I have painted a number of squares of RH Butter on the walls, and I love it. I have samples of the two SW colors, but I don't think I'm going to put them up. They are both darker than the Butter, and I don't think I want to go darker. I would have liked to try the EK Honeysuckle, but as far as I can tell that paint has to be ordered, and I don't want to take the time to order a sample and then order the paint. I hope that the Butter looks good next to the two full-spectrum paints. I'll post photos when it is done. Thank you all, so much, for your help! scanmike, thank you for the comment about the finish. I had thought of matching the Butter in BM, because the closest RH is out of it (and the website is doing inventory and not shipping for a week). I did find it in the second closest store, though, so I will get it on Saturday. By coincidence, I just put up squares of Cappuccino in my new bathroom, and I think I am going to use that, too! I wish RH made towels in that color; unfortunately, they don't seem to.

Is your kitchen open to another room, like a family room? I had the same dilemma as you describe. The rest of my house is decorated in warm colors so I thought I had to stay away from gray. Most of the slabs I loved were gray. I ended up with Imperial Danby Marble (white with mostly brown & some gray subtle veining). I did redecorate my attached family room. Guess what paint color my designer chose? La Paloma Gray. It looks fine with the rest of my house.

My crazy deadline of trying to finish this remodel by the end of July was really stressing me out. Yesterday morning, I decided that I would choose some color of Ceasarstone. I simply had not seen a granite that went along with my vision or that I just loved. I learned that some marbles probably were in my price range, but for a couple of other reasons, didn't seem to be the right choice. I was on a mission to choose a Ceasarstone and had my mind made up. Since my DH was home for the day, I engaged him and said that WE were going to choose TODAY. I took some backsplash samples and we found one that we both liked, brought it home and the boys liked it too. I am happy because I think it will be an easy surface to maintain, it is light and that works for my smaller kitchen. (and I don't have undercab. lighting) My sister said it reminded her of our grandmother's old formica tabletop. (Which was red and we have happy memories of it), but I am going to own this decision (and try not to re-think it), but mostly, embrace any of its "fakeness!" We chose Ceasarstone Nougat. I came back today and see that it is the same as gracesantacruz! We also have a beachy feel to our home and my seaglass collection was my original backsplash inspiration. I just want to say thanks again for sharing your pictures and for the comments and encouragement (erikanh) As another comment on this thread, the fabricator said that 3 years ago they did a very small portion of quartz countertops, but these days it is about 50% of their work. Also, I ran across this article about a kitchen of the year to be displayed in New York this summer with Raven Ceasarstone countertop. http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Caesarstone-1011570.html I think the Raven has an elegant look.

I'd like to see pics of the Raven, as well. It's been an ongoing battle between me and my husband about what countertop to use. He likes the honed finish, and I do, too, but I am not necessarily going to wipe up the countertop every day or the minute something falls on it. I took my sample of Raven honed yesterday and sprayed it with a natural cleaner and left it a while. Then I rinsed it off and put both wine and some oil on it for an hour or two. When I wiped it off, there was a noticeable "splotch" in the finish. While it doesn't look bad on a 4" sample, I can imagine it looks terrible all over 20+ square feet of countertop. I'm wondering now if the regular finish is the way to go, especially since it doesn't appear to be as shiny as granite or other quartzes.