What is the stone in the middle? Am I not understanding?

Even though I'm not a granite fan due to the high reflective quality, I recently saw the leather look granite and I love it. It was also in gray. I think two members of your family are spot on in their opinions.

White Vermont Quarzite then
leathered steel gray,
smaller piece is Steel Gray but polished.
Do you think it's too much gray?
I have fiesta dishes and lots of colorful views outside from windows.
The grey looks good with what's outside...

Here's a pic from farther back.

I like both the Vermont Quartzite or the leathered steel gray. I think either would look great.

For me, I would choose the Vermont Quartzite because I have long wanted honed Carrara marble in my kitchen. One day...

I would go with either of the darker two. They provide nice contrast with both your cabinets and the walls. I think either would look great!

Thanks for the opinions everyone. I'm leaning to the leathered/honed steel gray. It's bulletproof as far as my testing goes and the least expensive.
Going tomorrow to see some slabs.
If the White quartzite was etch proof I might be swayed to go to a higher price.

I'd go with the Soapstone if it does not drive you into the poorhouse. Next would be the leathered steel gray. A dark shiny countertop is kind of a pain to keep looking nice. I know because I have dark, shiny granite counters.

My first choice would be the white Vermont quartzite, but they are both very. Nice.
I just happen to like lighter counters

I like the quartzite.

Have you looked at pictures of white kitchens with dark vs. light countertops? That might help you determine the feel you and your family would prefer.

Another DD opinion she helped me hoist a big piece of cararra that
I retrieved from a dumpster and has been leaning out side against
The barn for about a year
I had tested out all kinds of staining, etching stuff on it and of course
It stained and etched.
So we look at it today and she says "mom it's the marble, it's what belongs in
The house"
Funny we saw no stains and had to bend down and study it to see the etching
Did the sun bleach them out?

People do report back that stains dissipate. That's why patina is soft and beautiful. It's a living finish.

we just installed leathered absolute black granite with a slate floor and cream walls and white cabinets/woodwork it turned out absolutely beautiful and doesn't app ear to show water spots or spotty hand prints

Snookums It was amazing. It was almost polka-dot with stains. You can hardly see the etches.

Ok - I'd love to see pictures of your kitchen. Even though I have pieces in place its still hard to SEE it...

Nope -- stains tend to fade and they can generally be avoided with a sealer. Even where I am sure my sealer has worn off and is in need of another treatment, my marble isn't staining. It will etch, but if it is honed, it tends to all blend unless you are looking for it or get something really bad going on. In which case it can be buffed out.

I was going to vote for the leathered steel granite, but I have marble, so I can't argue with you there if you feel so inclined. I'm at 8 years now and no regrets. My island is a black leathered granite. I didn't want shiny slabs of stone, so I like both your choices.

I can't really tell a texture difference on my monitor, but the lighter color looks best to me. It also gives you many more options for future wall and cabinet colors. If you like the "leathered" look, why not find a lighter granite in that finish?

kswl I am leaning towards the lighter CT's. My DD age 24 is now saying it is so obviously the marble, once we put the big piece on it.
My stone yard is out of honed carrara right now (what does that tell you?) and gave me some other samples of quartzite and a couple leathered granites but they were creamy, yellowish and stained worse than the marble. I'm going to a different place Monday to check out the Danby Marbles.
I have a little time as my base cabinets finally went back for repainting.

Sorry I guess I did not really follow the discussion!

I love the elements of your kitchen and think the tone on tone colorscape is probably the least "dating" for a room full of hard surfaces. It's going to be beautiful, that much is clear!

I prefer the leathered steel grey best. I tend to like some contrast. I think either stone works with the other elements. There are light bits in the steel grey that pick up the grey in the wall and the same for some of the darker bits in the white vermont.

If the White Vermont etches then it isn't quartzite. Quartzite is composed mainly from quartz which doesn't etch. Some of the white stones being sold as quartzite seem to have harder bits that may be quartz and other areas that are dolomite (a harder marble relative) and some don't seem to be quartzite at all.

Staining is a separate thing that depends on whether the stone has pours, not on its chemical composition. Some quartzite is more porous and stains and some is very low porosity.

Sealers can fill the pours which prevents staining. Sealers don't prevent etching.