Obviously a countertop choice eventually comes down to a very personal preference.

But having said that, in our contemporary house, we have teak cabinets, and used Caesarstone Blizzard counters (and white subway tile backsplash) so that all the attention remains on the gorgeous cabinets. But we were also trying to maximize light/reflective surfaces so that played into our decision.

Good luck with your decision!

Karen belle,

It took me months and many trips to different granite
yards until I found my forever stone. And that is how
I looked at my granite journey. It was going to be with me
for as long as I am in this house. I have to love it. Truly
love it, not like it because it goes with things around me.
And there were days of frustration, anxiety, second guessing
and worries. I found myself asking strangers what they
liked, looking at everyone's kitchens, pouring over magazines
in order to get the right look. The right color etc...

We had plywood counters for weeks and my DH was getting
ready to stain the plywood since I could not find the right
stone. Looking back, I am so thankful I cancelled my order
and went back. I had not put down a deposit but I held
several slabs. I changed my mind and I am so glad I
did.

No worries. people do this all the time. They hold a few
slabs and then rethink colors, space, texture, ... and
sometimes they go back to find a new granite choice.
Or they search many granite yards. No worries you will find
your forever stone that makes you smile with your floors
and walnut cabinets.

Good luck on your journey.
~boxer

Boxer - THANKS. Permission is just what I needed.

Shimmerstorm - I have been leaning white for a while. We're using quartz in the kitchen and I was thinking that we'd put a natural stone in the DR, but I'm not sure we'll ever find the right one.

Strangely, DH picked out laminate for his study and came home with a bunch of things that look like granite. Why has he always been telling me he thinks granites are too busy?? ;-)

Maybe because the chips are so small?? I agree, granite can be busy. Those of us who are more contemporary have a hard time with too many patterns and color. HGTV network has a house they are giving away and it is very contemporary with red countertop done in quartz I think, surprised me!

There is a granite that is very gray but has blue bits that pop out as you walk by, that would be a cool choice in the right house. Not too busy.

I do think you need to keep looking and when you find it, you'll know.

Oh my gosh, basaltina! I'm so glad to know someone else is happy with that stone. It looks fabulous with walnut; Henrybuilt uses it all the time. (We just finished a contemporary kitchen with basaltina, but we have rift cut white oak cabinetry. Love the basaltina.)

Basaltina looks just like the stone we picked! Our dealer calls it "oceanic bluestone." GRR, I hate how these dang stone sellers name the stone whatever the heck they please.

Isle2isle and brooke - Please show me pictures of your installed basaltina!!!

Well, we went to a stone showroom with our materials, and you know what? When I looked at under naturl lighting it looked great. It was the dam*ed CFLs that made me see blue!

Whew.

Take a peak at Sochi's gorgeous contemporary kitchen. Her counters are Quartzite Bianca (also called Luce di Luna.) I know you were thinking granite, but I thought of her kitchen because it has walnut cabinets.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread with pictures

KarenBelle - I see you went back to the showroom and are happy now, so that's great! I decided to take pix anyhow because I didn't have any of just Basaltina, and it all came back to me how much the colors (of everything) vary in showrooms vs natural light vs bulbs. And, to complicate colors further, you can enhance the stone to make it darker (which is what we did, because when we saw it in a Pental showroom they had used an enhancer, and that was the color we fell in love with [we already loved the stone].)
Anyhow, I will try to post two photos from my computer (first time doing this on GW so hope it works!). Our kitchen is hard to photograph, and because of flash and natural light it's hard to get a perfect color match), but...Basaltina is a GRAY stone (not blue, not green).

{{gwi:1467847}}

{{gwi:1467847}}

(Sorry the photos don't work. Followed Buehl's instrux but just realized my pix have to be hosted somewhere and I don't have anything like that set up. DH does all that online stuff so I'll need to get his help.)

Isle2isle, thanks for trying. The basalt that we selected is truly gray. In my mind's eye I had envisioned the gray working well with the nutty brown of the walnut, and our terrazzo is so busy that I was hopeful the solid color countertop would enhance the floor, not fight with it.

It was really so silly of me to forget that our rent house kitchen lighting is nothing like what we will have in our remodeled home. I have found that with every decision we made I panic when things are about to be finalized. DH is very patient with me and I think he's also sure I'll eventually come back to what we originally selected. Whew.

Chicagoans, I love Sochi's kitchens, both new and old. Her countertop on the walnut is gorgeous. I love the green highlight paint and even looked at that color in caesarstone yesterday against our walnut sample - not my style, but very vibrant!

It is the terrazzo in my house that is driving a lot of these decisions - it's got a lot of movement, so we need a super quiet countertop.

Karen,
I saw Basaltina with walnut cabinets at Seattle Henrybuilt show room. I also saw Basaltina with Snaidero dark espresso'ish stain in another showroom. Both looked stunning. Both were vey modern kitchens. On the Snaidero, they used calcutta Gold on the perimeter counters.

I think I am going with Basaltina or a very light colored quartz. Two extremes! My designer wants me to do Basaltina (at added expense!)

Terazzo! Are these tiles or site finished terazzo? That sounds just stunning.

If you have terazzo tiles, then I think you are right in thinking that busy slabs will not work, even basaltina could be too busy. If you have site finished terazzo, I think you may be able to pull off a slab like basaltina quite easily.

Good luck.

I'd love to see more pictures of basaltina counters! We are planning on using it for our perimeter counters, calacatta oro for our center island, and white cabinets