I really like your granite---I think it is beautiful! I would not classify this slab as "busy." And I am a person who really, really shies away from the more, say, colorful, busy, overstated kitchens. The vast majority of kitchen pics in magazines and books that I tab are pretty classic and understated. My own kitchen will hopefully have creamy white cabinets, some type of granite with creams, brown and greys and/or black in it with no heavy striation, yellow oak floors (to match the rest of the house), and a very understated backsplash. I am marking this color in my file for future reference because I think it might be a good it. I don't think your slab is heavily striated at all--the darker color in there (it looks grey rather than black in your picture) is really not present in showy, loud streaks, hence the reason why I really like it.

I don't have one of the colors you mentioned, but I do have photos: I LOVE our counters. They are LivingStone brand, which is virtually the same as Corian. The integrated sink is Corian brand. We are a young family w/4 year old and one on the way. I don't have time/patience for counter maintenance; DH and I both work outside the home and we do most of our own cooking. I wanted a light color with a matte finish. I didn't want laminate (too many bad experiences w/seams lifting etc). I didn't want to deal with keeping sink caulk clean. I didn't want something that would shatter dishes as I am a klutz--now that we have an unforgiving tile floor, I am especially glad we considered this b/c I have knocked many things against the counter in the course of working in the kitchen (and they are still intact, vs the tile where everything explodes into a million specks). An additional plus--our counters actually let some light thru, so the few base cabs we have (as opposed to drawers) are easier to see into. I can understand the appeal of natural stone and I agree it has depth/beauty that "plastic" doesn't capture; we looked at it, but in the end LivingStone was a better choice for us, financially as well as daily life. I embraced the choice of doing what worked best for me, not what is most popular. Our neighborhood is mostly starter homes, and few of the 1970s kitchens have even been updated. We not only updated but completely changed/improved the layout, which I think will have more impact for resale than natural stone counters. Secondly, we don't know when we might have an opportunity to "upgrade" so doing what works for us was the best choice. We've had our new kitchen/counters/sink about 1 1/2 years and I have had zero problems. The one "stain" I got was from an orange piece of junk mail paper where water was on the counter and the paper was left in the puddle for a few days and allowed to dry. Bleach took it right out.

I just found the granite I intend to use in my kitchen remodel. Have been looking at so many they were all making me crazy. Then out of the blue I saw one that immediately struck me as what I was looking for. I have 19 year old beautiful Cherry Dutch Mill cabinets from Goshen Indiana. I plan on touching up some signs of wear on the cabinet faces but am definitely keeping them. 19 years ago my kitchen colors were floral pastels, pink and blue predominantly.....I am so over that now! Want to move to earth tones, light golden, warm colors to blend with my cherry cabinets and hardwood floors. Here are pics I took today at the granite warehouse. Brought a kitchen cabinet door along to check the color match. I have a large center island, 2 wall countertops and one desk in the kitchen to use the granite on. The granite is called El Dorado, but if you do a google search there are all kinds of other granite that come up, looking nothing like this one. http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/celestial/ELDORADO_SLAB_4.jpg Here is a link that might be useful:

Mamajenn, posting pictures isn't difficult. First you need to upload them to a site such as Photobucket. Once that's done, underneath the thumbnails are options for what you want to do with the pictures. Click on the HTML code; it will automatically copy that. Then paste it into your message. When you then preview your post, it will show your picture. Now on to your question. I am no expert and am soliciting lots of input here on GW. I think any of those choices for an island would work! Actually, right now I am trying to decide on a rather exotic granite for my island (house is just now at the framing stage) with a plainer surface for perimeter counters. I too will have white cabinets and hardwood floors. There are gorgeous granites with green in them. My vote would be to look for a green granite. Personally, my island is pretty long so I am having granite on most of it but a 3x3' butcher block on one end.