I don't think you're going to be convinced the grey will work with the cabinets. Some people here have said the grey is really nice but no one has said it would be right with your wood tone. I think you really like the grey but know it doesn't work with what you have. The cabinets have so much going on, I think the countertops should be subdued and light just like in your inspiration photo.

Dream do you have more inspiration images? I'm not a fan of plain white counters either but with the cabinets you chose, I'm afraid you aren't looking at the overall look vs individual components. Your cabinets have a modern look.

Heres something close with warm toned cabinets and grey tops. To me, it doesn't work as well. And definitely won't work with green backsplash

I don't care for any of the slabs with your sample. I'd go with a solid white for that clean modern look. Anything with a pattern will be too busy and distracting for the overall look you are going for. You could do a solid black, but that would be a different feel than the inspiration pic.

Here's few more:

Kitchens · More Info

Greenbrier Residence · More Info

Calmar · More Info

To get closer to the inspiration picture, you should consider changing your stain to one that's more brown than red. Red is a strong color and reads traditional in cabinetry, so I wouldn't put it on a slab door in a contemporary home. A solid light gray quartz can work with the red stain and help cool it down, so I think it's a better choice than white quartz. The white quartz in the pic works with the brown stain, but I found
white to be too cold with my natural cherry, so I used a creamy quartz.

Contemporary style minimizes pattern so that's why quartz is a good choice. But it seems you and your husband want granite or quartzite. I think a gray or marble-look counter will always get a lot of votes because that's what's in now to go with the white Shaker cabinets and painted islands. I'm seeing less and less variety in counter choices in recent years here. Kitchens are becoming like school uniforms with all the marble-look quartzes and the white and gray color palette. But you're doing something different so choose based on what works for your cabinets, not on what's popular in kitchens today. Too much patterning always jumps out at me as a design miss.

I wouldn't commit to the counter until you know what the floor will be, and then make sure they coordinate perfectly. Get all your materials together when you go counter shopping.

Here's a recent GW Houzz kitchen with white countertop

I understand you not wanting white though. How about a Quartz with some small pattern vs large veining.

Of the three recent pics you posted, none have much movement. If you like grey, there's a grey Quartz from ceasearstone with some white swirls in it. Really subtle.

You mentioned a dark floor. If you go that route, I'd stick with lighter countertops or your kitchen will look heavy and dark.

Will your kichen have a lot of natural light? I like the warm tones in the taj Mahal and think they will work well with your cabinets. I just feel the overall background color is a bit dark taking your kitchen to traditional vs. modern.

What do you think about this look?

@mayflower: thank you, for now I'll kee Taj Mahal as an option and revisit after picking the floor.

@smm5525@ the current kitchen in the house have a single window. The new kitchen we're planning has 3 windows, 36", 24"x2 and 5' French door. Here's the plan:

@smm5525: I like that look but not a fan of the backsplash. The rest is good. Do you know what the counter top material is?

Yes, I was only posting for countertop. It is Calcutta gold marble. But perhaps you can find something similar i Quartz or granite. I think the key is the mostly white background with both grey and brown veining. If you go with grey flooring, you'll have to somehow marry the warm tones with the grey.

if you are open to Quartz, maybe one of the marble look ones. I personally like LG Minuet

http://www.lgviaterausa.com/products/289/187

http://www.lgviaterausa.com/products/289/213

Is your layout finalized? Have you considered moving prep sink over just a tad so you have counterspace on both sides

@sm5525: I did ask the kitchen designer to move the sink, haven't figured out how much yet. To move more than 6" we have to switch the cabinets around, and I kind of like the current layout.

What I'm worried about going for Quartz counters is that I'm not the only one using the kitchen. My mom is the primary at the moment. Our current kitchen has laminate and we're used to keeping hot pans on the counter and I'm scared my mom will forget and do the same on Quartz counters.

I think you can just swap the 21 and 24" or depending on the size of your sink just move it to the 21" base that's already there.

The Taj Mahal is prob your best bet unless you find something that has a whiter background with greys and browns in it. Just know that you might have to stick with a neutral backsplash

What's considered neutral? Something like this?

Cream/Beige Glossy And Frosted Glass · More Info

I'd prob go with the lightest cream/white that's in the Taj. But choose it only after everything else is installed.

Can you post pictures of what you are considering for floor? Is it tile?

Someone else posted this in another forum as their floor selection. I thought it might look nice with your cabinets. This is white oak but you can go for a similar look in tile

I like a floor tile like these:

Kitchen Floor · More Info

Kitchen Floor · More Info

Kitchen Floor · More Info

I know husband would love a tile like the wood floor you posted.

Houzz is having problems with images

Or do you mean something like this:

Our dining area will have this hardwood floor. Dining area and kitchen is together.

If you're already settled on that flooring in a neighbouring room, I wouldn't do a wood-look tile with a totally different look in your kitchen. Of the grey tiles you've chosen I would go with the slate and not the quartz.

Full disclosure, we just installed an engineered wood just like the one smm5525 suggested from Dansk's Whistler collection. We ran it through the entire main floor including into the kitchen, and we LOVE it.

I love the Taj Mahal with your cabinets.

Agree no wood look tile next to the real wood.

The one you forgot the name of looks like Via Lactea. I have leathered Via Lactea in my kitchen and LOVE IT. It is not as black as the polished. I would say it is more of a charcoal. And, I used green tile for the backsplash. :)

Here's my reveal.

Eh, looking at all these pictures, I see a bunch of really nice things ... that don't necessarily play well together.

@pippiep: I love your kitchen and I remember looking at it and thinking a green back splash would work with mine as well since I thought my cabinet color is similar to yours. Your counter top is beautiful. My hesitation in using a black counter is that my floors will be gray to black too and all this black might make the kitchen darker. I have another question for you, how do you like your 16" Ticor sink?

I love the 16" sink! It's the perfect size for what we wanted. Filling pots, draining pasta, quick handwashing while prepping, rinsing veggies, etc. It just fits our largest pot and colander. I like having the full depth, vs a shallower sink. No splashing from the faucet.

Yes, the kitchen would look much darker with dark floors. We had a ton of lighting put in to make sure the backsplash and counters didn't darken the whole space.

FWIW, I really like that Taj Mahal slab with your cabinets. I wonder if you could do a backsplash tile with subtle color. This place has a ton of choices: http://www.completetile.com/products/ceramic/vermeere_ceramics/ceramic_tile

@pippiep: thank you for the link, they have a nice selection. I too an leaning more towards the Taj Mahal. I'm waiting for the prices now.

I'm going to have to figure out how to add some color instead of creating a cream/beige kitchen.

Pippie I love your countertops. Reminds me of soapstone which I was going to suggest. Virginia Mist honed is another option.

Dream maybe you can go with lighter flooring if you choose the dark countertop

I have very light floor in the kitchen and hates how every tiny spec shows. Which is why I wanted darker floor in the kitchen.

Dream, the grass isn't always greener on the other side. I went from white floor to a mixed dark/medium wood look tile planks. We see so much more on the new floor. I never realized how much that old light tile floor hide from us!

I had dark wood floor in a rental. It was horrible to keep clean, dust and every piece of lint showed minutes after cleaning them!

Dark floors will show just as much dirt as light ones, but just different kinds of dirt. It does depend a bit on the finish as certainly satin or matte will hide more. If you want something that will truly hide dirt, I found the brushed cement in our old loft did it wonderfully. But I personally hated that. Why wouldn't you want to know if your floors need cleaning? And particularly in the kitchen!

Seriously though you might consider cement tile if that's what you're going for.

And yes SMM, I know someone who has dark cherry floors and they drive her insane because the dark colour combined with the finish is such high maintenance. You can't walk barefoot or in socks without footprints showing, and every single bit of dust that settles is highly visible.

Its not that I don't want to know when the floor is dirty, but with 2 small kids there's never a moment the kitchen floor doesn't need cleaning. And at the moment we are using the kitchen entrance as the main entrance so they go in and out a lot during the summer.

I just went to the kitchen to see why I dislike the floor so much. A big reason is that my floor shows every single chip and crack, it's 13 years old and many chips by the sink and fridge, a crack going across a large area. And I think all that brown/ black marks makes the floor look dirty all the time. And the fact it's a glossy tile only adds to the dislikes.

Now that I'm thinking about it, we have light floor tiles in our bathroom with a rough surface which I love. So maybe it's not the color I dislike, it's the over all feel of the kitchen floor.

In terms of showing dirt, it doesn't matter whether the floor is light or dark as long as it has a somewhat mottled finish. I think either would look fine what you're doing, but I really like the grey tiles you posted above.

I know this comes out of left field, but we have been having a discussion in the appliance forum about robotic vacuum cleaners. I have the Neato D80, a number of other posters have some form of the IRobot. We all admit to happiness and greater floor satisfaction after having obtained one of the units. Now, my floor is cleaned every night. I am constantly amazed at how much dirt and dog hair is found on an otherwise clean looking floor. My happiness knows no bounds. I wake up to a clean, fresh floor every morning. I have dark grey/black slate with two Collies, think Lassie, and an extraordinarily messy husband. We can solve the flooring issue. All of you need a robotic vacuum. Save up for it. Life is good.

I have 2 small kids too, and a robot vacuum has never sounded so good. But I did learn something from those dark and shiny cherry floors, and the polished cement in our old loft I went with a natural toned wood with a nearly matte satin finish, and it really does hide enough. I definitely won't build a sandbox in the new backyard though. I learned that lesson, too.

Wanted to show you this kitchen. Virginia Mist honed granite. Love!!

Beautiful!! Thank you for posting. I wonder what the floor tile is. It's not a very light floor tile and something like that might work for us too. I'm still waiting to hear back the prices for Taj Mahal.

Here's the kitchen floor in my current house just to get an idea of what I'm refusing.

So many light flooring options! Have you considered real wood? Wood look tile? My favorite flooring nowadays is french oak hardwoods. So pretty!

Ive never had that kind of tile flooring but it's the grout contrasted with white/light tile that's bothering you. Grout requires some maintenance.

We decided not to have hardwood in the kitchen due to difficulty in maintenance. Since we have hardwood floor in the dining room, right next to the kitchen, it was stated above that we should not have wood look alike next to real wood. Dining room is open to the kitchen. So we want to look for a rectangular tile, not square.

Love that River White!

Oh that's right. You have real wood adjacent. So yes no wood look tile. You will find a tile that'll work. I have young kids too and our engineered hardwood is in good shape in kitchen! But we are a shoe free home so our floors don't get too much dirt tracked through.