Alright so I ran a little test.. surrounded the burner with the wood scraps, similar to what ill use for my countertop. basically made a box around it enclosing the bottom, with it sitting on a piece of plywood, and the walls going 3-5" above the top of the stove, so it was somewhat enclosed (which i obviously wont do, just wanted to create the worst scenario)
Ran it for maybe 15 minutes on what i'd consider high, no pan on top, the wood got a little hot, but you could lay your hand on it for awhile and it wouldnt burn you or anything.
Then i ran it on high again with a big pot of boiling water on top so there was only maybe a 1-2" gap between the pot and the wood walls, so really enclosed. and that turned the wood brown about 2" above the lip of the stove. then i ran it on full blast, to where it was literally spitting flames, for a couple minutes and that set the sides on fire. BUT down low it didnt burn, there was probably an inch above the top of the stove where it wasnt even marked, it was hot, but you could leave a finger on it for like 5 seconds before it got too hot.
the sides of the stove right by the burner part were definitely hot, too hot to touch for more than a second.
the bottom plywood was hardly even warmed up.
I'd feel pretty comfortable running them flush in a wood countertop. considering that im never going to enclose the sides with wood.. i would be concerned about it marking the sides where the wood is in contact with the metal, especially if i were using a big pan that forced the heat back down into the stove. I found some bar top finish that is apparently heat proof to 500 degrees, Im thinking if i use that, coat the surfaces of the wood that wont be seen (the sides that contact the stove, and underside) with heat resistant paint and cover it with some up to 1000 degrees heat resistant metal tape. I should be pretty damn safe. If i can make a metal surround for it to sit in that gives me an extra inch or two of metal to dissipate the heat, and especially if i can raise it up even just a 1/2 inch or so above the wood countertop i think i'd be perfectly safe.
not set on fire 
