beside the cabinets what is your floor choice and paint?? while these can be changed more often, i like to look at the whole picture, including the rooms surrounding the kitchen.

bring a sample home...don't trust the lights in the store against your cabinets and flooring...

I love my Silestone, however I bought the same color/style for my kitchen and bathroom about a year apart. They are very different in appearance - enough that I called the company to make sure they didn't make a mistake on the second install. I was told that they had made some changes in the color and size of the quartz pieces even though it was the same name. My advice would be to make sure the stores sample pieces are up to date or you check samples at other stores before you make a final decision.

mileaday...great suggestion. Thank you.

wondering if anyone else has used Silestone?

I just put in Yellow Nile Silestone in leather finish in my kitchen. I got several samples from several different Home Depots prior to install and they were all a little bit different. Especially the one I got from another state.

When decision time came we went through a local fabricator who could get the 3 cm thickness slabs. When the slabs arrived at his store, I was able to go and look at them. Fortunately, they were perfect for me, but I do think they can vary based on the differences between the samples I had.

Like mileday stated, it is important to make sure the samples are up to date.

I think these are the two quartzes you are considering. Both are very pretty. I like the Alpina White best with it's little flecks of translucent glass, but either one would be very pretty.
Ebony Pearl

If you want my vote I like the Alpine White...Good luck with choosing:) And the others gave you very good advice about viewing the slab if possible!

Yep! That's them! Thanks for the replies.....The beginning of this week I was positive I had decided on the Alpina White....then by Thursday I went back to the Ebony Pearl. ...again....lol....
I called the distributor of the silestone - he said I could come look at the slab to double check it -which may be helpful. I keep waffling.. .my knee jerk reaction is the Ebony Pearl because we have a white staircase with a black handrail. And the bathrooms we just remodeled are now white subway tile walls and white hex floor with black florette inserts/pattern. The cabinets will be white glaze (galley kitchen).
Then the practical side kicks in and I start to think the Alpina White may be easier to maintain and a gentler appearance....I'm so confused....

hi - gonna give a bump up and see if there are any additional opinions. Thanks

I agree that the Alpina White will be so much easier to maintain! Friends who have dark granites complain that it shows every dust mite around. Also with the caramel glaze on your cabinets, it would look gorgeous.

You can still accessorize with black picture frames, black cooking utensils, black curtain rods, a black fabric print! It would really pop with a splash of bright color! Red maybe?

In the end it's you who has to live with and love the choice!

My vote is totally for the Alpine white!!!!!! I think it would go best with the white with brown glaze, even if it is a subtle bit of brown.

I think each has a different look. In a way, I imagine the ebony to look more contemporary and of course, have more contrast. On the other hand, the Alpina White looks softer, less edgy to me. I think even though the color says white, it really reads much darker and would still provide contrast.
What is your vision for the kitchen? As poster susan says, what are other choices such as paint color?
I think I like the Alpina, but then I have a white on white/specked grey countertop myself. It does seem that it would pick up on the glaze on your cabinets.

Thanks all! The paint we're going with is either continuing a Woodlawn Blue (I think) from Martha Stewart from the dining room ...or a creme from the living room.
The black is a bit more solid looking then the pic represents...and that Alpina is a bit fleckier.
I appreciate all the comments so far. I always envisioned a darker countertop - maybe I'm going about this wrong and should reconsider a granite?....sigh....

My vote is for Alpine White. BTW, a good friend of mine has had Silestone in her kitchen for 10 years and it looks like new--no chips, stains, etching, etc. I was talking about getting a remnant slab of marble to put into a small part of my counter to roll out dough but my friend says she just rolls dough out on her Silestone and has no problem with the dough sticking. After reading about problems with quartz on this forum, you should check out your slab(s) before purchasing. Good luck!

Thanks again. I called this morning...gonna try to look at the slabs