I definitely don't want wood, but thanks for the suggestion. I'm a little bummed tonight because I went to buy a sample of the tile backplash I liked, but the shade of the current batch has more beige brown in it and I liked the charcoal greys that were more prominent. I was too delayed in buying it! Anyway, I did some looking and decided that Corian is not an option in a darker color. Didn't like it. Can't use laminate because of the undermount sink. Lab counters don't sound like a great fit. I think they might be too dark also. Here's my options I think: 1)Honed Granite: if I want to risk the staining issues. No scratching or heat worries right? Perfect color choice. 2)Quartz: risk of chemical stains, risk of heat damage from griddles, slow cookers. No scratches, perfect color choice. 3)Stainless: No staining, heat damage, and scratches only add to the look. Not a perfect color choice. 4)Soapstone: Great color, not staining, no heat damage. Chips easily? It would appear that stainless is a great option for the durability but I really want a tile backsplash. I liked the look of marble mosaic because the pattern was small and from a distance, it would look uniform. I want to look somewhat industrial but not 100%. My floor tile looks like a rusty metal. In the daylight, depending on the angle, it is very reflective, like an old mirror. Without daylight, it has the copper/bronze color more. It is the most awesome tile!! But, I want some warmth. I will have tongue and groove ceiling painted to match the cabs. So would stainless counters be too much metallic? Would they work with a darker tile backsplash. I also like a 1x2 multicolor slate backsplash or something like these: http://www.missionstonetile.com/products/17-Tabarka/tabarka-med-10 Here's my faucet and sink too: How do these compare to each other in price. I have no idea. We supposedly are able to get less expensive AB granite here because it is quarried locally.

I would advise you avoid doing business with AZ tile and Dean Jessup specifically. We had a horrible experience with them. Don't expect them to act with integrity or stand behind their product. We used a fabricator that was a personal referral from him. When we had discoloration and fingerprints that wouldn't come off of our Della Terra quartz he informed me I must have "scarred" it by cleaning with a paper towel. ( I called him within an hour of the fabricator leaving). We paid beyond stone to buff it with a cleaner at their recommendation. It mostly resolved the issue although as a result of the buffing the gloss and sheen no longer match our perimeter counters. Best we can figure out the fabricator applied turtle wax or something similar to disguise striations around the sink cutout. Which is why fingerprints couldn't be cleaned off. We still have some smudges. Bottom line rather than try to help us resolve the issue he was hostile and accusatory. He said the fabricator (a friend of his apparently) said it was fine so we must have done something. Do business with them at your own risk.

How do you plan to get it smooth? After I did my walkway and was starting on renovating my kitchen, my boss jokingly suggested doing the same thing for my kitchen counters, I thought about it for a minute and dismissed it thinking I would never be able to get it smooth enough. That was my first time working with stone though, and it was very primitive. If I couldn't find a piece to fit where I wanted I would take a bigger piece and drop it on the driveway and it would turn into 3 new pieces.

In terms of overall length, I have from left to right: 48" Freezer(18")/Fridge(30") 3/4 inch side cover panel 120" counter top, therein 36" induction cook top 3/4 inch side cover panel 30" wall ovens 48" pantry (2x24" high cabinets) 2" cover panel to the wall = 249.5" Total I've been going back and forth on the hood. It's probably the most discussed item. Originally we planned to get a custom hood liner built for an insert hood, but now we are leaning towards this very basic BOSCH pull out hood. Minimum mounting clearance over cooktop is 25 3/5". There is no maximum clearance given in the spec sheets. It should come in right around 30-32" clearance (math: 84" tall cab (incl. toe kick) - 36" base cabinets - 15" wall cab to mount the hood to - 2" for the hood hardware = 31"), which is very average as far as I can tell. I was planning to build a custom open cabinet left and right of the hood cabinet which will probably be around 16-17" high to seamlessly integrate the pull-out. See inspiration below.