That IS reeeel purrrdee too! Maybe harder to live with in the long term though.

I have rainforest green marble on my master sink tops. It's very pretty. I LOVE it. But beware that it will crack along the seams. It's also, um, textured? You can feel the pattern. I wouldn't use it for kitchen counters, especially if it's not a thick slab.

Your granite is beautiful. Can you use the marble for an accent piece somewhere? Maybe on your buffet?

I too fell in love with rainforest green, wanted it on all my kitchen countertops. DH and DS both disliked it for the kitchen; too busy for DH, and DS thought the reddish-brown veins looked too much like blood, and were not for a kitchen where meals would be prepared on it. I was still in love, as you are, and in fact I still am.

I talked with a designer, who pointed out a very high-end kitchen all in RFG that was featured in a decorator magazine within the last year or so. (Can't remember the mag name; sorry.) All the stone dealers I talked to nixed it for a kitchen countertop, though. Even the designer who thought it would be great cautioned me that it would wear easily -- that is, rolling out dough on it would eventually make that a low spot, lemon juice would etch it, etc., but thought if I wanted an "Old World" type of kitchen it would work for me. I'm a pretty messy cook, and in the end I got scared off.

I settled for RFG countertop in my tiny office bathroom with RFG accents in the shower. That way I get to see it every day. I even went with RFG tiles instead of a slab on the bathroom countertop because I needed so little of it, and to my surprise the tiles look okay; I originally wanted a slab of course.

To my eye the RFG is a whole different direction from the granite you chose; I think you want to be sure what type of kitchen you want and if you can handle the softness of marble.

Good luck! I'm VERY glad I didn't completely deprive myself of the company of Rainforest Green. It makes me smile every time I see it. Hope it does the same for you.

P.S. In case you end up with something other than RFG, here's my experience with that.

I settled for a granite in a completely different green with a lot of movement that is very nice, but until very recently have had a lot of trouble figuring out what to do for a backsplash, etc.; just couldn't fall for the granite I chose. I've finally got it figured out, though-- I have Esmeralda Green, a slab with a lot of movement, on the kitchen countertops, and I'm doing a tumbled slate in 4x4's on the backsplash, which will give it a more earthy look but still harmonize with the granite.

Again, wish you lotsa luck. I even bought a broken-off, irregular piece of RFG to hang on the wall unframed when I thought I was going to have no RFG at all, so I think I may understand your longing for RFG. It's magic, isn't it?

muscat, Pretty concept! I like the concepts and the materials and I LOVE that you're doing contemporary.

Love the Volga Blue granite - don't push it off, it's keeper. Beautiful and only as arresting as you want it to be.

I absolutely adore that rainforest green/brown whichever you're looking at - those are lovely stones.

Here's my suggestion - you're wanting contemporary. (a) that tumbled marble 4x4 is not going to say contemporary. At all. That's a country/traditional look and the inserts, while pretty, will only accent that. (b) Use the RFG for the backsplash. Either as a slab or large rectangular tiles all up your range wall. It is gorgeous and voila! there's your feature wall.

For confirmation, there is someone in the FKB who has RFG and has it on their backsplash. & it looks great, clean and interesting (and earthy!) in one round swoop! Don't recall who but please do take a look. A wall of RFG says "Earthy. Contemporary." and is just the business! Don't think twice - do it! It'll be luscious. :-)

I don't know about RFG but most green marbles are serpentines, which makes them different from the rest. Do some research on that point.
Having said that, I think it's too busy for the kitchen. I thought about it for my bathroom and bought one box and laid it out on the floor. It had too much going on. You can usually purchase a box of tile for not too much money. At least you would get an idea.

If your not sure about your granite choice hold off and take more time to decide. I love the exotic granites, the greens and blues.

Donna

OK, found the RFBrown kitchen - it belongs to KansasKathy.

I'm not sure of the definition of contemporary, but my tumbled slate backsplash will look like the one in a thread on this forum. I don't know how to post it here, but if you search this forum for either "backsplash I love" or "red dragon, anyone?" it will come up. It won't have the accent stones, and I would call this contemporary. It's certainly not country.

I would be really leery of combining RFG with the beautiful granite you show, muscat. I think they would each detract from the other. The "Kathy" kitchen's soapstone counters don't fight with RFG the way your granite would, IMO.

If you buy a box of RFG tile it's going to be a mishmash and not at all what a slab would look like. In my case for my tiny bath counter I only needed a few tiles and the store let me pick and choose ones that go together; makes it much less busy and chaotic. I think they felt sorry for me, in there hanging around the RFG just to look at it!

muscat,
I certainly understand your attraction to RFG marble. We love it so much that DH used it as the surround to the fireplace he built in our family room.

I did once see it used on a large kitchen island in a magazine. It truly looked breathtaking. But the remaining counters were something else. As much as I love the look, I too, don't think using it on all your counters would be something you would be pleased with long term. I agree about using it as a backsplash, or maybe a backsplash accent. Maybe in an entirely different room in the house, like others have.
One thing you could do is buy a box of tile and lay it out over your counters now and see how you like it after a few days. It would give you a good concept of the look you would have. If you still feel strongly about it then, you should do whatever makes you happy. You will be the one working in that kitchen. You obviously are not making snap decisions, so you should be pleased with all your choices once you are finished. Good luck!

Suska: That's a gorgeous fireplace.

Muscat: I'm not familiar with marble but from all the postings, I think it's a no-brainer to stick with the granite. It is very pretty. While the marble is stunning, this one has it's place and I don't beleive the countertops are it.

I feel your indecisiveness though...I had alot of that when we remodeled our basic kitchen.

I'm w/ Susanka's son--the veining looks too much like blood to make me comfortable with it in the kitchen.

Also, all the "wear" issues would make me stop. My kitchen *works*, so I'd want someething very durable.

And I wouldn't give up that incredible deal on the granite.

I'd search for another place in my home that I COULD use it. Bathroom vanity, bedroom end table, etc. Maybe I'd put wooden shelf brackets under it, and mount it on the wall as a shelf.

As a Christmas present to myself.

That's what I would do, were it me.

Suska, me too, on the Wows! Lovely stone.

Donna, I don't think a floor worth of RFG would look good. Rainforest marbles have a very "modern art" sort of edge about them. Because of that artsy look, IMO, it is best viewed vertically - as Kathy has done and as suska has it. I wouldn't like a floor worth of RFG or RFB at all, so I don't wonder that you nixed it. I agree that it would look too much. I haven't seen a counter - another horizontal plane - of RFG but I don't think I'd like that much, either. Vertically, though ... different story.

Volga Blue is a lovely black stone - I doubt that it would fight anything, except perhaps a different black stone.

Oh, that rainforest is sooooo pretty! Could you use it for a 4" backsplash and run your wall tile up from there? I know it's kind of daring, but what wow factor.

muscat,
Just when I fell in love with your Volga Blue!!!!

Actually the rainforest is nice too, but it doesn't go with the Volga Blue in my opinion. I read somewhere that any of the rainforest stones are problems to fabricate - can't remember why - perhaps cracking? Here is where the Italian pitchman on Findstone Forums would say, "not any Michaelangelo!" for your fabricator.

Would you consider a fairly solid color Quartz countertop in a color that blends with the Rainforest (perhaps Cambria mahogany or something similar) and use the Rainforest as a backsplash? Talk about drama on that back wall around the range hood if you brought it to the height you intended with tile !!!!

You need to get a job designing other peoples spaces! You have lots of ideas but only one room. What are you going to do ???

JB 1176

I'm in the keep the VB and find another place for the RFG -- but it's the activity inthe pattern that I both like abd that I think I would tire of in my kitchen. It looks great with the cabinets, as does the VB, but it would be too busy for me, and if the surface isn't smooth, I wouldn't want it for my kitchen. No cracks to catch flour, sugar or other gucky stuff, please!

Thank you all, every one of you so much! My head has cleared- I'm back on task. I origially decided against the RFG for all of the excellent reasons pointed out here, and I guess I was letting myself "forget" logic for a bit. I really do love the volga blue, and it is PURCHASED and it makes MORE SENSE, so I'm sticking with the plan. I do have a bathroom that is going to need some work as soon as I can afford it, so maybe that is where the RFG will go! Or maybe I'll just come up with another project.....

Thanks for helping me get my head on again. I was intoxicated by the RFG.....

Mindstorm- I agree with you that the tumbled marble does not say "contemporary" at all, and I'm still deleberating that. What I like is the contrast of sleek granite and more earthy rough stone near each other, especially since they have similar veining/patchiness. I like the naturalness of tumbled marble more than, say, porcelain or regular tile. I'm a buit stumped. I was hoping that if I did very small grout lines and used the green/blue glass for accents that it'd look less frech country/tuscan, and more just natural stone/earthy

Muscat,

The height of the pot racks to the left of your stove caught my eye. It may just be because I am 5'4" but the highest rack seems like it may be out of reach for some/many people given the height off the ground plus the forward lean across the counter. I think the racks would look great lower and actually set into your backsplash (perhaps the top one lined up with or just below the line of the vent hood opening?)

You might want to look at Rainforest Green soapstone, or at Hawaiian/Kerala Green granite, both of which are in a similar tone of green and are better for countertops. The RFG soapstone is actually a serpentine, so it is harder than many other soapstones.

Have you looked at Vitoria Regia at all? It's a similar color with a LOT of movement but not as much "blood veining".

You have to see formosalily's kitchen with her VR island

{{!gwi}}

Here is a link that might be useful: