I think white would be a nice contrast. I've attached a link to a GW member's (kellienoelle) kitchen that used Delicatus granite & a classic white backsplash. Here is a link that might be useful: Kellienoelle's Dark Cherry & Delicatus Reveal This post was edited by romy718 on Fri, Mar 14, 14 at 21:46

I am having a lot of anxiety over this area and am really hoping for some guidance from all the experienced and gifted posters out there - please! We decided on absolute black honed for the counter - now need to decide the thickness. This dining room butler's pantry in the expanded dining room was suppose to appear like 2 independent furniture pieces. KD's goal was nothing like a kitchenette (or the adjacent kitchen) so he did not want 10 feet of a counter - hence the brown "china cabinet" piece steps back from the black "buffet counter" BUT he also planned for the counter heights to be different. The china cabinet has a thick (almost 4") of a wood slab between base and uppers. And he planned for 2 cm for the buffet. I know it is hard from these pictures (I'll try to get by there to get better ones today) but if we use 2 cm granite as recommended by the KD there will be only like 3/4 of an inch difference. If we use 3cm it could be shimmed up slightly to line up with the base of the routed edge on the dining room piece and seem in line. I don't want the 2cm to look like a mistake - a just miss BUT if the design with the step back already commits us to "mismatch" pieces I don't want to do it half way. HELP. I am at the end of a long line of too many decisions and just want this done and moving forward. Any help, suggestions, questions etc. would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thank you. I agree. We tried to simulate paint colors on Ben Moore website and didn't like how the greys looked with the cabinets. We are leaning toward BM golden straw for the entire first floor to go with the floors and cabinets. Will it be too yellow? And for the granite we looked at Tanami( recently found out it's also called giallo ornamental). It looks creamy with brown specks on it. Would love to hear comments on these selections. Hard to visualize everything but hoping it will all come together in the end.

I agree with @functionthenlook - with so many others using your kitchen maybe Formica is the one! It’s served you well & you may be pleasantly surprised at what today’s Formica looks like vs 30 years ago. That said, there are advantages to man made materials. The one constant caution is do not take pans from oven or stove top & set them on the surfaces but that’s same for Formica. The resins in Corian & quartz may yellow or burn. Corian is repairable, Quartz is not. Both are non porous. Granite is tough & won’t discolor from heat but not advisable to set hot stuff on it either - thermal shock. Bottom line is trivets should always be used no matter the surface & knife cutting should never be done on any counter surface. Not good for counter will /may cut & certainly not good for the knife ETA - all of the counter materials come in light colors & white.. Maybe price should factor in your decision.