Thanks for the encouragement. I've now gone from dreaming about counter tops to losing sleep. Last night I tossed and turned. I'm just about ready to cry from all of this. Who knew it could be so stressful to pick one island and a countertop. I must just want a kitchen I don't have. The KD of this fancy place said that my surrounding cabinets wouldn't do a honed dark granite justice. That I couldn't pull it off. I know what she means - I really don't like my cabinets at all. But they are decent 42" birch interior, maple stained cabinets made well by a local Amish man. And given the how expensive it would be to do all new everything, we really can't replace everything. So I thought/hoped that by rearranging the kitchen (the cooktop used to be on the island) and by making a really beautiful piece of cabinetry for the island, we could pull off a nicer look and more closely approximate the kitchens I love. The KD's thought was to paint the island white - Linen White by BM and then use a chocolate truffle Caesarstone on everything. I don't mind the white island, because I would love a white kitchen. But the surface of the quartz is what I don't really like. It is a great color, just too speckled looking for my taste. I asked her about using marble and honed granite, etc. and she was pretty positive it wouldn't look good. Mind you, what I have been thinking about for days and days and for hours, took her about 10 seconds to decide. If I trust her - and her kitchen store is the nicest I have ever seen - then I should seriously consider the white island and finding one color counter top. Staceyneil - I absolutely think you hit the nail on the head with the door fronts being the wrong style for the honed look. My husband actually built our last kitchen cabinets, so he is more than capable of building new fronts. I guess it is a matter of the time. We are putting in all new floors ourselves and just moved in a few months ago. But if and when we had the energy, that would make all the difference in the world and certainly would be more cost effective. The cabinet you described is exactly the look we had in our last house. It was natural cherry cabinets with a very simple shaker type door and flat drawer fronts, all full overlay. I miss our house back in NY so much (and my whole family for that matter) but we had to move to PA for a job... And so here we are, and here I am thinking/agonizing about counter tops and spending way too much time on GW! :)

nancy_east -- thanks for your nice words! How exciting about your kitchen -- this will be fun to watch develop! The widest walkway we have is 36 1/2" (countertop to countertop), with it going down to 34 1/2" where our apron front sink "jumps" out. From our cooktop to the widest point of the bowed island countertop is 35 3/4". The only times (or rather, areas) our aisles feel tight are when the dishwasher door is open and there's only 12" of clearance (between the open door and the island cabinetry). But so far, no barked shins! We're careful and aware. The other area is our refrigerator (which is 30" wide, all refrigerator so it's a wide door): when it's open the only one who can sidle by (and then it's just barely) is our two year-old. But neither of those conditions are permanent (meaning, the dishwasher is mostly closed and the refrigerator door is mostly closed as well). While 36" for an aisle isn't "ideal," for us it's working out fine. Our only alternative would've been to give up the island and that wasn't an option! We need the storage space. Your aisles will work out fine; if it there's an impediment in the 36" aisle (like a dishwasher), then you all will learn the same careful two-step we and many others have as well! Good luck with your kitchen-in-progress! (and whole house, too!)

Hi momrichel - Here's a cut and paste from a post I did a while ago about my the Virginia mist granite. It should answer your questions. "Posted by deee (My Page) on Sun, Feb 10, 08 at 9:38 It's been six months since I put the counters in. I've only sealed them once. On a day to day basis I have noticed no obvious scratches, stains, marks, etc. My husband and my nine year old are the proverbial bulls in a china shop, so the counters are not babied one bit. Since you asked, I thought I should give the counters a thorough once over. I put on my old lady magnifying reading glasses, waited until daylight, turned on every light in the kitchen and really examined it from every angle. When I got super close (two inches) to the counter and looked at it from one angle, I did notice some faint marks. They resembled eraser marks, not scratches and they were only visible from a certain angle. I also noticed some very mild pitting. I have no water stains. I recently noticed that the side of the cooktop where I cook the greasy stuff stays slightly darker after I wipe it after cooking. It's been six months so I'm sure it will go away when I seal again. The faint "eraser" marks will probably go away too. But honestly they aren't noticeable and don't bother my one bit. Who goes around their kitchen with a magnifying glass? Who has time? So, to answer your question. Yes, I am still thrilled wth my counters. When you put your nose to the counter, they do show a tiny bit of wear. They aren't perfect but I still give them an "A". I hope my input helps. Dee

I am debating on my countertop. I really like the look of Black Absolute honed, but do not want the fingerprints. My countertop contractor advised me that applying a semi-gloss finish to the honed surface eliminates the fingerprints (and also provides a tiny bit of gloss, which I am OK with). Anyone ever hear of this? Much appreciated! Thanks NO! July 2007: customer demanded we do this: turned into a nightmare: I promise: sealer didn't take everywhere (AB is very dense: and sealer hard to absorb in the first place): you need to find and google every article on AB granite! There are stories after stories. This really happened; I promise We fixed the countertop enough for customer to sell house! Guys stripped the "shinny sealer" and let dry for 3 days: granite turned milky white! Customer was having a heart-attack! Installers re-applied an expensive color enhancer sealer: $100 gallon and that worked. Enough to satisfy the customer to be able to sell the house. Why do you want black granite: I am not saying that to offend anyone: I promise: you have to ask yourself those questions. And read all the articles re: AB. There are so many beautiful granites out there. I think others on her have had ok luck: but not everyone and if you read the stories on the internet: then you will know. Also, I think others have had better luck with caesar stone black or soapstone black. Ask: Also, there is "fake" AB out there that has been dyed to appear more black and the sealer messes with the ink. True AB comes from Africa and is never truly jet black. You will see that in the many articles that I have found re: AB granite. Good Luck: (google "absolute black nightmare stories" and "absolute black fake dye" here is one: I've always kept: customer: "I am a General Contractor and have over the years installed many many stone tops and other stone surfaces on my projects. Not until now have I ever been faced with a stain problem. On a multi-million dollar condominium project, I have encountered stains that look like simple water stains on the absolute black granite tops. Already I have completely replaced two of the tops because no amount of in-place polish or buffing would remove these stains. Last week my Superintendent discovered at least two other tops with similar stains. Replacement of these tops is very expensive not to mention time consuming and I am looking for some other repair method. I have heard about a black stain being used on some inferior stones in the fabrication process to enhance the color and appearance. Is there any method out there that I can employ to less expensively repair the discoloration spots in these tops? Help, I have already invested over $5K in two tops and appear to be on the way to more. Please respond soon" Responded: "I've got one good news and two bad news for you. The first bad news is that your "granite" countertops are either maliciously doctored, or they are "mutt" stones. (Some black "granite" with mineral binders within, which react to acidic substances.) The "stains" that you have are not stains at all. In fact, a true stain is always darker than the stained material - never lighter. If it is lighter, it's a mark of corrosion (etching). It could be the doctoring agent (some sort of black "shoe shine" applied by the factory to make a gray stone look black) that's coming off (you know, the one that you would like to do?...); or it could be the type of stone that's sensitive to acids. The second bad news is that even if I knew about some "magic black shoe-shine" to bail you out for a couple of months at best, I wouldn't tell you. Sorry, but I'm the creator, co-founder and major responsible of marblecleaning.org, and therefore I am a consumer advocate. Stone doctoring is right on our hit list, and a very high priority at that. Trust me, you don't want to be in our line of fire!! I can't be part in any way, shape or form of such a despicable practice, which is a full-fledged criminal activity - sorry. Which brings us to the good news! You're not responsible for what's happening! Well, you are in relation to the owners of the condo's units, but you can easly go back to the fabricator and the stone yard that sold that stuff to you and hold them fully responsible on consumer fraud charges. It's a pretty black and white case, and in this scenario marblecleaning.org would be only glad to help you. And... FYI, there's no such a thing like black granite (all black granites are not granite by a long shot). And selling stones like that as granite is consumer fraud right there. If you add to that the fact that those particular slabs do not perform like black "granite" is supposed to perform..".