maxiepines, I didn't follow your thread about cook tops so maybe someone already mentioned this. A downdraft set within a gas cook top pulls at the flames. This isn't an issue with your old electric cook top - no flame. I have a pop-up downdraft for my island's gas cook top. Even though it rises 7" above the cook top, it pulls the flame when turned on high and even on medium, it pulls on the back burners' flames more than I'd like. The downdraft blew out (would that be sucked out?) a burner when it was on low a few times. Today's gas cook tops generally come with automatic re-ignition, which is good, because the only way I know this has happened with my old cook top is when I smell gas. Anyhoo, a downdraft set at the same level as the burners will do this even more than my 7" pop-up does. Can you add a pop-up downdraft, preferably one of the newer models that rises more than 7" above the cook top instead? Stunning photos, as usual, boxerpups. You rock!

terrilynn, I am confused about what to do for the island and also the desk/coffee bar/bar area. I'm going back and forth on wood or soapstone for the island. I'm pretty sure I want wood on the desk and soapstone on the bar/coffee area. (just for maintenance purposes). I'm not sure if I do the base colors on the other areas the same as the island or different. We aren't doing any stainless except for the range, but that desk is pretty cool! Lavender, thanks, and I love the idea of red accents. I hadn't really thought that far, but that will be perfect and will blend with the rest of our house. I guess I need to figure out if I can really do the painted island and how much maintenance that will be. Here are my options, in case anyone else is as confused as I am: 1. Wood colored island with soapstone top 2. Sage/light green island with soapstone top 3. Sage/light green island with wood top Desk: something with a wood top....I'm thinking base should match the island, unless of course the island base is wood tone, and then it would either match the yellow cabinets or the coffee bar area. Coffee bar/bar: definitely soapstone top- either yellow cabinets like the rest of the kitchen, green, or wood colored. I'm even confusing myself, so if anyone is following this, I'm impressed, and thank you for any thoughts!

Sure, a soft gray, like pebble, would look fine with the cooktop, and would be less stark and edgy than a pure white. You'd just have to choose very carefully to make it work with the floor and cabinets. Both the cherry and the cork are very warm colors. That is, they have a lot of red undertones. Both Pebble and Rosemary look like they trend that way, but I'm not familiar enough with them IRL to say for sure. Most grays tend to be on the blue side, which could look really good and contrasty, but it could also look mismatched and sad if it were the wrong shade. The other problem here is contrast. Natural cherry is supposed to darken over time. There's a good texture contrast with the eco-cork, so they won't totally run together, but I don't think another medium tone is going to look good. The major surfaces in a kitchen are floors and counters (horizontal), cabinets and walls (vertical), plus interruptions of appliances, sinks and other fixtures. People have a tendency to prefer medium toned colors if asked to just choose one. If most of your major surfaces have them, however, and the hue changes are subtle (which they are in the slew of neutrals that includes gray counters), then it all starts to look very blah, and muddy (muddy being what happens at the end of the fingerpainting when you can't tell the blue, yellow and red apart anymore). The white whites and raven are at the extreme points on the contrast scale, and you'll get the best contrast with the white. In fact, that's where we started with the induction contrasting with the counters. Especially in a small room, white is a better option than dark. It reflects more light and makes the room look more open and airy than closed and dim. Maybe your best bet would be to get one of the whites for the counter and the Electrolux white induction cooktop? I worry about that some because matching whites is hard, and if you get a lot of direct sun (UV) on your counters, they will probably yellow somewhat over many years (it's the resin binder that does that). Viking has a white one with a stainless frame. It's kind of weird looking. The stainless would separate the two whites and make any color difference less noticeable. One reason the mottled colors soften the look is that they bring non-linear shapes (spots) into the mix. Another reason is that the spots have varied colors making the whole surface less aggressively one thing. Hm... Just found a different chart, where Caesarstone lists colors in a group called "soft gray". I had thought that you meant that in general. I'm too tired to rewrite this. So, yes, Arctic Salt is dramatic and would work, and Cinder, if it's the right color IRL, should do what you want if you like the less spotty look. I think Haze is too warm, leading to the lack of contrast problem, but that's also something to check with real life samples, in sunlight if possible. Sorry for rambling. I hope the explanation is helpful.

Joseph Corlett, the existing edge profile is eased. Is it more difficult to seam to finished edges? Will there be cutting/grinding required in the house? I imagined that they would get the two pieces cut to size and attach them, maybe with some supports underneath. Is it more complicated than that? Should I just get a new countertop instead of considering this patch job? damiarain, thank you for all the links of the drawer units under induction cooktop. I am aware that there are clearance concerns for the top drawer. However, all photos there also show new countertops under the cooktops, which brings me back to the original question of how required a new countertop is for a cooktop install. This discussion is telling me that this new cooktop installation is more complicated that I originally imagined. I thought replacing 30" range with 30" cooktop would pretty standard. I need to consider leaving the range in place until I get enough money to get a new cooktop, drawer units AND a countertop.