get myself in gear for tiling.

I also love the expensive hardwood look, just can't afford it, I don't think. I remember a countertop photo I saved for a while where the wood was (shaved?) to tilt toward the sink. I think that was cherry in that case, not sure, but I'm wondering how ipe would work. Talk about hard, that is one dense wood, which is grown in sustainable "forests".

Anyway, a lot of the books I've picked up lately have been promoting using different materials for different functions. I can see that if one has a big kitchen. Mine will be small and I don't really want a hodgepodge.

One of these days, I'll post photos of the present state of dreck.

I really like the idea of different materials for different functions - it certainly doesn't make the decision process any easier though. Ah, well. I actually got the copper idea from a local restaurant that uses copper sheet over the table tops - it ages to a nice brown, not green - they've been in service for years with just normal wiping up, no other maintenance. Maybe I could do the engineered stone in the majority of the kitchen with the copper just in the serving area. My problem is my taste exceeds my budget so I'll have to get creative here. Thanks for the responses - if I remember I'll post before/after pics. The before was truly terrible.