Anyone who has put the Calacatta Vicenza, any regrets? I’m leaning towards that for my kitchen but I want my counter tops to be mostly white with just little specks of gray here and there. In some pictures I find Kitchens who have huge chunks of gray and very busy. Any opinions? I was also thinking about cashmere Carrara? Any help is appreciated

nsandridge - I haven't decided on the hardware yet. I did think about orb blending into the blue but I have seen it done before and it doesn't look bad. I'll see if I can find some pics later. ktj459 - Hubby also didn't want black counters on the perimeter as he felt it would darken the kitchen too much. I haven't looked at quartzite, and at this point, I just don't have the time. Our kitchen cabinets are being delivered the week of the 18th (that's in 10 days!) so I really need to move on to other bits and pieces that I still need to finalize. I've left it all a bit late, I'm afraid :( I've decided to go with reclaimed wood for the island counter in a mid coloured stain. And use the caesarstone on the perimeter. I homeschool so I like the idea of the wood on the island as my kids will be working on it during the day - and it's much softer and warmer than stone. I've still got so many decisions to make. I need to just make them and move on to the next!

To vintagestuff - that is a good point about the sink on the island, but... I never cook. I mean like sometimes for weeks I don't cook. So, while I recognize that concern, I am not too worried about it. There is rarely anything in my sink and I don't mind the sink being seen from the family room. to wilson853 - I am definitely looking at hoods, I think it changes the look a lot, and I like them. We are definitely considering adding the fascia and crown. I have that in my current kitchen and I love it! To chess: actually, I am not considering that beautiful range in the pictures. I am looking at a pretty cheap LG :-) I don't need expensive appliances, just decent and stylish. To BPatHome - We do not know if the post-pantry weird stuff was original, we can't find an original owner. I can't imagine why they liked that back then! It's kinda weird but... it's mine soon lol

Thanks for all the suggestions. Bette P, I really had not thought of drywalling those arches. Great idea. We do have some drywall repair that needs to be done so maybe I will have them do that as well. In Florida they used to make wall shelves out of drywall. This was when large screen TV's were just coming in to style. We knew enough that we didn't want the whole wall to have permanent built ins so it was left blank and we had a large entertainment center in there for a long time. I appreciate your suggestion about the shelving and dust. After reading here recently we have decide to do just what you suggested and do primarily bottom storage drawers and bookshelves. I think we will do some picture frame molding around the tv and on each side. That cut out is over 17' I will check out Ikea Besta, not sure I have heard of it. When we moved here 15 years ago the "in" style was "Mediterranean", while I never went full in I did embrace the colors and tried to add some tropical too. I had two of the walls in the kitchen a burnt orange color. One of the upscale furniture stores is now advertising "de-Tuscanizing" We were joking the other night that is what a bunch of us are doing now. Would LG Vietra Clarino be the tone of counter top I should be looking at?http://www.lgviaterausa.com/products/289/213 Thanks again for the help. It is greatly appreciated. I'm so happy to have found Gardenweb again..I thought you were gone.