Yo, @JAN MOYER, there is nothing here that's a "hot mess"! Would you please try to bear in mind that you're speaking about someone's home and their choices, publicly and in front of them?!

The OP's taste rules the day here, not yours. A bit of diplomacy might be in order.

If you READ....... the OP said her mind was "a hot mess." I simply said, don't make a hot mess, trying to mix palettes that are both warm, and cool. Don't throw money at an element you still will not love.

At no point did I say the kitchen is a "hot mess" , It is simply NOT WHAT SHE WANTS.....How and what you change , matters. For budget, and for result.

How about you please read : )

The first thing you should decide is your budget., Financial planning comes before aesthetics.

You almost always spend more than you get back on a renovation. https://www.remodeling.hw.net/cost-vs-value/2020/

The money you spend can only be spent once and you have to decide where to put your dollars. Should they go toward new granite countertops or your retirement fund or a college fund for your kids or toward a life experience, furthering your education or paying down your mortgage? How long you are staying in this house is another factor. If you are going to stay for 5 years you are gifting money to the next owner and have that much less to spend toward your next home. If you are staying for 20 years you will have a long time to enjoy your new counters and the joy they bring you may be worth working an extra year or two before you can afford to retire.

A 25-year-old who invests $5,000 a year with an 8% average annual return for 43 years should have approximately $1.65 million. If you started saving 10 years later and invested $5,000 per year with the same 8% average annual return, after 33 years the result is approximately $729,750. Not magic, just the time value of money. The 35-year-old would have to invest approximately $11,290 a year to achieve the same amount as the 25-year-old under the same time and averages.

Once you decide on the best use of your money you make decisions on how to best spend the money you have to make things nicer. You have to weigh how much joy a new countertop will bring you over x number of years and decide if it is a good investment.

When planning a home color palette I always start with what must stay - then work from there to pick the colors for the rest of the home.

Great advice Jennifer! I’m currently deciding on whether to install a pool... I needed to hear that message!

Thanks everyone! We plan on being here at least another 7 years minimum. my youngest is in 6th grade and I teach in the same school district. I appreciate all of the advice. I’m meeting with our contractor later to talk about all of this. I definitely don’t want to overspend or make a big mistake. I get that some things are in style and others not. I just want to have a more cohesive look. The wall color has to stay (Shiitake). It’s pretty new and the dominant color in most of the house. Not going to spend 1000s again on that. So, I just need to decide to work with my current counters or change. I’m not a big fan of the starkness of the black/white kitchen example. Maybe that’s “bad taste”, but it’s my opinion:)

Good for you! And there's no such thing as "bad taste"!

Hi Jennifer, you are absolutely correct about the Time Value of Money and how investments can grow via compound interest. That being said, if you have any investments that are yielding 8% at present, I'd love to hear about them! (wink, wink)

@Diana Bier Interiors, LLC - I'm afraid to look at what happened in 2020, but I saw some predictions of record highs in 2021. Fingers crossed!

Nobody ever went broke, by NOT having debt. PUT THAT ON YOUR FRIDGE .

Compound interest, is the eighth wonder of the world.....put that right below the first one. : )

No debt being incurred here! Anything we plan is paid in cash, no loan. That’s why I’m trying not to make a mistake. That being said, I‘m not too worried about potentially spending a bit more if we switch countertops. Totally agree savings is extremely important, but sometimes it’s nice to get something you just want for yourself when you work hard:)

OP here. Looking at possibilities for replacing Santa Cecelia counter and going from there. Whew! Any opinions on New River White granite or a Carrara Marmi type quartz? Honesty appreciated, even if harsh:) Still keep Shiitake walls and likely painting cabinets.

I used Dover White by SW and it turned out fantastic! I had the same dilemma and never knew there were so many choices when it came to whites.

Willis, I’d love to see a picture as I’m going through the same dilemma. Thank you in advance!

forget new caledonia. you're exchanging one builder basic for the other.

did you get a price on getting those cabinets painted? for a real pro to do it correctly, you'd be paying well over 5K.

for 5K get a new countertop and splash and change out the handles on the cabs

what if you did something like this, and further lightened the look by putting glass in a few of the uppers? doesn't have to be clear glass.

another lighter one with larger handles instead of knobs.

nice pendant lights, reflective glass backsplash, white quartz countertop, pulls, done!

White Macaubas quartzite. almost indestructible:

what I would NOT do is any granite that has this muddled clumps of dark coloring.

This is colonial white granite. it's similar to River White. River White is a cooler toned stone with grays, so I'm not sure it's going to work w/the warmer tones in your home.

Thanks for the input. I’m strongly leaning toward replacing counters (husband favors the Calcatta Ultra quartz over granite) and still painting cabinets. They are going to be sprayed with a commercial grade urethane, satin finish. I really want to lighten up the downstairs (brown floors, brown cabinets, brown leather furniture etc.). Think I can find a white to go with the quartz and Shiitake walls? Incidentally, we had a SW color consultant help when we chose wall color. Thought Shiitake was a neutral that could work warm or cool?

Have you considered a softer, off-white for your cabinets? SW Aesthetic White comes to mind as a good coordinating soft white next to SW Shitake

Shitake is more of a beige/taupe.

Aesthetic white is used here, but I think it's a little too dark.

If you're going to paint the cabs, go w/a brighter white. It will look better w/the quartz.

I like this combo

shiitake is in the middle,,,shoji white is very warm toned, so I wouldn't use that, but I love peppercorn w/it

Alabaster is a warm white, but you can see how much duller Shoji is next to it.

I'd get samples of Pure White, Extra White,

or if going with BM, Simply white or Oxford White. both of those are great for cabinets.

I see it as a coordinating color for Shiitake on SW site. Might be a possibility. It would need to go ok with our Extra White trim. I see a lot of examples of it as a wall color with brighter white trim. I’m hoping to decide counters soon in order to factor that in with cabinets.

yes, pick your countertop first.

if you go w/a great neutral white, it will work w/everything. BM Oxford White is perfect for cabinetry. and will work w/the trim. Or just use Extra White on the cabinets too

Thanks so much Beth H! Our trim is all Extra White. Painter brought a door sprayed in that color to try out with counters. Do you think Extra White trim and cabinets, Shiitake walls, and a quartz similar to Calcatta Ultra or Carrara Marmi would look coordinated? Other color downstairs and off kitchen is in our sunroom and that is SW Delft.

If you’re looking to change the countertop, then go with the most neutral white you can find. Beth is showing you how different the undertones can be. I understand if keeping your dark cabinets is a no-go because you don’t want them. But your countertop is fighting the white look you seem to want, so I hope you find a stone that works with your white kitchen. I think it will be wonderful but kitchen re-do’s are like painful labor. Worth it in the end, not fun during.

If you have decided to change your countertops and are completely married to keeping the Shitake wall color take a large sample of Shitake along to the stone yard to pick your granite.

I love taupe and mushroom colors, but they can fight with other neutrals. There is a bit of pink in Shitake that you can't ignore.

So Shitake is your "must stay" color - counters and cabinets are the colors that are going to change. Once you pick your granite then it is time to pick the cabinet colors that work with the Shitake walls and the new granite.

Although I typically like to use the same white on cabinets as trim, Extra White is a blue white and may look great with your blue tones and Shitake as trim, but may be quite stark on kitchen cabinets. It may work in a bright white modern kitchen with Carrara marble counters, but it may scream against a counters with more warmth.

Jennifer- What do you think of a fairly white quartz counter? Going soon to look again. Initially liked Calcatta Ultra from MSI.

Honestly I usually help people pick colors when they have already picked floors and counters.
So I don't know what the counter tops look like by name.

I do think you could do a counter with a lot of white, but has a bit of warmth. Beth H knows her countertops. I have to guess what they will look like installed or just view the internet.

Looking at the MSI website I see the Calcatta Ultra and it looks like it is more of a blue white with gray veining. The coordinating back splashes are all cool - no sign of warmth.

If I look at Classique Calacatta Quartz I see a slightly warmer veining and the coordinating back splashes have more warmth.

I think you are contemplating a smokey blue for the lowers, white for the uppers and your current wall color. I think that using a back splash that has blue, taupe and white and ties the three together will be beautiful, but if you ignore the wall color you may have something disjointed as an end result.

These two are the MSI cal. Ultra.

It seems to work w/this flooring, and this flooring would work w/Shiitake, so ?

The other one, the Marmi? I don't care for it. seems a little cool looking w/all of the gray veining

on MSI website, it appears to have more taupe in it, so I don't know. can you bring home a sample?

what about the calacatta laza? I've always like this one. Has those warmer gray tones instead of the real blue/gray like the carrara

here it's paired w/a white, a warmer white, cabinet. ( the marble floors are a no!)

Thanks again! I’m going to get pricing on the Laza too. I need to finalize counters so I can move on to color of cabinets and tile:) So far, the Calcatta Ultra is a bit more than Carrara Marmi (have ruled out). We did get pricing on Mont Surfaces Fantasy. That was pretty high, told a Level 5 quartz.

In the past week you've been convinced by people who will NOT be footing the bill that you must get rid of the most expensive element in your quite-new kitchen. Financially that's poor advice, and insensitive to your budget.

A more thoughtful design would work WITH your expensive commitments, within your budget, and make them look brilliant. It's the COMBINATION of elements that's dated, and even if your particular granite was overused and is "builders' basic" it's still a solid, premium material in great shape. If nothing else, environmentally sending it to landfill only to replace it with today's trendy stone makes no sense!

Start with the easier changes, and/or the least expensive. And see what a difference you can make with those. Yes, pure white's not the right white but except for under the island (quick and easy to re-paint) there's no place where the pure white trim is right next to the granite. Decide to not see it for now.

Change out the Shiitake, get rid of the backsplash, paint the cupboards, in all cases opting for something lighter and fresher. Pick your shades from the color families which are in the granite itself:

As a separate matter, I hear no pros advising you about your lighting and how it's emphasizing the warm, orange tones. Here's a quick look at the difference a fresher, more blue light would make. I suspect you're in the 2700-3000 Kelvin range and would find around 4000 to make things look much cleaner.

Nothing ugly about it. Depends on the context.

I totally agree with annoulaxeni!

Thanks again for input. You aren’t wrong. My dilemma is that our entire downstairs is based off Shiitake palette. That plus a 2 story foyer area and loft. We spent about the same to hire painters for all of that and can’t easily change ourselves. I have been convinced that the wall color may be too cool looking for current counters, but too warm for perhaps a very white counter. Going to gather pricing, look at budget, and see what makes sense. Thanks again for input!

Then change the Shiitake only in the kitchen zone -- meaning find suitable corners where you can change to another paint if you have an open-plan house. If the Shiitake is working elsewhere and you have many other things based on it, by all means keep it. You can easily find a paint color that will go both with the granite and with the Shiitake.

Or, as was your initial thought (this is such a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth!) never mind the wall color and paint (only) your cupboards -- a light neutral with warm undertones. Shiitake is a yellow undertone. Pulling a very light shade out of the Shiitake family would probably be the way to go. There are excellent online sources that would make finding that color in any brand a piece of cake, although of course, alternatively, you could ask your SW vendor for help.

My saga continues. Picked up a few quartz samples to check against the Extra White trim, hardwood floor color, and Shiitake wall color. Left to right: Calacatta Ultra , Carrara Marmi (both MSI), and Calacatta Falls (Seasonstone Quartz). Thoughts on these? I have found all of this discussion very helpful, thanks so much:)

I'd definitely remove the speckly granite counter tops. Sorry but to be honest with you they were never a good choice--I always preferred plain white laminate to a granite in that color and pattern.

I'd select the center one (Carrara Marmi) for the least amount of veining. You really should see the slabs for the best representation of the pattern--small samples can be very misleading. Personally I find the dramatic veining in quartz very fake and unrealistic looking, so that's why I would choose the Marmi. The colors all look fine to me.

I'm with @annoulaxeni; don't let people on the internet convince you that you don't like your counter or backsplash if you like your counter/backsplash. If you want to go with quartz, go nuts, but I think taking things incrementally and moving to white cabinets is going to significantly change your space. I think Extra White would be ideal, but the Dove wouldn't bother me either.

diana, have you seen Marmi? It has a lot of squiggly veining with cool gray/blue tones. (it's the carrara knock off)

hard to find good pics of it. here it's used in a rather cool toned kitchen. lots of grays.

Personally I think it's the worst choice out of the 3. But then I see this one and notice it's not that bad. but it also doesn't look like the splotchy blobs either. again, cooler gray tones w/this one

I know her small samples don't show it, which is why I agree w/you in saying that she looks at a full slab. I posted a few pics of each one in my recent comment.

how about MSI Carrara Mist?

I actually like the calacatta laza. these are a bit warmer but do have larger veins

Wendy, here's your Calacatta Falls. Again, look at full slabs.

Finding that the Laza is about $1700-2000 more than the others, so broadening my search. Not ruling that one out, but if another works at a better price point that would be even better.

ah, ok. good point.

MSI Carrara Mist?

do you like the more contemporary large veins or the more muted, subdued blends like this? ^

or this style?

Laza, and calacatta Trevi:

Cal. Classique

I like the smaller veins or subdued blend of the “wispy vein clusters “. The very bold vein look won’t look right in our home. So far, most economical is Marmi at $3800.. Ultra at $4400. Others continue from there, but waiting on pricing on the Calacatta Falls. That one has a hint of brown/taupe around the gray vein. Trying to decide about the veining though, I’ll try to see in person. I’ve seen full slabs of the others.

well I posted a pic of what the Falls look like. it's the bold veins. If you want look, stick w/the Laza. it's the best looking out of all of them.

or, look at the Trevi. that veining is pretty subdued.

have you looked at Quartzite? look at the Macaubas slabs

Hi Beth, I did a search for images of the Carrara Marmi, and from what I saw it was the least patterned. But your photos show it to be very busy, so I would steer clear of it personally. Although engineered quartz is man-made, it still has variation in production lots. I remember Sophie Wheeler comparing quartz production to making a marble cake. You add the darker bits, and really don't have all that control over how it blends together.

So all that being said, when selecting a countertop with any sort of pattern you need to 1. see a very large sample, and 2. view the actual slabs you are going to buy, just like you do with a natural stone.

#1 and 2, completely agree!

Wendy, don't choose from a sample. even a picture. try and see a full piece in person.

even these aren't good enough

Check out Viatera-Minuet. it's been popular

have you looked at Silestone at all?

My favorites are Caesarstone London Gray and Misty Carrara, and Silestone Lagoon.

Lagoon:

Legendary Lane Kitchen Remodel · More Info

London Gray:

Transitional Blue & White Kitchen · More Info

Transitional Kitchen · More Info

Wendy S, what an interesting thread! I sure hope you will let us know what you decide on. I'd love to see photos, too.

We ended up using SW Pure White on cabinets and changed to Carrara Mist counters with a white subway tile. Overall, I’m happy with the change. it lightened up the back of our house a good bit:)

I'm not a pro but for what my opinion is worth, you made beautiful individual choices and they came together beautifully, you have a lovely kitchen. I like your accents, too. Thanks so much for posting photos. Just to clarify - your counter is Carrara Mist, not Misty Carrara, right?

Thanks, I’m hoping these more neutral choices will serve us well. Yes, Carrara Mist.

I think they will - your kitchen looks classic and timeless, and neutral enough to change your decor whenever you want.