If you want joined wood, not that difficult. (Single piece is definiitely more expensive and harder to find).  The dimensions you wants are pretty easy too (8'x 2' or 9' x 2') especially for joined wood.  You didn't specify the thickness of the kitchen block ... this could be the other deciding factor on the cost.

1.  Best is for you to specify what type and how many joins ... you don't want the workshop to give you 5 pieces of different joined wood.  Also specify how the wood are joined ... most of them will use wood glue only.  When the wood warps, you can see the joins starts to split.

2.  Specify the type of wood you want.  Ikea wood might not stand the test of time and use if you are putting it in the kitchen (humidity, water, hard knocks, etc).  Best is to use hard-tropical wood - teak, chenggal, balau, ironwood.  These woods are used for outdoor in Malaysia (used to build bridges, jetty pier, etc), hence quite hardy.  Avoid pine, you will see alot of dents on the wood very fast (sakit hati)

3.  Colour and grain - depending on the wood type, you will then be restricted to the colour of the wood and the grain.  Some wood barely has any grain.  Teak is very "yellow" in colour, might not go with the kitchen deco.  Yes, you can stain the wood but if you are using for kitchen countertop, maybe best to avoid anything that is not food grade near your food.

Look back at my earlier post, I did give 2 or 3 workshops that will do the wood joining.  There are several wood specialist workshops pop-ping up, hence you have more choices now.