I'm having the reverse colours as you (island dark, perimeter cream) and am going with Cambria Darlington... kitchen showroom has a countertop sized sample and it looks fantastic. Can't wait!

with a creme island and wood like floor tone, it seems your overall feel might not really be as simple as "light and dark" Cambria has "new quay" in the waterstone group which appears to have some beige running through the marble effect. that might work, rather than plain marble-y white.

THey are both beautiful choices. I want to go today to see a showroom that sells Cambria and learn more. Yikes- everything always at the same time.

Thanks

mrs. hanson- which floor tile did you choose? I am also having dark cabinets (ebony installed.) Initially, had contracted with granite person for Typhoon Bordeaux granite, but yesterday decided to look at the Cambria collection. I am looking at Windermere, but the newest ones, including New Quay, look great. Would love to see larger samples, but their UPS shipping is almost the same price as the samples!

I loved the New Quay Cambria, too -- at least what I saw online. However, if your cabinets are already coming in, I would ask the fabricator when the new Cambria colors will be ready for shipment. When we were looking, back in May, they still hadn't gotten a ship date, so they predicted it might be a while.

As I type, my quartz counter is being installed -- we went with duPont Zodiaq Nutmeg, which would actually look gorgeous with espresso and/or cream cabinets, although it's not a marble look.

Ok...I just ordered two samples of cambria. They are available. They also told me that slabs will be ready the second and third weeks of August. So...now I know when they are ready.

Marieskit- The floor matches the wood stair treads as well as the rest of the house. They are cut in wood planks style, look just like wood, but they are porcelain tile. I can pinesol the whole thing. I love the dark floors, and would have liked to pick the dark floors, but I am unable to change the rest of the house. It all has to match. I'll get pictures up soon.

I have the creamy/white perimeter cabinets and dark island. My granite is Bianco Antico. It really works with both of the colors and ties them together.

Show us a photos of that floor! I just put down a porcelain 6x24 wood look tile in my hall bath upstairs. I love it. Mine is Mikado. (I'm currently struggling with the grout color not being right, was supposed to be dark like the tile but it's a gray! sorry, little OT here)

My cabinets are cream perimeter and dark espresso island...I'm following this post and planning on checking out everyone's suggestions, though I'm still leaning toward the higher maintenance concrete countertops for the look I want.

Yes, please show us photos of that floor!

We did this kitchen in espresso below and creme brule above, and wanted to make sure it was "light" enough in this small open-concept space, so we chose a very light composite for the counter. Here's a photo:

ok...i have some photos of my wood plank porcelain floor and the new cabinets too, but I dont know how to do it. I'm good on a computer, but I cant figure this out. Please help...I've tried to read the pages on how to do this, but I cant still do it.

Oh, the torture... someone please help MrsHanson!!! I want to see the pics!

How to Post Photos:

Setup:
1) Go to photobucket.com and open a free account.
2) Follow their instructions for uploading your pics to their site.

Now your pics are ready for posting on sites like GW!

Posting pics in a GW message:
1) Begin the written portion of your posting on GW.
2) When you are ready to add your pics, simply open a new browser window and log into your photobucket account.
3) Go to 'My Album' & copy the 'HTML Code' underneath the photo you wish to add to your GW post.
4) Toggle back to the browser window with your GW posting, place the cursor where you want to pic to appear, right click and select 'paste'.

Your pics will appear in the preview so you can ensure they appear properly before the final submission.(I know, this looks like a lot of potentially confusing steps, but trust me, once you copy the pics into your posts once or twice it's a piece of cake!)

Hope this helps & can't wait to see that floor!

ok...still cannot figure this out. It must be for lack of sleep. I've copied the webpage so that you can look from here.

http://photobucket.com/MrsHanson1

Buying permanent stuff because your kids are little is not wise. Buy what will work for the longterm and work up kitchen procedures and rules that make it a good place for kids throughout their lives. Imagine your little ones as teenagers and as young adults bringing future spouses to the kitchen. This is YOUR kitchen which is facilitating family relationships, not the lowest common denominator.

Thanks for the pictures...looks good! What brand are your cabinets?

I can't really offer help with the counters though except to say that picking countertops was probably the hardest, most agonizing thing we did during our previous remodel so I feel your pain. But hang in there you will figure it out...oh, and what florantha said :-) Pick what you love, go with your gut, you're spending a lot of money don't have regrets down the road.

I know... the cabinets are from Cabico by the way

When you hover over your photo in photobucket, a drop down box appears. Just click the html box, it will copy it, and then come here, and paste it. Here are your photos.
-Bee

Mrs.Hanson,

Kids grow super fast. Before you know it they will be off
and running. I agree with Florantha. "This is your kitchen."

What do you really like? I mean YOU and REALLY!
If you love white carrera Marble. Get it. You won't regret
it. In Italy white marble has been used for ages. And
a kitchen with stained marble just proves how loving,
happy and healthy everyone is. Stained marble means there
is a wonderful cook who puts the love of her family
first. Marble is one of those natural stones that can
be cleaned with bleach and water. And those stains will
fade. The etching is part of the nature of the stone.
Like a soft worn pair of jeans that keep getting better
with age.

Stains can come out. Marble can be rehoned, refinished
and repolished. If Marble is what you crave, you will
enjoy cleaning it, using it and having it in your home.
When the kids grow up and a big wedding is planned you
can rehone your stone to make it nice for the big day.
OR maybe granite is your thing, then do it. Look at all the
combinations of chocolate, espresso, white and cream
and find the stone you treasure. You mentioned none of the
stones are uniform enough and this is leaning you toward
Quartz.

A white quartz is wonderful. There are some amazing GW
kitchens of folks who did a white quartz. Truly gorgeous.
Here are some links below...

~boxerpups

Socchi's kitchen with white counters and chocolate
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0700344221152.html

white quartz countertops and staining
http://ths.gardenweb.com//forums/load/kitchbath/msg1213552425604.html

Quartz island from firsthousemp

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0301505316144.html

And lastly here are some images of ideas to go with your
beautiful cabinets.

Quartz

quartz

Caesar Stone

Aurora Snow Quartz

Ivorycoast

Calcutta Marble

Sweet Savanah Blog Marble

Marble

Marble from StoneStudio

Granite called Shivakashi cream

I love this and imagine it with your cabs and floors.
Juparana

Colonial Cream Granite

White River granite

Here is a link that might be useful: Why put in white marble?

All of you guys are so wonderful. Thank you so very much for your help. My kitchen WILL BE a dream, and I know a lot of it is because of this website helping me along the way.

Sometimes, I wish we could all meet and have a big kitchen bash....wouldn't that be nice? I'd love Nate and the HGTV crew to come along too... When I win the lotto (and finish this kitchen)....

MrsHanson... that's a great idea! The whole bash could be filmed, several kitchen renos could be highlighted, it would be a great show! Someone should pitch this to HGTV!

I also just installed dark cabinets, will be painting my walls something in the bone family. I totally understand your angst! I was all about bianco antico, which I love, but know I can't get silestone out of my head! I love modern egde and minimal look. Clean. I had ordered cararra and chickened out. My husband would not handle etching well. And I love white against my cabs. The wood is really the star. I will be watching to see what you choose!

We went with Espresso cabinets and Caesarstone Nougat for our countertops (we wanted white without the maintenance). I haven't done a full reveal yet, but will once all of the final details are wrapped up.

Here are some photos of the almost finished projects that shows the dark cabs and light counters....

The stools will be returned since the color doesn't go well (black versus espresso).

Bossa Nova: I love your kitchen. You have a wonderful backsplash- I have never seen that anywhere before. Very nice job- if you know HGTV, it is very candice olsen

OCJeff- I also love your kitchen. I think you made a great countertop choice- it looks very sharp, very modern. I admire your taste. I guess all of us are looking for that modern-like look.

Does anyone know if quartz gets duller over time? Maybe that should be for another thread. I bet somewhere it has been written about. My sister has quartz now for 6-7 years. She has always said that it never had the shine of granite, but it is still somewhat shiny...

oh well. Thank you too for sharing with me. Thanks to everyone else for your imput. They are going to start to install my cabinets on Monday hopefully, so I should make a decision by the end of next week... I'll keep you abreast of what happens...

OCJeff...Beautiful!! Can I ask what brand are your cabinets? I love the color!

It's the pretty standard "Espresso" color, they were custom built.

The color is VERY reddish in direct sunlight. Most all the time it's the very dark color you see in those pictures, but occasionally the light hits it right and shines red.

Mrs.Hanson--We are doing the opposite from your color scheme--our island & hood will be dark stain and the perimeter cabinets will be the off white. Like you, I really liked the marble, but with all boys in the house, I just don't think it's practical. So after hours and hours in the heat for 2 days in the granite yard lugging around our cabinet door samples, we came up with a compromise. We chose River Valley granite for the island to go with the dark cabintery--it's quite white with gray veining and just a bare hint of cranberry mixed in with the veining. For the perimeter, we went with San Gabriel Black to go with the off white cabinets. The guys at the granite yard were great--they pulled out the River Valley slab and carted it over to all the darker granite slabs section by section so we could compare the 2 different granites with coordinating cabinet doors side by side! You may want to take a look at the River Valley and see if it would work for you (I ran a google image search for it, but all the photos had way more movement in them than ours did.) Definitely take your cabinet doors down to the granite yard & make sure you're good with your combinations. Can't wait to see your finished kitchen!

OCJeff,
I love your kitchen. I can not wait for the reveal.
I remember when you first thought about dark cabs and
I am glad you stuck with your dream.
~boxerpups

dreamhome- I think that river valley granite is the same as kashmir granite, or they are in the same family. I did like that one. That was our other choice. I think today i'll ride back to the granite warehouse. Thanks for sharing our ideas. I like black granite, but it is not for me.

MrsHanson - we love our custom tile maker - he's an artist, really! He does ship product from Canada all over the world and sells some of his line through Ann Sacks. Here's his website - we'll be using the 'Discus' in our bathroom next month and I'll post photos. I'm sure your kitchen will be lovely!

OCJeff - your counters are very similar to what we used, but they look wonderfully THICK! I can't see a seam, but they look thicker than 3 cm - I definitely like the look of a good 'chunk' of counter.

http://andyblick.com/Home.html

MrsHanson- Quartz doesn't dull that I know of. My mom has had it for about 8 years and it looks the same as when it was installed, or more importantly, looks uniform in all the different areas. Hope that helps on your search.

MrsHanson -- what did you decide for your countertops? We are also going with the espresso cabinetry (though our island will also be espresso). I am deciding between a light granite or quartz, and love the new waterstone quartz collection by Cambria. It is such a hard decision! Our cabinets aren't in yet, so I have some time to decide.