A lot of colors compliment grey....blue/blue-grey is my fav.; a recent poster is doing a plum island with a greyed stone; some greens/gray-greens look lovely.

I think the second stone of the two pieces looks nice because it is less speckled. HOWEVER, do you get to pick your slabs or do you just get what they cut and send? There can be a lot of color variation in slabs especially Fantasy Brown. You also need to test a small piece of the stone, especially true of fantasy brown, for etching and staining. Is the fantasy brown polished or leathered? My son has it and has had no issues but....

Be sure to test your samples to check for staining and absorbtion.

Can they do less rounded edges on the corners of the countertop overhang (bottom right of photo) - that really rounded look seems dated to me. You don’t want a sharp corner that is dangerous, but something less rounded than what is shown. Same for the sink bowl - can they do a more rectangular sink instead of one with super rounded corners like the one that is shown?

Is there a reason that the upper cabinets end at that corner instead of continuing to the end of the lower cabinets? Seems odd that they don’t match up

We are several months from getting counters but at this point I am wanting fantasy brown on our long island and under cabinets, a very light quartz with muted gray blobs (not professional sounding sorry), I love them both and hope I will still want this is a few months!

You really must find out if you can choose your own slabs! If you can't, the actual pattern you end up with could very well be overwhelmingly busy. I don't think your kitchen is big enough to handle two different patters. Also, be sure to choose a solid backsplash.

Purple island thread Read this thread and see the two counter materials she hopes to use. The perimeter will be the almost solid gray, with a pattern on the island.

Fantasy Brown is NOT a true quartzite! Some fabricators will label it a “soft” quarzite which is misleading. Some slabs will be more durable than others that have more of marble’s characteristics, but even the most durable Fantasy Briwn slabs will not have the true characteristics of real quartzite. That is why you absolutely need to test the slab you install to avoid the heartache that past posters have expressed.

I think you have more problems than choosing the countertops. Why no cabinets on the end of the U? That would be the obvious place for a sink IMO. And the empty space above the wall cabinets looks... empty. Can you get cabinets that go to the ceiling? Finally, I see very few drawers. Drawers are your friend, they bring the contents to you, and are space efficient. Before you get hung up on form, fix the function.

Maybe something like this. You could keep the cabinet doors above the microwave or leave them off to give you an open shelf for your cookbooks.

Enclosing the cabinets to the ceiling will look SO much nicer, definitely a great idea. If possible, try to keep them accessible in some way for storage - you won’t use it often, but it would be a great place to store infrequently-used items like holiday plates and whatnot. I like the picture you showed, so maybe something that’s flips up on hinges like that instead of actual cabinet doors.

Still strongly recommend placing the microwave elsewhere if you can. I grew up with it as well and it is fine from a functionality perspective, but it just isn’t aesthetically pleasing. You can still have a range hood and cabinets above it if you need the storage, and the microwave can just go in a closet or a cupboard instead of a built-in microwave. Microwave drawer also an option if you have the space, but more costly.