@Beth H. - thank you for your comments. I don't think we want to have dark counter tops. The kitchen is open to our family room. The minimal wall space in the kitchen will be painted a light blue color, as will the walls in the family room. We were thinking about: a) white cabinets and island b) the Calacatta gold marble 3" x 6" tiles for the back splash c) light(ish) counter tops on the perimeter and island (perhaps with some grey coming through d) medium brown hardwood floors We thought about using walnut for the island surface, but decided against it due to maintenance issues. If we didn't want to have dark counter tops, are there any other options? Thanks!

Our painter has done many homes' cabinets. They use a semi-gloss and it looks great. Just not sure how long-lasting it will be. (We will probably sell in 5 years.). The veining on the Botanica is pretty light. The older version of it - when it was made in China - was much darker.

Thank you! i guess i should have worded that differently! Our cabinets are already finished, and they are a very bright white. So now I am trying to figure out what counter goes with that!

We just had our LG Muse installed today. We also have light gray cabinets. (They were cherry, spent the summer sanding, sanding, sanding.) The kitchen isn't done (still need to hang floating shelves and put some subway tile in.... but, I LOVE the quartz. It took me a long time to pick out this quartz, and in the end, I liked the brightness and the subtlety-- I don't feel like it will become dated looking. I don't think I got many close ups, but here is a pic I took after install.