As a comparison this is what we did have. We found a yard that had slabs with a very similar balance of colors, but while we do love it, we don't love it enough for their price. We're no designers, but we thought this would have made a fun kitchen.

Although as a follow-up question: what are people's opinions of mixing SS appliances with gold fixtures? This was a debate we had been having.

Also, we will be doing flat-panel cabinets, and we want to waterfall edges on the peninsula with the counter material. I know some hate the waterfall counters, but I like the "movement" of the stone and I think it'll look neat.

Awesome slab! Those are mini-faults and fractures. Rock-n-roll!

Really neat slab you found. In general I like a moody kitchen so the dark cabinets work for me. How much light does the room get?

SS appliances and brass sink and fixtures are fine I think.

Cityside West · More Info

I think adding some natural color elements in, it will look amazing. Obviously not the same counters, but you get the idea

I'm a stone person and LOVE the new selection, I've never seen it before. Be super careful (re waterfall) that the slabs are truly "book matched" and have the fabricator look at them so he can order the correct number of slabs. Such a unique stone might take more slabs (than you think) to carry the pattern (as much as possible) down the sides.

I could see that pairing beat with a light colored whiteish gray cabinet. Too dark will make the entire kitchen seem dark. Just my .02.

LOve it!

I love your selections to go with the slab!

What a beautiful stone. Hard to stop looking at it. Just so very beautiful.

In general love all your selections..you know the space of course, I don't. Light it gets, size, layout?

Yes, one can mix stainless steel with warmer finishes, and with great results too, depending on proportions, their idea of the space as a whole, etc.

.

Thanks, everyone!

@chiflipper - Thanks for the advice. The fabricator will be going out to check them to make sure they're appropriate for what we're wanting. So far, we only need 2 slabs. The stone hard has more, but fingers crossed we don't need to add a third slab. The nice thing is that these are actually less expensive than what we had originally bought!

@louislinus - It gets decent lighting. It is on the northwest corner of the house; it adjoins the living room which has a few windows and sliding doors, and the kitchen itself has sliding doors (north facing), and window garden (window box? not sure what they're called) and a skylight.

@millworkman - That's what we want to avoid. I'm more of a risk-taker than the hubs, but I can be happy with something lighter. We're also still choosing our floor, so that'll play a big factor.

@karin_mt - Mini-faults, is that something the fabricator will already know, or should we advise them? I'm confident in their expertise, and I'm grateful to them for going out to examine the initial slabs before we bought them, then rejecting their delivery when they found damage to them upon delivery. The stone company was telling us they were fine and their expert had checked them out and found no damage after they were returned, but one of the fabricators went back there with us and told them that no, the damage they refused the slabs for were not there when they first saw them. Anyway, all that to say, should I mention this to the fabricators, or will they just look at me like, duh, lady.

@Jennifer Havin - I love the idea of some natural wood with it. We were originally wanting natural wood, but the floors we've been liking have heavy grain and we thought it would be too much with everything else going on. Currently, we're going with painted maple for the cabinets. But I'm going to look into this, because I think it would be beautiful.

@aprilneverends - Our kitchen gets the best light in the afternoons, as it's on northwest side of the house. It's in a shared space with the living room and between the two rooms there are two sliding doors (normal size, not those big beautiful sliding doors that take up an entire wall), a few windows, and box window over the sink, and a skylight. I've got a file with the floor plan.. somewhere >.<

Yes, I would talk to the fabricators about the structure of the stone - can't hurt.

When this stone was underground, it got pulled apart which broke it and made little tiny faults (breaks where the two sides moved relative to each other). By following the pattern you can see they are what geologists call 'normal faults,' which come from the stone stretching apart. 'Reverse faults' happen when the stone is compressed and crunched together.

Some of the patterns in the stone are fractures - meaning the stone broke but didn't move.

In any case, all of these have now healed and are glued shut by new minerals filling in the cracks. That's what the white color is. It's most likely quartz. The stone isn't necessarily any weaker, but it could be. The fabricator will probably get a feel for that when they start working with the stone.

When templating, it's probably a good idea to not have any of the fractures be near an overhang if the fracture line is parallel to the edge of the overhang.

If it were me, I would definitely use a stone like this. The pattern is wonderful and getting the stone installed in one piece is the fabricator's job. If they're willing to do it, I'd be willing to buy it.

Have fun with it and enjoy a little slice of Earth's tectonic history!

Such a cool slab! Go for it. No advice on cabinet colors other than you may want to grab some wood at your local hardware store, paint them a few of the different colors you’re gravitating toward and hold them next to the slab. See what you think. I’d bring some lighter and dark samples.

As for the b/s, not that you asked, I would keep it simple. No mosaic... there’s so much movement in that stone, it would just be too much. Not sure how much b/s space you have, but maybe continuing the stone on your walls is an option...

As cited by @megs1030, be super careful with the backsplash. You might want to see if back-painted glass would serve. And remember - there's nothing wrong with not having a tiled splash. My galley kitchen has no splash (not even the 4 inch) on the sink wall, just a good quality paint. This was decided upon because the opposite wall (cooktop / has no uppers) is a 8x5 foot slab of the same granite as my countertops. Sometimes "less is more".

If you're getting this, don't have anything else eye-catching to compete with it-this should be the focal point. As for the dark colors, it depends-does your kitchen have a lot of natural light, windows, glass panes on doors? Is the kitchen large/airy? If you answered yes to those questions then I think it MIGHT possibly be okay. But that's a big maybe. Yet, I worry that in 5-10 years, if you painted the cabinets dark gray, with that slab, that you might begin to hate the almost gothic feeling it'd portray. The kitchen is a lot of the time the heart of the home, and I fear guests and family would find it depressing. IMO, I'd go with an extremely cool toned white for the cabinets but get matte black fixtures (black metal stove hood, almost french in design, matte black faucet, drawer handles, etc. and a couple of pendant lights with a matte black metal drum shade)-it would be a cool contrast with a nice transition from white, to shades of grey on the slab, to a matte black, textured finish on the fixtures

What is this quartzite called?

@Rachel - per the stone yard, it is called "Caitite".

@Ciara Stone - I agree with making this the focal point. We've got good afternoon light in the kitchen with windows and sliding doors, and a skylight. The living room is adjoined to the kitchen; it's white with black, grey, and gold accents. I'm not against something lighter, and your advice is certainly true. I've got a darker dining room and have had it for about 6 years, but so far I still enjoy looking at it. But paint and accessories are certainly easier to change than cabinet colors!

@megs1030 and @chiflipper - good food for thought on the backsplash. We had originally thought about a herringbone glass tile, and was thinking the same. Too busy? I'm going to wait until everything else is done before deciding on the backsplash. We have the sink side of the counter that has the box window in front of the sink; we're planning to do two floating shelves on either side of the sink and I was thinking to do tile up that wall. I do love a beautiful tile, but you're both right about letting the stone shine.

I'd be considering a natural white oak or a DeVol type putty color.

@karin_mt - Thank you so much for the education on what causes the stone to look like this! It makes me appreciate its beauty that much more. I have onyx in one of our guest showers and I'll sometimes look at all the rings of color in it and imagine how much time is represented on those tiles.

@barncatz - thank you! I'll make note of those, I've not heard of Devol before. =)

I am SO happy that your other slabs broke because the new one is FABULOUS!!!

PLEASE post pics when your kitchen is done

@Melissa R - I'm not upset at all! And I will be sure to add photos =)

We just picked out this exact quartzite for our new kitchen. Love it!!! Please send pics as you install! We are doing a mix of dark grey and natural wood cabinets and only using this stone for our 11 foot island! Then a white porcelain for outer countertops, we think. Also have white oak hardwood floors. Good luck!