i prefer light countertop on dark cabs and dark floor. Too dark otherwise. Tho, I have seen slate floor dark cabs and black granite and nice grass green glass subway backsplash. Altogether looked beautiful. Sorry, I'm not much help. I say no on the uba tuba --may compete too much with the varied colored floor based on the photo above.

The white countertops are a little too much stark contrast with the slate. Look at some quartz samples that are warmer. Tan brown granite usually looks better with slate than the uba tuba.

Here is a link that might be useful: tan brown granite

For your cabinet finish, I vote for the light whiteish countertop. Take a look at the backsplash too, it's gorgeous. I love this look!

Hogar, beautiful! what kind of counter is that? Looks like Marble?

I have medium cherry cabs and went with Zodiaq's Cloud White counter. I really like it. I will post pics tomorrow, if you'd like.

Hi! Thank you all for your comments.

Hogar, do you know what cabinet finish that is in the pic you posted? And that back-splash is awesome! The countertop does look marble which I think I want to shy away from due to staining, etc.

Parsuzi, i would GREATLY appreciate it if you can post pics! I've ordered Kraftmaid Maple Cognac cabinets and I think that will prob be similar in color to yours. I like zodiaq's cloud white but my husband isn't too sure of quartz. do you know how it holds up to heat? any experiences with it yet?

steff_1, thanks for the suggestion, i'm trying to convince my husband against uba tuba. It's pretty in itself but with our already existing slate floors i think it will clash like crazy.

Thank you all again for all your comments. I'll be sure to take more pics when we get the cabinets in.

yes, if that's your floor in the cab/counter sample pics then i'd go plain on the counter and the BS. I'd carry a color from the flooring up to the counter tho - like the gold maybe. it's difficult to say from the pic, they probably look different IRL. i'd do a neutral Bs with a few small accent pieces in it to pick up the color of the counter top.
other patterns or too many colors will just make it look busy and confusing. they will fight each other.

i'm going to take a real pic of the slate so you can get a better idea.

This is a pic of our floor. The blue tape is where our island is going. I had a hard time getting a pic of the entire floor because we have the area closed off during the renovation (plastic, zippers and all). There's a bit of drywall dust on it from all of the work we've been doing but this is more realistic as far as the coloring goes.

bumping

Those are similar to the color of my cabinets. I decided to go with the lighter granite countertop (bianca romano) I looked at uba tuba, but my kitchen is small and I was afraid it would make it look smaller. GO for the white! Hobar, I LOVE both the backsplash and your floors. hat is exactly what I'm looking for in a floor. What type of tiles did you choose? How did you decide on the different sizes? also what color grout did you go with? what is the name of backsplash? Love the whole look ... gorgeous!

Hi Transitional... Our kitchens are almost identical! Your perimiter is opposite mine, but other than that they are very close, right down to the cabinets on the sides of the fridge!
We have espresso shaker cabinets and we went with soapstone and we couldn't be happier... I was VERY concerned that it would all look too dark, but we went with what we liked and it looks great!
We do have lighter floors than yours (travertine... I
really wanted slate, but all of the tile places scared me away... I'm jealous looking at yours :)) but I still think a dark countertop would look good if that is what you like.
Don't get me wrong, some of those white countertops are gorgeous, but if you like dark, it is beautiful as well!

I tried to post a pic, but can't figure it out!
L

Hi L, I'd love to see a pic of your kitchen! If you sign up for a free photobucket.comaccount you can upload your pic to that and then copy and paste the HTML link for the photo in your post. Kindof complicated but it does work. Can't wait to see your pics!

Ahhhhhh! It is embarrassing how many times I've tried to figure out the picture posting... Thank you!
Here is a pic... not the greatest as we are still under construction and everything is so dusty, but you get the idea.

Wow L! looks beautiful. What is the upkeep with soapstone? Are you getting the microwave drawer in your island? My husband really wants one but I'm not sure I want to spend all that money on it.

Hi Transitional,
I wish it was my kitchen but it is not. I found this picture in google but I remember it belongs to a garden weber member. I believe the countertops are marble and the backsplash could be the sumi-e glass tile (see link). The color could be the Hida natural or silk. I have seen them in person and they are gorgeous!

Here is the link to the backsplash:

http://mosaicsource.com/sumi-eglassmosaictile.aspx

For some reason, I can't copy the tile picture here...urg! Sorry, I wish I could help more.

Does anyone remembers who this kitchen belong to?

Thanks

Hi Transitional - unless your kitchen gets abundant natural light I would tend to go towards a lighter counter top. The dark slate, cabs and a dark counter seem a bit too much to me. There are other white options other than quartz (although from the research I've done the quartz products do very well with heat and just about everything else).

I have dark cabinets (walnut) and I'm having a white(ish) quartzite put in. Quartzite holds up like a granite, in fact it is often called a granite in stone yards.

Here is a recent thread of mine with some pictures of my Luce de Lune quartzite.

Here is a link that might be useful: Luce di Luna (Quartzite Bianca) thread

Hi sochi - I love what you've chosen for your countertops! Do youmind me asking how much you were quoted per sq ft? I don't know if that would work in our whole kitchen because of the L shape but I could see maybe doing the quartzite on the island and an off white quartz on the rest? To answer your question, we do actually have a lot of natural light in our kitchen (1 skylight and 1 45'' window), but our wood floors in the adjoining dining & living area are dark (Brazilian walnut) so I want to keep it light in the kitchen. Hopefully all your comments will convince my DH! Thank you & please post pics when your kitchen is complete. I can't wait to see it. And hope you have a speedy recovery from the ankle ;)

Hogar, what type of tile do you have? name and color please?

Transitional - I cannot remember the per square foot cost (maybe $80 or $90?), but I do know that it is more expensive than most granites (unfortunately), but less expensive than Calacatta marble and some other marbles. I think prices vary dramatically - I'm in Canada, so it may (or may not) be more affordable in your area. To give you a sense, we were quoted approximately $3,500 for a white Caesarstone Quartz, the Quartzite is $5,300 (installed) (yikes). But definitely check prices out in your area.

We are having ours installed on an L-shape as well. We're working with the fabricator now, but I think he'll be able to run the linear grain in the same direction for both runs on the L.

Thanks for the good wishes about the ankle - another few weeks in the cast. Darned ice patch on sidewalk!