<p>We have the “single eased” edges. I didn’t want anything too tutti-fruity on the edges, so I kept it simple.</p>
<p>I love my countertops; they’re 10 years old. I do have a few tiny chips (that I can feel, but not see) on the edge of the counter right above the dishwasher. Apparently I like to smash things on the edge of the counter before I put them in the dishwasher.</p>
<p>But my cabinets are dark cherry, not cream. When the daylight streams in, or when I have the lights turned on at night, the room is quite bright, in spite of dark cabinets and counters.</p>
<p>PackMom, what fun to be building a new house and have all these wonderful decisions to make!! I absolutely loved renovating my kitchen, and in a minute, I’d do it again in a different house.</p>
<p>And we have the Atlantic Green, which is a very misleading name as there’s really not any green in it. We also have maple cabinets with a sort of ‘mustardy’ tile backsplash and nickel hardware on the cabinets.</p>
<p>Thanks, NEmom. This is so much fun, everyone! Looking at the colors. But one warning Packmom, do NOT pick ubatuba. It is pretty, but very overdone, and decorators and real estate agents say it is passe’. Hope I am not offending anyone who has ubatuba, but I considered it for my island and was severely talked out of it by everyone. That was probably thei only piece of useful advice from my #()Q#%$%* contractor</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all the replies so far. I’ve been reading them aloud to DH. Unlike some DH’s, he has definite opinions about what we put in. That can be good or bad,lol.</p>
<p>We will go with the same countertops on the island and the cabinets(shaker style) because the new kitchen is not large (this is going to be our empty nest/retirement home).<br>
The people doing our cabinets said it would look too busy to have two competing in a small space. </p>
<p>We’re prob. going to steer away from the really dark colors (no ubatuba) because there are no windows in the kitchen and I want it to look bright. The kitchen,dining and family room are all one big space with hardwood floors and no walls or dividers. The kitchen is toward the interior of the space. The family room has big windows on three sides looking out over the river.</p>
<p>It’s a simple craftsman style river house so we’re not looking for anything fancy.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all comments and advice. I love hearing about your kitchens. Oh, whoever mentioned GardenWeb…I’ve spent hours on that site in the last few days…almost as addictive as CC:)</p>
<p>There is a bakery that I like to walk to and in the bakery they have installed the prettiest granite countertops I have ever seen. They are brown and beige and cream with small copper/gold flecks here and there. I don’t know what this color is called but it certainly is pretty!</p>
<p>We have medium brown, very mottled granite counters w/ off white cabinets. (Moved in the house ~10 years ago with a recent kitchen remodel.) 10 years later, still love the granite but the cabinets now feel dated to me. When and if I get the energy to redo the kitchen I will probably use a similar granite – easy to clean, forgiving for dust/water rings and the like, and timeless in color.</p>
<p>We had white Corian in our previous house and the fingerprints and spills drove me to distraction.</p>
<p>Edit: Cross post w/ thecheckbook – that’s the kind of granite I’m talking about.</p>
<p>My granite counters are being installed on Tuesday! I chose Baltic Brown, which is one of those category I colors. My tile floor is cream faux marble and my cabinets are a light cherry. I do think it would work well with cream and green as there are peachy tones and rings of green surrounding the spotted pattern. I’m using glass and stone tile for a counter-to-cabinet back splash to pull together the colors of the floor, cabinet and granite. I got a quote online from a fabricator/installer and went to the granite supplier to choose my slabs. (OMG! It was the next best thing to a jeweler’s!) I chose a full bullnose because my cabinets are contemporary with flat fronts (no drawers showing) and rounded edges–I think the ogee and scalloped edges work better with traditional looks, although simpler edges look good with traditional as well. I visited the fabricator’s shop and saw the impressive machine with which my granite will be cut to within 1/16" accuracy and got a great opportunity to see multiple cabinets in a small space with multiple countertops–just foot-wide cabinets with 2-3 foot slabs spanning different cabinets.</p>
<p>Prior to choosing I spoke with a realtor about using differing colors of granite. You need to consider the size of your kitchen–a smallish kitchen will appear larger with one color–and the style–a traditional kitchen lends itself to using two colors and using the contrasting color to make portions (i.e. islands) look more like furniture. I talked to a designer who was choosing slabs alongside me about trends and she mentioned the point about using a contrasting color to make things look like furniture in a traditional kitchen and she also mentioned that the latest thing is to use a suede finish, particularly on the perimeter counters of a darker color to help them recede. (Personally, I want my granite to scream for attention, not recede, but if you are putting big bucks into a contrasting color on your island, it might make sense to do that.)</p>
<p>Also, new granite counters meant new undermounted sinks for me and I got a great deal on 16 gauge stainless from Overstock dot com. And I found a very inexpensive pendant light that screws into the light bulb receptacle on a can light that looks great to me (I’ll let you know if anyone’s interested–I ordered them about an hour ago online). [Recessed</a> Light Conversion Kit, Screw-In Pendant, Instant Pendant Light, DIY Paint-Ready Grilles](<a href=“http://www.worthhp.com/Tear_Drop.asp?header=lightC]Recessed”>http://www.worthhp.com/Tear_Drop.asp?header=lightC)</p>
<p>We have Corian in our kitchen now. It looks nice from a distance but up close…scratches everywhere.</p>
<p>Yes, since my kitchen island will be practically on top of the family room, it will be a deep olive green rather than the lighter cabinet colors. We’re having beadboad with mouldings attached to the backside of the island that faces the living area so it looks more furniture-like. I have had dark stained oak cabinets (looked great in the 80’s) for twenty years. I’m really looking forward to something totally different.</p>
<p>I can’t wait to go to the slab yard. Good idea about taking along some painted posterboard. I won’t have a cabinet door to take but do have some small samples of the cabinet colors that I can use for color matching.</p>
<p>Schmo, I saw the can light to pendant light conversion thing at Lowe’s last weekend. They looked great.
I too, thought Baltic Brown might be a possibility for us but DH wouldn’t go for it. He’s pretty conservative and won’t go for anything with lots of movement…ugh.
Hopefully we’ll find something that wows both of us.</p>
<p>Schmgoogoo-
We chose the Baltic Brown for our master bath! Looks great!! What is a suede finish?
We have a contemporry kitchen, and the different colored island looks fine. Granted the color of the cabinetry isnt screamingly different than the other cabinets, but it is defintiely darker than the others. </p>
<p>SoCal and checkbook-
can you look throught he samples to see if you can find the granite you are describing? Sounds great</p>
<p>I have stony creek granite in my kitchen, and it’s indestructible. Well, I suppose that I could take a sledgehammer to it. It’s been 12 years and it looks new - I’ve never sealed it or had it polished. I wipe down my prep area with bleach occasionally, and nothing will stain or permeate it. I’m planning to redo my kitchen, and I’m going to feel bad getting rid of perfectly good counters - maybe they can be recycled? I’m tired of the spotted, multicolor appearance of this particular granite. I’m looking for something more uniform, but still a natural stone.</p>
<p>Is the quartz others have mentioned a manufactured stone or is it natural quartz?</p>
<p>I have another type of granite in a bathroom that is quite delicate - water leaves temporary spots, so there is a huge difference in porosity between varieties. I have imperial green marble in another bathroom and it is highly durable - I would even use it in a kitchen. I’m tired of the stony creek, but I still love the imperial green marble.</p>
<p>We got a great deal on our kitchen faucet at overstock.com. And last weekend’s project was installing pendant lights with those conversion kits. We got 3 of them at Lowe’s and the total price, with the shades we picked, was under $100. It was so simple that even my husband, a not-so-handy-man, could do it.</p>
<p>We got some really great contemporary (european style) hardware for our cabinets from [Knobs</a> and Pulls - Door Hardware, Cabinet Knobs, Decorative Hardware and Bath Hardware @ Knobs4less.com](<a href=“http://www.knobs4less.com%5DKnobs”>http://www.knobs4less.com)</p>
<p>I think color choice is personal but would suggest you consider a leather finish. I have it in my Prairie style house and feel it has a much warmer (less slick or contemporary) look. </p>
<p>Actually, in my very affluent part of the country, every open house I go to, and every new house I go to, has granite countertops. It’s really a requirement where I live.</p>
<p>^Mine too, but I’m not that fond of it. What I really want is paperstone <a href=“http://www.paperstoneproducts.com/[/url]”>http://www.paperstoneproducts.com/</a> (which may have a cachet as it’s green), a built in drainboard and an island with butcher block. I need to make time to design my kitchen addition. We actually have some money set aside for it.</p>
<p>There are lots of alternatives, many of which are more ecologically-friendly than granite. I’ve seen beautiful composites that contain recycled glass, PaperStone (yes, recycled paper and remarkably durable) and gorgeous bamboo. </p>
<p>I’m not saying there’s not a place for granite, I have some in my kitchen. But, I’m also getting ready to build and have been looking at a lot of high-end houses. I do think the glossy dark granite you see in houses built in the last fifteen years or so is starting to look a little dated.</p>
<p>We redid our kitchen a few years ago, and I love the granite countertops. We have cream cabinets, and the granite is a muti-colored beige, brown and black. I can’t remember the name, but it looks great with the cabinets. We did a bull nose edge on the island only to make it stand out. We also used copper tiles to accent the backsplash and copper handles on the cabinets. Have fun designing your new house.</p>