There are super-surfacers out there that can do shavings like a plane, but I've never seen one. Even so, it would have to be a fairly large machine to do a benchtop like this. Wide belt sanders do the lions share of smoothing in this world, and they do quite an adequate job. For paint grade work the widebelt will leave a surfaces ready to finish, but if the work is to be stained then hand blocking is required for top quality work. There are, of course, finishing room tricks that will avoid this step if you want a finish like most stock cabinets, glossy and muddy at the same time.
I once bought an order of poplar that had been sanded to thickness instead of planed, and what a nightmare that turned out to be. You might as well take a sanding block to the jointer knives. Horrible stuff!
I could have kept planing, I didn't want to stop, the shavings were getting mighty thin and as wide as the plane, always a good sign, but I felt guilty about having so much fun when there was real work needed doing. So, I said fookit and slapped in a couple of coats of wipe-on poly, re-chamfered the dog holes and pushed the bench back up against the wall. From here on the bench will only be used for french polishing marquetry and cleaning clockworks with a camel hair brush.
