Gorgeous granite! I can see why you fell for it. Your kitchen will be beautiful.

granite is beautiful! just breathtaking.

Gorgeous. Just be really picky when templating to make sure your favorite parts are forward.

That's beautiful, so glad you were able to agree. Slate is usually a little more green than black. If you can get a sample of the slate, post a photo for us to see to give you a better opinion.

Wow! That gorgeous stone fit your budget? (Most people don't refer to a "budget" unless they have one that is 'reasonable' or less -- and that stone looks EXPENSIVE!) It's gorgeous!

"Do y'all think its OK to have two different blacks since the slate is fairly uniform and a honed finish and the granite has movement and is polished?"

IMO, Honestly, No...
But it would be fabulous with a honed white marble.

Do you have some place where you can safely store your own slabs?
I've heard far too many horror stories of slabs being sold out from under customers -- even when they've already paid for the slabs! And having never seen a granite like that, I'd be loathe to count on being able to get more when you're ready to template.

I have to be honest, also, and say I can't see slate with this granite. Too close, but too far. I think you need something that coordinates or contrasts. Slate is just 'different.'..And a whole other range of colors, right? Unless you might find one that appears to match some of the swirls in the granite. Anything is possible, I suppose! :-)

But I'm very happy for you that your dh and you can be on the same page with the granite, and I love the hardware you linked!!

Well, I left Houston with one husband, but I swear another one got in the car at a rest stop somewhere along the 15 hour drive to SC. I told DH that I got suggestions to ditch the slate and use honed white marble instead and he said, "That's sounds like a great idea." This is from the man who was totally adverse to marble in the kitchen because of the upkeep. (Shaking my head)

The local slab yard carries Alabama White which we got to see. It may not be Calcutta gold, but it is a very creamy white and the material cost of the marble with honing is about the same as the slate so we're in good shape. I agree that white marble with the Marinus it would be a gorgeous combination. Here's a picture of the AL White:

The other "magical" thing that happened was when we visited the tile supplier. I had been fretting because when I saw the allowance for the subway tile for the backsplash, it was so low that I thought they were quoting a mediocre product. OK, so I was very naive about the builder's discount. When the salesman brought out the display board of what he had based the quote on, I let out a gasp and exclaimed, "OMG! That's exactly what I wanted." He was showing me Horus Art tile in Tiffany Crackle. Can it get better than that? Well, not for me it couldn't.

The bad news about the Marinus is that the last slabs at the SC were tagged. But they have an even bigger warehouse in Elberton, GA (2 hour drive from the Upstate where we're building) and Elberton is, apparently, the "Granite Capital of the World". Also, in spring, they begin to get in more shipments of granite & we won't be needing it until this summer or early fall.

The guy from the fabrication company said that they are very careful to make sure the granite flows across the entire length of a run. I can only make so many trips from Houston to SC, but I think I will make a point of being there when they template.

I keep mentioning budget because we're trying to be careful about the allowances by not going overboard while still getting what we want. Azul Aran would really be lovely, but it is $20/sf more than the Marinus & the Marinus really grabbed us. The cost of the stone is averaging $50/sf for what we have chosen and we only pay for the material they use. Installations costs are another $10/sf with $200 per large undermount sink hole. This is more than what we paid in Houston for our kitchen "refresh" last summer, but that was just an entry level stone.

Obviously, I'm going to obsess over the hardware, but the Highland Ridge is a good starting point for our XWK (Transitional White Kitchen). I think we will balance that with faucets that are a little more traditional & still have our stainless steel appliances & sink. Right now, we're looking at Price Pfister Marielle and doing DH's sink in one configuration & mine in the other. The gal at the plumbing supply place thought it would be neat to have the faucets from the same famiy but not matching. We did the Marielle pullout (3rd configuration) for our refresh because I got it very, very cheap on eBay & have been very pleased with it. What we have is the brushed stainless steel, so we may switch to that if we want less "shine":

Anyway, thanks for the great idea of going with marble rather than the slate. I think we will be using slate for our fireplace surround and the powder room floor, so I'll be getting my slate.

Thanks for the suggestions & support - Jo Ann

Apparently you can take the Texas out of the man!...

That marble & granite will be lovely together. And Horus tiles? -- Wow. Clearly meant to be.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you Jo Ann --

Your kitchen sounds like it is going to be 'shut up' gorgeous and thank you so much for putting in your costs and budgets. I can't believe that you are getting that stone for that price. It's really nice. That price would only get you like budget, boring low-tier stuff at any of the box stores up here in NY. And don't get too bent out about the hubby 180, I know my wife and I have often stated 'Nope, I don't ever want to do X' over the last year of planning our build only to sheepishly admit a few weeks / months / hours later that '...actually, I kind of love it.' Sometimes it just takes the right picture, seeing something in person, or changing one other element to suddenly make something seem like it was once the absolute wrong choice and now, it's perfect.

And I really love the idea of using two different faucets from the same family especially because those two are not very matchy-matchy at all. Sometimes the "using the mini version at the bar sink" strategy doesn't work for me, if they are exactly the same, just one is smaller. But here, there is a lot of variance, but plenty of coordination. Nice choice.

That is going to be a beautiful combination in the kitchen.

Marielle is a pretty faucet. I have one in the powder room.

I love both.
Go for it.
~boxer

Oh! That Marinus will be stunning with the marble! Gorgeous!