We just built a house.. waiting to close, so I completely understand your predicament. Are you going to have an island? i ask b/c of this... Our builder did not give a choice of granite, just told us the fabricators info and then we went from there.. i wasn't wowed by anything until i saw Typhoon Bordeaux which i believe is in the same price=point as the Shivakashi. I wanted Typhoon Bordeaux for my entire kitchen, but would need 2 1/2 slabs and it was going to be extremely costly.. We were already WAAAY above our "allowance" b/c i added an island and a desk and had not even picked out the bathroom granite yet which was also to be included in the allowance.. So after much deliberation I decided to go with the typhoon bordeaux for my island and pulled the black from it and used absolute black on the perimeter countertops- I NEVER would have used black in my kitchen- NOT my taste at all, but when i saw them together it looked really nice.. So.. my point is.. is there anyway you can do shivakashi on an island and then pull another color (less expensive color) for the perimeter cabinets? In the scheme of things it does not end up being that much more if you are only re-doing a kitchen, but when you are building, everything adds up, so it might be worth it to consider that as an option... I can show you pictures of my kitchen if you have question as to how it will look... Good luck with your decision!

Have you seen the website www.marble.com? They have a bunch of of colonial gold pics. I just came back from my granite place and really liked Colonial Gold. I selected hazelnut stained maple cabinets with a black glaze. I wasn't sure if the Colonial Gold was too stark for it, but I loved the dark brown spots in it. I was hoping to see Madura Gold, but they didn't have any. I found a nice ceramic tile to go with the Colonial Gold if I decide to go with it. I think Colonial Gold would be beautiful with ivory and chestnut cabinets. It would tie in nicely with both. I think my cab color may be too dark for it. Good luck! Let us know what you decide.

sewwhatsnew, I have a very small island 27 x 57 with top a 21 pull out trash and 33inch pot drawer. As you can see by my cabinets I don't have a large space. I ended up going with a local cabinet builder, he uses SW paint. That way I was able to ues every precious inch. I priced Amish cabinets, Omega /dynasty ,Shiloh and another custom line. They ranged in price from 15,000 to 12,000 The custom I went with was the most reasonable but it was more of an upgrade for the glazing. Shiloh cabinets does not charge for glazing but did not have the color options that I needed. I hope that helps.

Yes, many are very close. You need to see them in person. And depending on the run, they can go darker or lighter, have moe gold etc.