With all those wonderful deep earthy colors, I'd think she might want to bring in some light with a warm cream that has some veins that pick up the maple and pine wood tones. Alternatively, if she wanted to paint the upper cabs white, she could go with a deep brown countertop and get something like this (not the best picture as I tried to photograph a magazine page and I'm no expert photographer).

Thank you crzyktchnlady..I don't see a pic! Any replies to my post will be passed on to my sister! Thanks again.

Ooops. I'm so sorry. I'm new at this. Let's see if this works.

One of my neighbors just did Costa Esmeralda in her home. It's just the most dramatic, stunning...yet quiet color. She did deep eggplant/purpleheart-colored cabinets. Her backsplash is glass tiles, a mix of deep eggplant, clear, pale green and the deep green. Really amazing--one of those kitchens where you walk in and say, "Wow!!"
She purposely looked for a calm green, without lots of movement. It's really gorgeous.

Thanks so much! She's viewing it right now!!!! what magazine is that out of??

I love my sisters and couldn't resist helping a "sister"!
Here are a few other lighter suggestions:
(these are all slabs from a few places in California)
{{!gwi}}From Granite

{{!gwi}}From Granite

{{!gwi}}From Granite

{{!gwi}}From Granite

Your sister's kitchen sounds wonderful already. To continue the mood established by her choices, I'd do a matte or soft-sheen surface, rather than high gloss. And since a lot of different materials are being used, I would choose something that blended nicely, rather than adding a large area of strong contrast. A genuine lack of work light will need bigger bulbs, and some light accessories will set off the rich colors beautifully.

I personally happen to love kitchens with counters that blend calmly with the lower cabinets (something I discovered by looking at pictures of beautiful kitchens), so that's what I'd suggest. Also, kitchen counters are very busy places visually, as well as functionally, when people are there to notice, so this is also a good trick for keeping the kitchen visually pleasant while in full cooking chaos.

Does it have to be granite, or would she consider wood? Wood was my first thought, and of the four green kitchens in the FKB, they all have some sort of wood top.

Busterdawgsmom's kitchen
Riverrat1's kitchen
Pammo's kitchen
Allison0704's kitchen

Alternately, I think something creamy would be great. Again, not granite, but crema marfil would be awesome, or anything in that creamy look with not too much pattern would be great.

I'd love to see photos!

i think a creamy one with some gold and brown flecks/swirls in it would be beautiful.

here's a granite site to view.

Here is a link that might be useful: granite options

My mother-in-law installed a gorgeous stone in her beach cottage called Surf Green granite. It's a lighter stone, but would pick up the green, mustard, and light wood tones. I attached a couple of sample pics (I wish I had pictures of her counters-they are awesome in person!).

{{!gwi}} (new window)

{{!gwi}} (new window)

This is actually a nicer view of what I was talking about, you can see the green much better here:

Thank you all soooooo much! My sister & I are sitting here discussing choices now! She is also very grateful to all who have "chimed" in here to help! We do appreciate your time and help! She's so torn!

Again I'd like to thank you all for your input! She went to Luck Stone in Va. and picked out a granite called Green/Gold leather...not sure if I stated the name right, but she loved it. Took a cabinet door with her and said it looked great! I've never seen the leather finish, but she said it looked like honed! She's happy, so hubby's happy...everybody's happy!!!!