Light maple and dark granite is a design trend that is not so au currant on GW but is still very popular in many areas.

In our last home we had maple cabinets. I later installed Verde Jewel granite - dark green with burgundy highlights. Floors were medium stained wood. No photos, sorry.

I like the contrast of light cabinets with a darker granite

Thanks for the input; I'll have to look at the Verde Jewel, allison0704. The design around here seems to be Tuscan-themed kitchens, so something a bit more spartan is different.

In my laundry room, I am using a leathered Jungle Green granite (more of a medium tone), with a light stained maple and white subway tile. It should be in this next week.

I have to agree with sabjimata. It's a look that has gotten old quick.

My kitchen that is being renovated now was previously Maple cabinets with Verde Butterfly granite. I got tired of this look in less than 5 years. I grew to hate that granite. Another problem with my previous kitchen was no contract between the floor and cabinets.

Maple cabinets can be gorgeous but go with lighter tone granite. Santa Cecilia or Tropic Brown would be a much better choice. Of course the more you can spend, the more options you have and that was my problem with this kitchen. We could only afford the basic granite and I let the dark stone slab sway me away from long term considerations.

My previous kitchen with Maple cabinets and Verde Butterfly granite.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

I guess I am biased as I have dark granite( in my case sapphire blue) and natural oak cabinets in my kitchen. I happen to really like it. I just went with cherry cabs in my bath and a peacock verde -like granite.
Obviously it's to each his own, and I understand not wanting to do something that might be dated sooner than later, but I somehow I find the tone of some of these comments to be less than gracious.
Nishka, I think the kitchen you are redoing is lovely but I do agree that something seemed off- in my eyes it seems to be the paint colors and possibly the island color, both of which would be so much simpler to change than a total redo. To each his own, and I hope you are happy with your new selections and thatyou don't tire of the new one too soon. To my eyes the rest of it looks lovely.

You might want to consider something green, but lighter with some light brown bits to compliment the wood. I have seen sea foam green granite which seems lovely, but but I don't have pricing info and would guess that it is not cheap (but I have been wrong.) Whenever I see wood cabinets, I prefer counters that pick up the color of the cabinets as a compliment, or counters that create contrast - like a primarily black or white counter. But that is me.

For counters I think the most important atheistic consideration is you love looking at the counter while you are doing your work in the kitchen (puts a smile on your face while you are wiping those babies down for the millionth time :) Also, think about how you will finish the kitchen - will there be a backsplash? Some backsplashes will look better or less nice with the counter you pick. What photos to you love that show a maple kitchen - dark, light or medium counters?

Here is a link that might be useful: seafoam green granite with light wood

Kraftmaid has several maple/light finish kitchens with green countertops or backsplashes currently on their website. They seem to be lighter in the medium green or sage tones.

Here is a sample of what looks like maple and maybe verde from the plain and fancy website and I think it looks beautiful - I am converted :)

Here is a link that might be useful: maple with dark green counters

We have Verde Peacock on lighter oak cabinets and are very happy with the choice. I don't think it's "au currant" at all. The green granites are incredibly easy to care for and equally as beautiful in their own way. It's all just a matter of taste and preference

I think a green granite will look great with light maple
cabinets. Here is view of Costa Esmeralda granite with
oak cabinets. The CE is probably a level 2 granite or
more. I know the pic is oak but you can view the granite.
boxer

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

I love green countertops. I am an interior designer and always thought that green looked so great with the browns including maple i.e. which is a shade of yellow brown. Green is a staple color and goes with everything. It is a primary color in nature. I would choose a brighter green and not a blackish green, not olivy, but more emerald-like.
Adds character to the kitchen.

Well, clearly I'm not on the GW cutting edge with my kitchen. But I do like contrasting colours, so this combo is one that I really like in my kitchen. We have light maple cabinets (the stain is one up from natural if I recall correctly) and Verde Peacock granite.

And as a previous poster said, it really is a bullet-proof counter and I love that aspect of it as well.

Thanks, all. We are considering a Peacock Premium (I'm thinking Verde Peacock), which has more of the grey-green shimmer and delicate specks of the golden brown. We looked at the three different Peacock variations and came back to this one.

I think the picture of Olga's kitchen is really pretty with the verde peacock and the silver hardware that picks up on the grey shimmer of the granite.

Here's our Verde Peacock, we even kept the occlusions which a lot of people try to leave out because we felt it made the stone more unique. It also has large areas of the golden caramel color you're referring to.

@lukkiirish: Gorgeous!

thanks, cancoi, those pics are close ups of course, from a distance it does look dark. We get compliments on it all the time. We put a lighter granite in one of our bathrooms upstairs and like it too, but I wouldn't trade the dark in the kitchen. We're very happy with it.

This is my laundry room with leathered jungle green granite and light maple cabinets in natural light:

And with the lights on:

And this is a closeup of the granite:

Look at that Plain and Fancy site most of the pictures (not all) but most of them have a contrasting look, lighter cabts & darker countertops or dark cabts & light granite countertops. I think that's still the best look to compliment each aspect of your kitchen & show off both of them. Instead of blending everything together.
Doonie- Beautiful granite in your laundry room... too cool
Olga d - perfect example !

Green is a natural color to complement the warm tones of wood -- any wood. We're talking color theory, a natural phenomenon -- not a style trend. This will never go out of style.

It's true that the shelter mags may attempt to lead us to think wood with green is over, and white with black or grey is here to stay, being "classic". Humbug.

We have verde esmeralda granite, which is dark green with light green movement and burgundy bits here and there. It goes well, I think, with our oak cabs, which might have some of the same tones you'll have in your maple. It was not an expensive granite, and we found a slab with lots of movement.

You DO NOT have to pick dark granite to contrast light maple cabinets!! One of my first choices was Kashmir white and Giallo Ornamental was also a contender. I ended up with a low-end slab of Costa Esmeralda that I got from a local distributer who was liquidating. The stone is light green, grey, cream, white and full of veins!!! I call it 'green marble' and it is perfect for my 100 year old bungalow home here by the ocean on Cape Cod!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: granite choice for natural maple cabinets

In my previous house (3 years ago), we had natural maple cabinets and Bianco Sardo/Luna Pearl countertops. There was actually a lot of ivory in the counters, so it went well with the cabinets. The cabinet knobs were black and our appliances were white; tumbled white/grey marble backsplash. I really liked the color scheme, it felt bright, but earthy.

I don't think the dark green granite/natural maple is "out", it's just a look that's been around longer than the new white kitchens. To me, what's "out" right now are pickled oak cabinets and Corian counters. And in 10 years, my soon to be installed white kitchen will no longer be the rage, but hopefully not as "out" as acid wash jeans...