I think your choices are lovely and it will look beautiful! I can understand your concerns but I think you're getting good advise from your KD. Your kitchen is going to be full of those gorgeous, rich, warm cabinets and they are going to pull all those warm tones right out of the BS and floor tile and provide a nice contrast. With proper lighting your kitchen isn't going to be dark, it is going to be rich and warm. It sounds like you're planning on provide good light.

I don't think your tile is too busy for the granite at all. I also think you're going to have a lot of people here tell you it is too busy. The thinking seems to be that you can have interest in the BS or the counter, but not both. I just don't agree with that. Your BS has a wonderful subtle look that I think will get along fabulously with the granite you have pictured. Trust your KD and you'll have a show stopper!

Depending on the granite chosen it should work. For me, (this is my personal feeling so not worth anything) it would be quite heavy feeling. It's a lot of grey rock.

Here's something to help you visualize. Sorry about the way I did the granite. Olioboard isn't great for cropping in anything but rectangles.

I really like that granite with your choices. It seems soothing and ties in well with the floor.

Beautiful!!! Very rich looking!

I really like it too!

I am certainly not an expert but I think I would wait to see the effect after the floor, cabinets and counters are installed to make the final choice on the backsplash. It is the last thing that happens anyway. I find it so hard to envision the final look unless you find another kitchen with those exact finishes to view already in place.

I agree that BS would be the last decision, but seeing it all together, I think it looks beautiful-ties everything together!

I really like it and I am very anti- busy due to my own previous backsplash issues. For some reason, the mockup that cawaps posted really gives a great visual and I think that granite is very plain. I looked everywhere for a granite just like it! I like it all together.

I love your choices and would love to have a KD with such an ability to pull that all together. I'm not fond of darker kitchens, but I really like this one. My vote is yes!!!

I refrained from commenting when I posted the mockup. I think the choices work harmoniously together, but I think (to borrow blfenton's phrase) "It's a lot of grey rock." And it's quite dark. So, probably not what I would choose, but the choices do look nice together, and everybody's taste is different. Your KD has a good eye.

One thing that I don't like in the mockup, which may or may not be a factor for you, is how the stainless fridge looks next to the stone. I don't know if you are going for stainless appliances, but I'm not sure I like the cool gray of the stainless against the warm gray of the counter. There are, of course, all sorts of photo and lighting issues affecting how the mockup looks, but the combination makes the stainless look slightly purple to me. So when you are evaluating materials, don't forget to consider your appliance color in the mix too.

With a backsplash with a lot of colors like the slate, the granite should be quieter than your choice. I'm thinking that quartz would be a better choice than granite in this instance.

Silestone Silver Nube
{{!gwi}}

Silestone Amarillo Sand
{{!gwi}}

Cambria Sheffield
{{!gwi}}

Cambria Hollinsbrook
{{!gwi}}

Cambria Buckingham
{{!gwi}}

This again is my not worth anything comments - I was thinking the same as hollysprings and perhaps use a quartz or change the backsplash.

The main pieces of a kitchen are your cabinets, floor, counter, backsplash. Right now 3 of your 4 choices are the same thing - rock. There isn't much variety in texture choices and I'm concerned that, aesthetically, your kitchen may wind up looking too much the same. Now, if you were in a ski resort or a mountain retreat perhaps it might be a look that might work. (Having said that maybe that is where you live). It may also be a look, a rugged look, that you really like and are going for. Just pointing out another side to the potential look.

I've thought about your choices for a bit - I love them and think they work amazingly well together. But, I agree with what blfenton said earlier about it potentially feeling "heavy." Particularly since you have little natural light and apparently no big window to break up the kitchen. Maybe looking at a floorplan would help, but I'm afraid it might feel oppressive with the tile, granite, and BS. Too cave-like/claustrophobic for my taste. Somewhere I would go light and "airy" and I too had thought that maybe a more solid color countertop in more the tones of the Amarillo Sand or Buckingham as shown above might work. (Frankly, I think the Buckingham is too busy but a lighter color like that might work.) I'd go for something lighter, quieter, and nearly solid for the counter, or use that granite for the counter and lighten up the feel of the BS. (I don't see "a lot of grey rock" because things on my monitor are actually a very pretty greenish color.)

One thing I'm learning... trust my gut and listen to my doubts. When I have made the "right" decision those doubts seem to fade and I feel a sense of comfort. Not that I haven't wished maybe I had made a different choice about some things, or wished I had used this tile instead of that when I see more options as I continue to shop, but I still don't have the nagging doubt that I've made a mistake as it sounds like you are experiencing. That doesn't feel good! Good luck with your decision.

I love the cabinets you've selected, as well as the flooring and backsplash. Overall I like them together a lot. I am also concerned that the overall color/pattern of the backsplash, floor, and the proposed counter material are a little too similar and "heavy" as others have described.

That said, can you take your samples (backsplash and door especially and floor if you can) with you to look at slabs? Some varieties of granite have more variance than others and with the mixture of natural materials (slate and granite) I think seeing the backsplash sample against the stone is critical. There are going to be a handful of undertones in each and you want to make certain the work together and don't clash.

Hi everybody!!

As usual, all of you Gardenweb folks have generously given of your time to help me out...THANK YOU!!! (and especially cawaps, who posted the mock-up, which helped tremendously to get a very good picture of what it is going to look like.. That "kompy" kitchen is so much like the one I have, its scary!

That being said... I still like the slate and I think the thing that helped the most was hearing that the granite I pictured could well work and is not too busy. My house is actually very rustic and informal... its a contemporary design in the country that is very open airy floor plan (except for the kitchen) and currently has almost all off-white walls and darker wood trim. It has an almost "lodge" feel to it, so to answer blfenton, I guess we are indeed going with a rustic look. A modern, white kitchen would not work in this house.
Even so... too much of a good thing is... too much, and I totally appreciate the concerns about all the stone and gray. To that end, I think I will indeed wait till everything but the backsplash is up to make the final call. I think the granite choice will stay about the same, and the variable will be the backsplash.

beeps, I think my doubts started when a friend, who I trust with color, looked at everything and said it was "too heavy". The truth is, this is the look I have wanted.. every picture of a kitchen I have been drawn to is mission/shaker cherry cabinets with slate tile.. so thats what I was looking for. As long as the colors work, I think it will work in this house. Unfortunately I am extremely lacking in in judging what works... colors, clothes, etc, so second guessing is second nature..to doubt is normal ;)

Thanks to you all so very much! I wish I could pay you back, and I am going to try to put my "two cents" in on this forum in the future whether I'm sure or not :)

I love the cabs, floor and backsplash and can see why you took the (somewhat) unusual approach of picking floor and backsplash before counter. I'm not crazy about the grey/gold granite though. I'm wondering what it would look like if you tried a granite that was more gold and or more rust and less grey. I googled images of "gold granite" and saw several types that were more evenly speckled and more gold/rust with bits of grey than grey with swirls of gold. Kashmir gold, new venetian gold, madura gold, etc. Or something with more rust/coppery tones. Try looking at copper canyon, golden rust, golden sun. In either case, it would be picking up more of the rust tones in the slate backsplash than the grey/greens...might be worth looking into. Or, how about a green soapstone?

This is eerie. We just met with our KD and have very similar issues. We are going with medium stain on cherry cabinets, slate backsplash and slate-look porcelain tile floors. We have stainless appliances. I kind of wanted either an interesting granite or a black or near black counter. She has (almost) convinced me to go with a rather plain beige quartz counter. Why? Except for the stainless, all of the other surfaces are darker than what we currently have, so black is not good (plus maintenance issues). She thinks the slate backsplash would clash with the busy-ness of most granite. As she explained it, you cannot always put all your favorites together and come up with a harmonious result (like putting all your favorite clothing and accessory pieces together don't necessarily make a good outfit). I'm still having a hard time picturing the lighter and plainer counter but she says that its the backsplash that will be most noticeable (unless you are looking down onto the counter) and it should be the standout. So far this is the toughest decision I've had to make on this project. Good luck to us both!

Take a look at SAS95's kitchen or Pipdogs. They both have mutilcolored backsplashes with very simple counters and they look terrific.
Also, Jo in california (not sure of her user name) but you can google fire and ice. Her counter is pretty simple and the multicolored backsplash is the star.