Yes, it’s loud. I’m not saying you shouldn’t love it or that it’s hard to clean, and I, too, get many compliments. Want to know what it sounds like? Take a small plate to a showroom that has a piece and slide it across. We have the leather at our lake house and polished at home, and I like both, the leather because it’s unique, the shiny because it’s so beautiful in my newly remodeled kitchen. My mother-in-law, who is 94, comes to the lake with us and slides EVERYTHING across the leathered granite surface, and by the end of the day my nerves are frazzle.d. Just know what you’re buying and be okay with it. Both are wonderful choices, as far as I’m concerned.

If you can only get a steak at the restaurant, go there FIRST and get a ballpark quote on their entry level (chopped steak) and a mid-range one (Boneless ribeye). THEN go to the farmer's market and see which steak you like the best. Tag it if you really want THAT steak. Then the restaurant will get you pricing on the steak that you liked best. In my area, my "restaurant" (aka fabricator) also buys "steak" direct. Only about 60 colors.....but that restaurant cuts out the farmers market, which can make it easier and less $ for my customers. Keep in mind granite is a commodity and prices will fluctuate, which is why it is so difficult for the industry to list firm prices. Granite's price has a LOT to do with how far it must travel, not how beautiful it is. Also, some fabricators or suppliers will buy certain colors in bulk and offer special pricing. Here is a guideline for pricing (per square foot) on some of the more popular granite colors based on prices now in the Midwest and ONE fabrication shop. Hope this helps. KOMPY GROUP A ($49 to 52 per SF) Azul Platino Bainbrook Brown Blanco Taupe Crema Carmel Giallo Fantasia Rosa Fresca-Peach Purse Tan Brown Uba Tuba Giallo Arctic GROUP B ($54 to 56 per SF) Amber Yellow Baltic Brown Black Pearl Amarillo Boreal Coffee Brown Desert Brown Giallo Fiorito Giallo Ornamental Kashmir White New Venetian Gold Peacock Green Rosewood Santa Cecelia Sapphire Blue Steel Gray Tropic Brown Verde Butterfly Verde Jade GROUP C ($63 to 68 per SF) Butterfly Gold Carrara White Marble Giallo Napoleon Giallo Veneziano Giallo Vicenza Impala Black Madura Gold Typhoon Green Vyara Juparana GROUP D ($70 to 76 per SF) Absolute Black (Prem.) Bianco Antico Black Galaxy Blue Pearl Emerald Pearl Imperial Coffee Santa Fe Brown Volga Blue White Springs GROUP E ($73 to 78 per SF) Brown Antique Crema Bordeaux Juparana Delicatus Juparana Persia Solaris Yellow River GROUP F ($79 to 84 per SF) Donna Sandra Golden Beach Juparana Beach Labrador Antique Red Dragon Star Beach Typhoon Bordeaux GROUP G ($84 to 89 per SF) Persa Spectrus Ballpark prices above do not include labor charges such as: range/cooktop cutouts, polished sink cutouts and template/delivery fees. Average fees per job typically add up to $400-$500. For an 18g stainless steel sink, add $150+ or purchase your own.

1. Lifetime Sealer: With modern sealer technology advancing as fast as (or even faster than!) computer technology, it is difficult to keep up with all the developments. The most recent development is called "nano technology", which, for all intents and purposes, mean that the solid particles in the sealer (the stuff that makes the sealer work) are very, very small and combined with advanced solvent technology, these particles can penetrate deeper into the stone and do a better job of sealing it. There are a number of sealers on the market that make use of this technology and some even give lifetime warranties for properly applied sealers. A couple of these are "Dry Treat" and "Surface Treatment Technologies". STT has a proprietary combination sealer consisting of SB (the first application) and FE (the final application) that offers superior protection even on extremely porous surfaces. The guys over at the SFA did side-by-side testing of Dry Treat and the STT combination and found STT to be the superior product. That said, there are a few others out there that I am not familiar with and could offer the same benefit. Just be wary of companies that claim to be "certified applicators" or some such. A lot of people saw a niche in a market and are trying to fill it by employing shady techniques. Lifetime sealers often are more expensive than regular good quality sealers, and as some have noted before me, sealer application is no big deal and can be done at home and by yourself fairly easily. Just be sure to purchase a high quality product with a recognized brand name, such as Miracle or StoneTech, to name a couple. BUT: Not all stones need sealer either. Stones like Blue Pearl, Ubatuba, Black Galaxy, Verde Peacock, Verde Butterfly, Platinum Pearl and many others are too dense to absorb any liquids - sealers included. Sealers only protect stone from staining through absorption, so in stones with low absorption co-efficients, sealing would be superfluous. Sealing dense stones could lead to nasty results, such as streaking and ghost etching, so DO NOT go by the motto of "seal it anyway, it could not hurt". Rather test your stone for absorption by dripping water on it to see if it darkens any. If the water has no effect on the stone, sealing it is unnecessary. Seams: DO NOT pick a stone to satisfy the abilities (or lack of!) the fabricator. A good fabricator will be able to make a good seam in whatever stone you select. MIA standards for seams list 1/8" as being acceptable. As with all bureaucratic institutions they are decidedly behind the curve in technology and applications, and there are fabricators who strive to make seams virtually disappear. Do know that it is more challenging to make seams "disappear" in veined or boldly patterned stones and fabricators will charge accordingly. Ask your intended fabricator(s) to have you see actual installed kitchens and look at the quality of the work they have done - not just on the seams, but on the rest of the kitchen too. Check for good edge polishing, consistent overhangs and overall appearance of the job. Speak to the homeowners (if they are available) and ask about their experiences with the fabricator. Showrooms could be misleading. Remember, they are designed to make you buy stuff :) 2.1 Seam Locations: There are very many variables that go into the location of a seam. Appearances, although important too, are secondary to a number of them, including slab length, material pattern, installation hazards, cabinet and cut-out locations and access to the installation, to name a few. You could ask your stone guy to consider a seam in a location that would be preferable to you, and he will proceed with due consideration, but ultimately, it is his decision where they go in order to provide a quality installation. A good fabricator will discuss them with you and provide motivation for his choices. 2.2 Seams over dishwashers: If done well and supported properly, there is no issue with having a seam over a dishwasher. The glue will not melt, the stone will not weaken and no disaster will occur IF it was done well. Most fabricators will avoid doing seams over the DW because the extra precautions are time and material intensive, but sometimes they can not be helped. Extra precautions for seams over a DW could include a "biscuit" joint at the seam, a ledger board screwed in the back wall or support plates glued under the seam, to name a few. Pricing: Pricing is a carbuncle. Every shop has a different way of doing it, and practices vary from region to region. Some shops will give all inclusive prices, some use itemized bills, others will charge for labor and material and some others might charge them separate. In some parts of the country fabricators require you buy your own materials. My advice would be to compare the bottom line of all quotes and determine of you are comparing oranges to oranges. Determine what you would like: material, edge profile, cut-outs and backsplashes. Get estimates from the fabricators that will deliver the same end result and compare those. See if the price includes all the options you prefer, along with material and installation. Once you have all the details determined, looking at the final prices should then give a you a monetary comparison between the different operators. Although the price should be important when deciding on a fabricator, do not forget to look at other things like quality, customer service and your own *gut feeling* when you shop for a stone guy. 3.1 MIA or not?: Does it matter? The MIA has no means of policing the fabricators that belong to them and joining the association only costs about $500 or so. Anybody can write a check and then put MIA on their business cards. We used to belong to them, but for fundamental reasons gave up our membership. This did not make our quality go downhill all of a sudden. In fact, the standards that we set for our shop were consistently higher than the MIA "required" for any of their members. In short - being an MIA member will NOT be a guarantee of any kind of good service or quality installation. Much rather look at the ethics and business practices of the fabricators on your short list. See point 3 Color of the stone: You mentioned that you had white cabinets, and very little light coming into your kitchen, also that you had an oak floor. The stones like Verde Butterfly, Ubatuba and Verde Peacock could be real "light sponges" and, for all intents and purposes, turn almost black indoors with limited light. A medium toned stone that would offer a contrast with your cabinets and pick up on the color of your floor would IMHO be a better choice for you than a really dark one. Have you considered stones like Tropic Brown, Autumn Brown, Giallo Fiorito, Giallo Napoleon or Giallo Vicenza (a stone that would be awesome with your floor and cabinets) Giallo Vicenza Giallo Napoleon All the materials I have named here will probably fall in the lower to medium price ranges. The Gold and Silver stone is most likely high to exotic. Hope this helped :)

You changed the photo at 10:13 and that changed everything that follows. Be careful or you and we aren't going to be able to keep things straight. My favorite is still the one Mayflowers posted because it has such a lovely color. The green will compliment the red in the cabinets while accentuating the softer tones in your floor. It has movement without being busy or loud. Stunning. The soapstone and costa esmeralda would do well too, but they are darker and you have clearly not entertained that idea. I'm going to try to ignore this thread now. I've said all I can say. Thank you kksmama for finding something to remember in it. It isn't original. I think any good designer, the pros and the experienced amateurs here, will all tell you the same thing. I'm sure I've read it all here before. And now I'm going to vent a little and try not to lose the playing nice factor altogether. My frustration here is that I don't feel the OP is paying attention. Maybe they just don't get it and I can't explain it any better. The suggestion to get a pro involved and looking at these in person has been made more than once. I think its time to heed that advise. It takes time and effort for us to open up multiple screens and look at them and then comment on them thoughtfully. When the comments appear to be ignored, or at least not beneficial, and followed only by another set of photos that show we aren't making any progress in the process, I have to stop. I suspect others already have. Good luck.