I love the leathered uba tuba. I almost got it for my own house.

To me the floor would look better if you could paint the grout the color of the tiles. Ilike the Ubatuba because it isn't too dark, but it picks up the color of your beautiful backsplash.

Forget the counters! What a beautiful cat! So jealous.

But I am actually gonna agree with Patricia on countertops and say granite is the answer. I, too, adore Uba Tuba. It’s classic for a reason, and bulletproof. You might also find a slab of Verde Butterfy or Costa Esmerelda that would match, granite names being rather subjective. Rainforest is gorgeous and dramatic, but would likely require you replace your backsplash, which I really love. Good luck, show us your after pics.

absolutely would take bordeaux granite in polished. change the hardware and get one of the arctic white appliance packages...the newer white finish / w simple white subway backsplash ..... perfect.

OMG. LOVE your windows!

I’m a soapstone fan, as I have it in my own kitchen. But Uba Tuba, I have to agree is a great classic stone. I have Uba Tuba in a little kitchenette in a studio apartment. It stands up to everything! When my kids come to visit, at least some of them stay there, grandkids, their friends, lots of people. It looks as beautiful as the day it was installed. You can’t go wrong with either.

Thanks everyone for the feedback! Right now we do have a darker countertop and I really like it. I just don't think I can bring myself to do a polished granite in this house....at least a dark one. It just doesn't seem like it would fit. I love love LOVE the bordeaux but worry that it's not a good match for the house either.

I can't get past the idea of soapstone, it's so timeless, but worry about what kind of floor -- wood is not an option. I'd have to either stick with this tile or find another tile option I think.

The design issues that are in the kitchen will probably stay unaddressed unfortunately. It's our forever home but traveling is priority #1 so we chip away at changes when we can make them. Cabinet paint a couple years ago, new countertop now. Those kitchen tiles are also 20 years old so that's a reason I'd consider the change. We did the entire kitchen ourselves on a very tight budget as young teachers. Now we want some nicer things but within a budget. Even considering doing the soapstone DIY.

We have marble hex tiles in our downstairs bathroom and I think it might be cool to have a similar theme in the kitchen. I like these.

This would be my dream kitchen basically but my partner doesn't like the tile color.

I would do stainless appliances.

Check out large format porcelain tile - large format with a rectified edge means no grout lines (just a few seams like you'd have with granite), and the material is amazing. No maintenance, basically impossible to damage, inexpensive, and comes in every color/pattern/sheen you can imagine. It's been popular in Europe for a while, and now you can get 2' x 4' tiles pretty easily in the US (even the big box stores have a wide selection) - that lets you go full countertop depth with one tile. I put some in my kitchen last year, and I love them (I went with a copper Schluter Rondec-CT edge for a more modern look, but you can also get matching bullnose or do a 45 degree miter)

The other really nice thing, because they're cheap and easy to get, is that you can get samples of different colors and try them out. I had 5 different styles up on my old counters at one point, which let me find the ones that went perfectly with my cabinets.

My choice- soapstone with a different floor tile. The ubbatuba if you stick with that tile. Your inspration pic is lovely.

Why can’t you have soapstone? I think it looks very nice with what you have. I love the green cabinets, but I dont care for the busy, busy bordeaux with them. on my screen , it is going pink, and taking away from the pretty green. I am intrigued by Patricia’s suggestion of cement floor tile pulling green from the cabs. Would be lovely.

when I see older cabs that have had the recent paint job I almost always think a patterned granite is better than solid blacks /grays or /white. sometimes a corian works. the cabs are still older/ my belief is the pattern/ some color in the counter gives a lift whereas the simplified blacks etc land with a "thud" visually and accentuate "older cabs got painted" . Presume this will be your space for a good amt of time.....while newer kitchen cabinet themes/ textures/ materials are all consistently evolving/changing. Granite is an excellent classic material /cost effective and you can find one you like.... go for the more visual interest for an older space . I wouldnt do uba tuba or any black.

I love your green cabinets and large windows! If you have the budget and are willing to take on a larger project at this time, I would go with the soapstone counters (I love soapstone and am considering it for my kitchen reno) AND a new cooler neutral or greyish tile floor. The ones you've shared that have caught your eye seem like they would look good with soapstone. I don't think most soapstone would look very good with your current floor, however. There are some that lean more blue and green that could look okay with current floor, but they'd be harder to coordinate with your green cabinets. Your home looks warm and inviting and has a nice style that looks like it has come together over time. So as long as you love the choices you're making and they function well enough for you and are in your budget, thats all that matters!

All really good things to think about, everyone. Thanks so much! For some reason I really don't like stainless appliances, so we are sticking with white. Will likely do Fisher Paykel induction range to match our new fridge. Love our Bosch dishwasher so much but also intrigued by dish drawers.

We did put some soapstone samples up against the backsplash and it looks great still. May just get the countertop installed and then decide about the floor -- love the idea of cement tiles with some green and gray in them to pull things together, but not sure how that would look with the backsplash. That's the problem with doing things in bits I guess. haha. Oh well, also part of the fun. We get subtle changes every 3-5 years or so and always feel like we are evolving and updating.

As much as I love the bordeaux granite, I think it's pretty busy too, especially for our small kitchen. I hadn't ever even once thought about large format tiles...it's a concept to consider for sure.

I've always learned so much from this site -- way back to when it was GW. Thanks again and of course I would welcome more comments and ideas always.

I love your idea of hex tiles on the foor! If I had to do a tile floor I definitely would have gone with a hex tile. The terracota color you like is timeless, though I would personally prefer a different colorway.

Take a look at steel granite leathered. It is a darker more uniform granite and would probably work well for the look you are going for. It is also supposed to be budget friendly and indestructible.

I think Herbflavor's point about painted cabs going well with granite better than solid colors is spot on. I like "unknown granite" #2. It may be the picture but it seems "softer" to go nicely with the green.

So I took a look at leathered steel granite and I think I might like that even better than soapstone! I'm going to see if my fabricator can do some of the above granites in a leathered appearance. The thing I didn't like about some of those samples was the shininess, but the leathering solves that.

Soapstone is a classic for craftsman style. Maybe black and white tile for the floor?