I agree with Rita and Cpartist... It will look great! I love the idea of an island a different color but I agree that keeping one stone on all the counters will be the way to go. I like your choice of stone, it looks like a gorgeous dark soapstone counter. That is a classic and beautiful look!

What are your floors? I ask, as the mock up has light floors? If your floors are super dark you might want to add some bright lighting. And what about lighting? Does this room have windows. Natural light coming in? Maybe post a photo of the space. It will all look great, can't wait to see it.

~boxer

I really wanted a soapstone look.

What is stopping you from getting soapstone? Is it a matter of budget, availability, and/or product characteristics, or something else? I love soapstone and I think it would look smashing in your kitchen! :)

BTW: I do like that granite you’re considering. Does it go by other names? Because the name doesn’t ring a bell.

Catbuilder...please post a picture of your space. I would love to see it. Thank you. Needing reassurance that every decision I’m making right now is not the wrong decision.

Boxerpal...thank you. It’s new construction and not much to show but an empty room right now but 2 large windows in kitchen (NE light) and lots of light from 2 adjoining rooms.

not great pics but all I have

in this pic the room with the closest sawhorse

In this pic the distant room with the two windows

Kitchen plan..blurry for some reason

Floors...Live Sawn Oak. Haven’t chosen stain yet if any. Maybe natural??

I’m burnt out and have decision fatigue. I’m questioning every decision I make. Not sleeping and so tired. I really need some advice.

Sammy...I love how soapstone looks but I have no other real experience with soapstone other than what I’ve read here. I don’t know anyone with soapstone. We have a large countertop place that does really good work but they just don’t do a lot of soapstone because people don’t ask for it. This house will have lots of family and kids visiting and I’m trying to choose things that will hold up well or not show wear and tear ie; rustic floors, dark island, no carpet

If I had the nerve I might do soapstone but honestly a soapstone lookalike is probably more my style. If I discover that it won’t work in my kitchen because I made a bad decision on my island color, I’m going to be disappointed.

i know tha Jet Mist really resembles soapstone but it was a bit too gray for me. When I saw the Via lactea at the granite place I was smitten. Black with beautiful white veins and spots that were a little shiny. I don’t know if it goes by other names??

These are the light fixtures/pendants (3) that I love with Polished Nickel and the clear shade vs the shaded. Below that is the Polished Nickel hardware I have chosen, although not ordered yet. I think these items only look good with the dark granite.

If I change to a light granite/quartz/quartzite I think it changes the flavor of the kitchen and those lights do not work anymore.

the walls are not gray. They are SW Accessible Beige.

Any opinions appreciated.

I like all your design choices. You have a very large, open, bright space. It can certainly carry off the dark island with the dark granite. Love the lights. I think all together it will be a stunning space. I love oak floors and would definitely go with a lighter or natural stain. It's a classic look and won't ever be dated.

I recently completed a whole house remodel (took to studs, so basically a new build) and used Soap Stone in my kitchen. I had no experience with it before we installed it but I love it! Mine is dark, almost black with some white veining. Your Via Lactea looks somewhat similar. I love your choice for lighting and pulls. I wouldn't keep the floors natural...too much contrast. I know all these decisions can be overwhelming but don't keep second guessing yourself. With the choices you've made so far this kitchen will be gorgeous!

@ILovered,

Your kitchen and space are beautiful! You have buckets of sunshine coming into the space. Everyone falls into the realm of decision fatigue. You are not alone, you are on the right track. You have made wonderful choices so far and I just know your space is going to look great.

I love soapstone too, but I did not want to deal with the chips or nicks or scratches or general look of Soapstone. I wanted the look of soapstone but the durability of granite. I used Virginia Jet Mist honed to give the appearance of granite. I think the granite you are choosing might have a similar look.

Floors? So many options will look stunning with your space. Natural might be perfect!

~boxer

Here is my old kitchen, honed Virginia jet mist

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I just went to look at your idea books to see if you had inspiration pictures for your proposed kitchen finishes. Now, I didn’t find one picture that had all the elements exactly, but, I did make an interesting discovery: I think your FOMO/perfectionism is flaring up. Since I am similarly afflicted, I recognize the signs in others (71 idea books was a big red flag...I have 81!):

“If I had the nerve I might do soapstone but honestly a soapstone lookalike is probably more my style. IfI discover that it won’t work in my kitchen because I made a bad decision on my island color, I’m going to be disappointed.”

“Below that is the Polished Nickel hardware I have chosen, although not ordered yet. I think these items only look good with the dark granite. If I change to a light granite/quartz/quartzite I think it changes the flavor of the kitchen and those lights do not work anymore.”

(Now MY stomach is starting to be in knots...and it’s not even my kitchen!)

I have the solution to all that plagues you. Are you ready for it? Okay, here it is:

Have the cabinet company paint the island White Dove.

I don't see why those lights and pulls wouldn't work with any color countertop.

Look for a lighter granite that has black areas to tie the two counters together. There are so many beautiful granites to choose from. It will make your kitchen.

A quick example:

Mayflowers..I am going to keep an open mind and head out to the granite place tomorrow with my doors in hand to look at lighter surfaces. At least to look. I really wanted the black because I felt I needed a dark element in the kitchen to keep it from being too shiny and blingy which is not what I’m going for. I didn’t want the dark element in the lighting or hardware. My door hardware is all flat black.

None of the quartzites or quartzes seemed to give me what I’m after. Maybe I need to look at the granites another time. Thank you!

Sammy....love your sense of humor. Thanks for lightening things up.

I know it’s embarrassing how many ideabooks I have. I had a Houzz account long before GW became Houzz. But my ideabooks are no help. Some have only 2 pics...arghh.

Wish I wasn’t a perfectionist. I hate it.

Seriously i wish I had just made the island white but painting cherry....sacreligios, lol. I could never bring myself to do that but it would be a solution, lol.

now pass the pepto bismol..

Boxerpal...thanks for the reassurance that I’m not screwing everything up and thanks for the pic of your pretty kitchen. Can’t wait for this house to be done. The decision fatigue halts you in your tracks.

thanks for the virtual pat on the back.

Motherwallace..I would love to see your space. Thank you for the reassurance as well. Please post a pic of your counter.

Czar....thank you for chiming in. I’m definitely going for something that won’t be dated so I’m glad you mentioned this. It means a lot to hear reassurance from other members!

You're overthinking it. Your choices are excellent. Trust me, I'd tell you if I thought you needed to go in a different direction.

From what I've seen of your choices, you prefer quieter choices than something with a lot of movement, so I think the black will work beautifully. Then you can bring in pops of color with other elements. While I personally love mayflower's choice, (it's my kind of stone!) I think for you it might be a bit too much knowing your other choices.

If you wanted to go lighter, I could see a Taj Mahal quartzite, but only one that leans more towards the warmer spectrum. Now if you suddenly said to me, "You know cpartist, I'm ready to go totally outside my comfort zone and go with a bold granite or quartzite", then I might suggest some stones that pick up all the colors.

I'd call your look casual lakeside elegance.

As for the floors? I'm thinking one or 2 shades darker than natural. Is that red or white oak?

The one thing I'd disagree with? I'd do the pendant with the frosted shade as shown. I think those clear shades wind up showcasing the bulb instead of the beauty of the fixture unless you use an edison bulb and if you use an edison bulb you don't get enough light.

Cp...I think you have me figured out. I wish you weren’t in Florida, I would hire you to be my designer. I don’t know how designers help clients without injecting their own style into the spaces instead of the clients. I do prefer quieter choices and warmer but very neutral colors. And I am definitely going for Casual Lakeside Elegance...I just didn’t know it until you named it.

the floors are white oak. Do you think the pic below is too dark or should I go a little lighter?

As far as the shade on the light fixture goes...I was only choosing the clear because I thought it would light up the space more. I can definitely do the frosted.

i will try to stop overthinking things. I’m just doing it because I’m so dam* exhausted. I almost hate this house.

thank you so much! Here’s the floor color...what do you think?

The floor color is perfect. As for the light fixtures, put in 3000k LED bulbs which are just a hair cooler than incandescent

I think you're going to be fine with dark cabinets and dark granite on the island. I have American Black (suede) granite on the perimeter, and Blue Ray (polished) granite on my islands. Both granites are dark. The cabinets are caramel stained cherry, which isn't quite as dark as your cabinets, but fairly dark. I think your space looks brighter than mine as we have really deep soffits and do not get a lot of direct sunlight.

Here are a couple of pictures for you to see what this looks likes IRL.

Sorry I didn’t get back sooner.

Cp. I like the floor color too. Hoping I can replicate ot. Lots of can lights and I think they are 3000 as well.

Flo...I will be open minded about the light colored granites and have given a lot of thought to this in the last couple of days. Glad I posted this thread because I thought I had my mind made up and now I’m considering other things.

would love to see a pic of your before and after to see the difference in light.

Cheryl...your kitchen is stunning and indeed your dark granites do look good with your cabinets. I also noticed that you have a lot of light tones ie; your floor, backsplash, . May I ask which direction your windows face?

thanks for sharing those pics. I kind of wish I hadn’t gone with such a dark cherry island. My Amish cabinetmaker had an island in his showroom in the exact color and I was smitten with it. Lighter might have been better..

That wall with your hood, black granite and light tile is just gorgeous.

thanks for the pics.

Cheryl...what tile is your backsplash?

May I ask which direction your windows face? East and west. Pic is the window facing east.

what tile is your backsplash? Fireclay, glazed thin brick gloss in Snow (V1)

My Amish cabinetmaker had an island in his showroom in the exact color and I was smitten with it. I think it's going to be dramatic and eye-catching. :)

It may be the brushed surface that makes it look depressing and dreary to me. I like Cheryl's island but it isn't a solid black. Maybe it's not the darkness as much as it's not an interesting choice for an island. With a polished surface, you'd at least have some light reflection.

For the floor you really cannot go wrong with a natural or medium brown..

I really do like your choices Ilovered, it’s natural to agonize over them though! Just to touch upon what mayflowers said above, a polished dark island reflects more light, as seen in this picture of my kitchen. It’s polished Volga Blue, an almost black granite, on both perimeter and island.

One ridge off...thanks for posting pics of your beautiful kitchen. I agree with you and Mayflowers..I think the polished surface is probably required to pull this off. But then I’m not getting the soapstone look.

Against the best advice here...everyone here agrees that you can’t have two different cabinet colors and two different countertops....essentially FOUR different things in the same kitchen., I want off in a search of pictures of just that...hoping to support my initial desire.

I found lots of beautiful pics by kds with high praise. But something was just off if you know what I mean. And when you look closely yes, you can see that the kitchens with two (or sometimes) three different cabinetry colors did indeed need the same countertop to pull it together. And they often did not!

i even sent some of the pics to my dd and asked her what was off and she said the kitchens needed the same countertop.

So, I am going to go a different direction. I’m going to find a countertop that I like that will work on my whole kitchen as you all suggested.

i don’t think it can be dark because it won’t look as good with my dark island color. But I don’t want something that is dazzlingly white either.

i really like warmish colors but neutral. If anyone has suggestions...I’m open.

marble, quartzite, light granite. Any suggestions or advice will be considered.

thank you so much.

Go look at London Sky quartz by Zodiac.

There really is no substitute for going to a stone yard and looking because there are so many stones and quartz patterns available. There are also some very fine-grained granites that are a medium tone. One we looked at for a cherry vanity a few years ago was Astoria, which was beautiful in outdoor light but went dull in our windowless PNW bathroom. It didn't have any gold or peach, which I wanted to avoid, but it did have some very subtle horizontal movement. Take a look at some google images. Every slab is different.

How about Imperial Danby or Calacatta Gold marble?

Slab of Imperial Danby

Imperia Danby on wood

Calacatta Gold Slab

Calacatta on island

If you're looking for lighter, knowing your tastes, I think Taj Mahal would be the perfect choice.

I agree on Taj Mahal, which is what I am using! It can range quite a bit in color, from a cooler grayish to a warm off-white/beige with brown and rust veins. I have a gazillion TM pictures in my ideabooks, I'll go look for a few to add here.

Taj Mahal counters:

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I am going to look at samples of the London Sky and try to check out slabs of the Astoria. Our granite place has lots and lots of slabs so maybe I can see both of these.

i absolutely adored as in loved the pics of the Imperial Danby posted by Rita. The Calacatta not so much. The Imperial, oh my...be still my heart. Why haven’t I seen this before? I don’t/ didn’t think I’m a marble gal but it didn’t stop me from reading for hours on Houzz discussions re; marble. Do folks really love it and are they deluding themselves? I might be delusional thinking I could live with the imperfections of marble because it is so darn beautiful. Can I live with the inevitable etching that some marble lovers claim they are not bothered by after a time? I don’t know.

also looked at lots of pics of the Taj Mahal quartzite as suggested by CP. it fits my personality perfectly and it is absolutely gorgeous. The colors are perfect. I need to see it in person. It might be a winner.

so glad I posted this thread and got all of this feedback instead of going with my initial instincts. I think I will have a better kitchen when I make a decision based on this feedback. Thank you all!

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Marble is one of those materials you either can live with or you can't. I've had marble in my bathroom before and put it (and onyx) in my master bath again. I consider etching "beauty" marks. LOL. I'm not the type to get upset with scratches in wood floors either.

However having said that, I wouldn't want it personally in my kitchen because a kitchen takes so much more abuse than a bathroom. My sister put what she thought was a quartzite in her kitchen. I had to break the news to her after seeing all the etching on the counter that she really had marble. That wasn't so bad, but the chipping around her sink because marble is so soft is what bothered me (and her).

And while I think quartz is pretty, to me it lacks the depth that natural stone has. With natural stone, it's almost as if you can see the years put down into the stone which is why I will always pick natural over manmade.

I agree with cpartist on the natural stone. For months, I visited every stone yard within two hours of my home, and then Daltile opened near me. I found a true quartzite there called Tahitian Cream. The tag from the quarry called it Nuage Macchia Oro. My perimeters are SW Pure White and the island is cherry with a black glaze, although it is not as dark as your island. I also considered doing two-tone, looked at many quartz products (London Sky, Rococo, Karis), and briefly marble. I wanted something that would not etch or stain, easy on the eyes, marble looking without being marble, and could withstand a hot pot, so in other words I was looking for a needle in the haystack. This stone has a grayish background, lots of white clouds, and some black and occasional gold veining. My previous kitchen was white with black granite and I find that these lighter countertops are easier to work on. I get a lot of natural light in my kitchen and at times they almost look translucent. There is a lot of depth and nuance that I could not get with any quartz product. I have no beige in my home, but if I did, I would have chosen Taj Mahal. Good luck. It's a big investment so hold out for the one that you love.

natural-quartzite-+-natural-stone-slab

I have found that I prefer a counter that has a matte look. Without matte you see things more easily like fingerprints, crumbs, etching regardless of color!

RE marble I think of marble like a person. It starts off all perfect and then real life comes along (the wrinkle you acquire between the eyebrows HA!). Ever look at old marble tops like ice cream tables or store counters? The other day at a thrift I came across a white marble with more quiet veining cutting board that had seen use. I know what it looked like New as I had considered that item at the original retailer before. This did not look the same- the white had turned darker, it appeared "softer or mellow " if there is such a thing, and had a few reddish spots that soaked into the stone. BTW the spots, based on my marble experiences in the past, eventually disappear. The question is would I/ you buy this aged marble? I passed as in the end (as I did when at the retailer) I did not like the style of the board.

Thank you, thank you! I have been so rude not getting back here to update. Distracted by picking out lights for a whole house is overwhelming me and starting to really drive me crazy.

But on a positive note I took all of your good advice and made progress on the countertop front.

I went to the stone place in our town. They had a small sample of the London Sky. It was really beautiful and looked a lot like Marble. A better choice than a lot of quartz that I have looked at. But it was a little too gray for my white cabinets.

i went back to the brushed via lactea slabs with my dark cherry door in hand and try as I might not to I had to admit that it was too dark. I hated that because I adored this brushed stone and it is my first choice but I have to listen to the good advice I got here. Sometimes I think the folks here know more than the professional ids.

then I found two quartz samples that I really liked all while my granite gal told me that they had some Taj Mahal that I could look at since I had never seen it in person. My eyes must have lit up and she warned me that it will be higher than my via lactea. I was excited about seeing it anyway.

just for the heck of it I asked her if she had any Imperial Danby since I loved the slab shown up thread...knowing I really could not choose it. But, still I felt like I needed to see it if she had it. She told me no that she didn’t and that knowing me it was a good thing not to fall for something I should not have.

so, my kd and my granite gal and I took the hike out to the Taj Mahal with my door samples and the 2 quartzes I liked in hand.

here is the result. The Taj Mahal is beautiful. I love it. Now if only I can justify the $$. Waiting for the price. Thank you all so much.

Wilson...I love your quartzite with your cherry island. You say you have no Beige in your home. Just the opposite. No gray in my home. Thanks for posting the pic of your beautiful kitchen.

If anyone is interested in the quartz...

the back has the name.

The one on the left had dark, almost blackish tints. The calacatta natural on the right had warmish colors. A little gray as well but definitely would look nice if you like warm colors. It was very beautiful and looked realistic.

Yummy Taj Mahal. I justified my very expensive quartzite by figuring out what it would cost me over the next 20 years and how much enjoyment I'd have every single time I looked at it. I can tell you now that I'm living in the house, each time I walk into my kitchen and see my quartzite, it makes me smile.

I hope things work out for the Taj Mahal :-) And I'm with you Red, no gray at my house.

Those slabs are perfect! I hope it works out.

Cp...i didn’t realize your counters were quartzite. I thought they were granite. I remember you had the slabs purchased a LONG time ago. And they are gorgeous.

Rita...we shall see. Right now I feel like I’m hemorrhaging money. Hope they are in the budget. Oh wait...did I say budget? Wtheck is that, lol.

thanks!

Wilson...nope, not mine. only one of those pieces is a full slab and it is sold. The others are not full slabs but at least I could see what the Taj Mahal looks like. My granite gal will find slabs long enough for my island which is 10 ft and dh and I will drive to “the big city”, lol and pick out our slabs and my granite place will purchase them.