And I'm a lover of busy flowing water-like movement in stone. It's totally a personal preference. Remember though, when you look at slabs in the yard; you're looking at them vertically. On a countertop, they are obviously on a horizontal plane and don't give the same impact.

It's dramatic, but not as much as some. If you pair it with solid colors drawn from the granite - some dark and some light - and rather plain cabinets and backsplash, it can be the kitchen diva.

It depends on whether you like lots of pattern, or if you would rather have a plainer countertop.

Have you chosen a backsplash?

IMO, busy granites look best with very simple tile backsplashes while a simple counter may allow for a more interesting backsplash.

Thanks for your reponses. Our Kitchen cabinets are ivory, while the breakfast bar and butler's pantry are chocolate. I'm planning on doing a very simple backsplash. My HOPE is that the granite will tie the ivory and chocolate(which already blend very prettily), and the simple backsplash will not compete. I guess everyone's advice is that it depends on personal preference? I admit I worry about resale value, even though we're planning on staying here forever, we've said that twice before...

I googled Sicilian Gold granite & found many differing pics. I really liked most of them and think you'll be fine with it. Trust me, almost everyone second guesses themselves with a purchase as expensive as granite & with a material that is going to cover that much space. If you're really unsure, could you post some pics of the actual slabs you are looking at or at least one from online that is similar?

I think you are lucky to have a large areas of countertop, that's just what granite with movement needs. When you only have small sections of countertop the veins get broken up and you can't see their beautiful, flowing movement as well. I don't think it will look too busy.

I have pictures, I just can't seem to find how to post them. I tried posting it in the gallery but it doesn't show up...the F&Q said somehting about a "gallery" on the "sides" (can't find either, I know I'm missing SOMETHING)

The granite slabs move from gold on the 'bottom' to more ivory on the 'top'. I was wondering if I should have the gold tones cut for the space below the ivory kitchen cabinets and the more ivory tones cut for the espresso bar and butler's pantry...

How to post photos using photobucket:

Setup:
1) Go to photobucket.com and open a free account.
2) Follow their instructions for uploading your pics to their site.

Now your pics are ready for posting on sites like GW!

Posting pics in a GW message:
1) Begin the written portion of your posting on GW.
2) When you are ready to add your pics, simply open a new browser window and log into your photobucket account.
3) Go to 'My Album' & copy the 'HTML Code' underneath the photo you wish to add to your GW post.
4) Toggle back to the browser window with your GW posting, place the cursor where you want to pic to appear, right click and select 'paste'.

Your pics will appear in the preview so you can ensure they appear properly before the final submission.

Hope this helps!

Hi Vrain,

What you are describing sounds lovely. If you stay with the granite that has more movement, and keep the other surfaces simple - it will look great. They eye will go to the granite, and the other surfaces won't compete. If you decide to select a very uniform granite - then you'll need to have something else be the focal point - you don't want it too blah either (especially in a big space). It's a personal choice. I found it difficult to visualize the granite while looking at the slabs - since the slabs are vertical, and they will be viewed horizontally. I think the impact of the movement is less on the horizontal plane (unless you use the same granite for the backsplash).

It sounds great. If you can post the pictures, we'd all love to see. Good Luck!

Thanks everyone, your opinions are very helpful and the instructions on posting pictures were easy to follow: Here is a pic of one of the slabs (they're all similar, but all pics came out blurry because I didn't have enough space behind me to take a good picture with phone camara:

Please be honest with your opinions, I can still change my mind! The granite above is on hold and hasn't been paid.

Glad you were able to get the pic to come up! I think that granite would go nicely--quite uniform with a little movement for interest. It looks like the movement goes in a kind of diagonal too which is neat. We have that diagonal movement in the granite in DS2's bathroom & it's really cool. Do make sure you are there for templating to ensure that the granite flow is laid out in the direction you want (i.e. which direction you want it to move on the breakfast bar & making sure the movement direction is consistent countertop to countertop.)

Thanks so much for the templating tips!

Here is your granite!
You have made a lovely choice.

I think your granite choice pattern is actually rather uniform. When I
think of movement I think of something like this....

And you will discover with your granite choice that it is
enough movement or pattern to create a gorgeouos addition
to the white and browns that you have in the space.
Trust your instinct it is going to be beautiful!

take a look at the images below.
This is not sicilian gold but similar in color.
Sicilian is not as wavy in pattern. I wanted you to see
a granite with the gold and warm white cabinets.

Butterfly gold granite similar to the Sicilian Gold

I think that "busy" is a negative way of looking at it, vs calling it a granite with movement or pattern.

The granite that you chose has a nice variation and colors that will help pull your kitchen together but it isn't heavily patterned. Flat on counters instead of viewed vertically as a full slab, it is going to look fairly uniform from a distance with the pattern coming out more as you get closer.

We have 60 to 70 square feet of counter (depending on whether I subtract out the sinks and rangetop cutouts plus over 20 sq ft of backsplash. Our quartzite is one with lots of movement and color. We don't find it overwhelming. We recently used it on the fireplace surround across the room too.

Up close:

From these and the pictures that boxerpups posted, you can see how the colors blend together in the more distant view especially on the horizontal surfaces because you are seeing them sort of edge on. As you get closer, the pattern is more visible but you are only seeing part of it at a time.

Hi Vrain,

Thanks for posting the picture. I think it looks beautiful - the colors will blend very well with your other choices. It also doesn't look too busy to me. The flow seems to be fairly subtle. Good Luck! Can't wait to see the rest.

Thank you all so much, I'm new to granite, but after reading your opions and info, I now feel I understand granite better, if that makes sense, and it has put me SO at ease. This forum is better than therapy :-). I LOVE LOVE LOVe the pictures of the kitchens boxerpups, I was better able to envision what my kitchen will look like and feel more confident. Cloud-Swift: THAT is gorgeous granite. I love the movement. I'd love to see more close ups.

We have Arandis Gold, lotta movement, even our backsplash is Arandis gold, Wife still comments , almost daily,(even after more than 5 years now), how much She loves her kitchen, but we are "Movers" you can tell that from my name here (LOL)

dodge59