I love #1 and that cute little girl! Please post picture of your kitchen when the cabinets are installed since I want to see Polar White inset cabinets in another kitchen and not just the show room. I only saw one other poster with the Polar white. I still have not given up yet on the Shiloh Inset Cabinets that I love and if I can save enough for them, then I am not sure between the Polar White and the Soft White. In the showroom the Polar White seemed to be a touch darker than BM Cloud White. In pictures, it seems to white. I loved it in the show room.

UbaTuba is an old color that hangs around because it works well with many things. It is darker color with greens and black, it works well with greens and wood tone cabinets. It balances very well with wood tones cabinets, brings in warmth, blends and grounds the cabinet color. I love green, one of my favorite colors, but I think a natural stone, either limestone or tumbled marble in a square with a diagonal pattern. If your stove or cooktop is under your cabinets you can change the pattern just over stove with a straight border out lining it. Add a stone shelve out of the same stone. Place olive oil, balsamic vinegar a few spices in simple clear and thin taller bottles, add fresh green basil potted in neutral natural pots. It breaks up the look rather just using the same back splash through. Adds more interest, adds to a different look but still keeps blending together smoothly. I think what you are having a hard time with is you are looking at just a few things instead of the big picture. It’s helpful to blend as you and not worry about a few things. I think if you keep the green paint out of the kitchen, use it in the rooms that you can see off your kitchen, a darker green with black granite and the paint in the room off would tie it in and compliment each other nicely, both would pop more and not compete with each other. Remember everything should work together, not compete.. When you finish with your basic house the Accessories,Art, lamps, rugs etc, window treatments, fabrics are important this pulls everything together. If you are on a tight budget Lowe’s has 6”x6” tumble stone in a creamy taupe with a hint of a light golden tone, neutral that would blend would blend and complement your wood cabinets with a darker granite. Soap stone is nice but there are several other med to darker greens to. UbaTuba is a classics color, nice greens with black, it’s not a busy stone its quite but a powerful look to pull things together. Hope this helps you think about other options. Pick up stone samples bring them home and look everything in your room with your cabinet, paint and flooring. Good luck, don’t get frustrated have fun once you start work through it you will know if you like it not keep trying..

Thanks for the update, glad to hear you are liking it. Now as to grout - that's another decision. Using double-sided sticky tape, adhere leftover tile pieces to a smallish piece of plywood (or other - shouldn't be flexible). You want a smaller piece, so it can fit under your uppers and rest on the countertop. Then, mix up a small batch of your grout choice and slap on to your sample board per directions. Clean up and wait a day to let the grout color dry, then see how you like the effect. Take pictures of it in place, then chip off the pieces of tile (hammer and screwdriver) (very easy), and repeat with next grout sample if desired. If you have enough left over tile, do multiple at the same time. To give you an idea, here are some I did recently. These were just grouted.

Typhoon Bordeaux is one of those stones that looks very different from lot to lot. That's why is essential to visit the stone yard to see what the current inventory looks like. Typhoon Bordeaux comes with a big diagonal wave type pattern about 50% of the time, the other 50% it has non directional pattern like the first photo. I would go look at slabs before getting your heart set on a particular stone based on what you see online. Unless you are looking at real time inventory on the supplier website. Take a look at White Spring and Golden Spring as well. They are similar to Typhoon Bordeaux in color but have a tendency to have a non directional type of pattern vs the large diagonal waves.