Hi Everyone, Thank you all for your very wonderful and positive postings! I've appreciated your suggestions too! Yes, it is a wonder when I wake up and see it in the morning sun, and yes, we finally are getting some sun up here in the NW - it's been a long winter! You all have made me feel better about spending the extra money for this material. We had no idea when we picked it that it was 4 to 5 times the cost of Carrara material only! But, my husband and I both knew we had found a special lot and when we received the pricing back, he was the one to say -"we need to go for it!" In his mind, he felt we would be crazy to spend less money and think about what was missing (what could have been) every time we walk into the kitchen. We plan on staying here at least until we retire and probably longer, so we could pro-rate it in our minds. taliaferro, egganddart49 - As for the origins of the stone, here's what I know from the professionals who've worked with me on this project and what I can remember from Arch History.... Wikipedia "Carrara is a city in the province of Massa-Carrara (Tuscany, Italy), famous for the white or blue-gray marble quarried there." I was told that Calacatta comes from one particular mountain and that the Gold is quarried in one area and the Classic in another. The Classic is what was used for the most famous of the "white" Roman statues. It typically has a white background with black and grey veining. Mine has a little more of the gold-brown tones and the fabricator thinks through the years the Gold and Classic quarries are getting a little closer to each other. It is not from the same quarry as Carrara - it has the pale blue-grey background that the Wikipedi definition mentions - and that was why we spent the extra $ for the Calacatta. mustbnuts - I think we may have found a hardware solution, but I'm going out today to confirm. The finish we selected is called old silver and it looks like a well used piece of silver with a bit of tarnish. As soon as I know, I will post a picture. Claybabe - "next to it" syndrome, understand that, we lived it for 16 years at our old house - and, I'm in the business! No, we actually have the rest of the main floor done. The kitchen was the last piece after moving here three years ago. I was really only referring to some furniture in the family room that is a mishmash of a couple new pieces with leftovers from our last house. The remodeling "c'est fini" on the main floor, but I need to spend some money on the interior goods. Oofasis - Yes, I will post photos of the stained cabinets soon. I have some good points racked up with a client of mine who is a prof. photographer and he is going to shoot the kitchen when done. Oofasis, jkom51, amanda-t - I have selected the backsplash, even before the slab and we are going to stick to it. It is a Thassos (white sparkly marble) 3" x 6" brick with beveled edge. http://www.pentalonline.com/swatch/akdo/akdo.html They also carry it in Calacatta, but we want the focus to stay on the counters and cabinets. It will be clean and simple. RMKitchen - Brooke, are you feeling better yet? Hope so, 5 days is too long! Thanks for your comments, as always! If you ever make it out to the Seattle area, you are welcome in my kitchen anytime! rachelen - We got rid of our nook - that's where the bay window is, they were tall windows and we raised them up to counter depth. I love looking out at the backyard instead of the front while I'm at the sink. The overall dimensions are about 12' x 19'6" and it's wonderful! The island is plenty of casual dining area for us and our dining room is really going to benefit from being used more - regular weekday dinners are now going to be in the the dining room - fancy that! lagrant - LMAO - kitchen porn, now there's a potential thread title for you! The cabinets came from Canyon Creek in Monroe, WA. They have grown to a fairly large company and may be available in other locations. We also looked at Omega and KitchenCraft, but I also didn't care for their distressed black look and the charcoal stain was too transparent for what we wanted. The Canyon Creek is an ebony stain on maple and is available in a solid body stain with satin finish, burnished and distressed. In the end, we chose to go with the burnished, which is almost solid black, but a small amount of wipe through on the last coat of stain. We figured it would be a bit more forgiving of dings - we do not and will not live in a museum! The only other option we considered was a custom paint grade cabinet and painting them ourselves - my husband has some history of painting and we did it before at our last house, first painted the kitchen white - then 9 years later painted them ruby red. But, we really didn't want to take on that project if we could avoid it! kitchenkelly, houseful,jaedwards, trudymom, lnersesian, marthvila (plain brown paper wrapper - LOL), cat-mom, loves2cook4six, napagirl, nuccia, susan4664 : Thanks all of the kind words! You can't know how many of your posts on other threads has helped me make decisions on my own kitchen !

Has anyone from this post installed Neolith slab countertops in the north NJ area? I recently reached out to the local Neolith distributor in my area, HG Stones, to get a quote on replacing our current granite countertops (35 sq. ft) and backsplash (32 sq. ft). HG Stones referred to me to one of their local partners to coordinate an estimate/fabrication/install. For 12mm polished Estatuario countertop with mitered edge and 6mm backsplash I was quoted just over $11k for the job; does this seem about right to you (~$167 / sq ft, installed)? Also, can I be confident that the partner they referred me to is skilled in Neolith fabrication/installation or should I go back and try to work with HG Stones, the local Neolith distributor in my area (per Neotlith's website), directly? My last question: Neolith appears to have a 20mm thickness slab product out now. Has anyone see or had this thickness installed? How's it hold up/compare to the 12mm version?

kim k: So, so sorry I didn't reply to your post. The grit/counter issues were resolved, sort of, in that I settled for a crappy job and had to move on with my life. The ugly details here, if you care to see/read. Scroll down to 6/10/2017, 1:08 p.m. post for the small claims update. The entire process has paralyzed me to a point where we are still without a backsplash. I'm so gun shy about hiring anyone at this point, DH and I have been contemplating DIY. I just need to get up the energy to find someone local (a master/certified tiler) who will take the job. (If anyone in the Houston area can recommend someone, I'm all ears. No disrespect to handyman-types who might do a great job, but I don't want to take any chances.) Over the past 18 months, I've turned my attention to something more gratifying and soul fulfilling than being angry about my kitchen: butterfly gardening! Butterflies will not fail you, people. :) --------- It you have specific questions, kim k, perhaps I can at least provide my experiences (i.e., are you considering having macaubus/calacatta quartzite honed?). I took these pics just now -- in many parts of the stone, these bright white veins (some of which I pointed out above) are still quite visible. (Click to enlarge.) Pic #2: The white arrow points to a pit I noticed this morning. So, I grabbed a safety pin and lightly scratched at the bright white spot in Pic #1: it very easily powdered up and resulted in another little hole. I'm so apathetic about my tops, I don't care any more about creating another hole -- at least it's in a relatively unused part of the counter run (but not less visible, as the area sits right beneath a window). So, perhaps stone that arrives polished should not be honed/leathered by the fabricator on this end. Dunno. But that would be something my fabricator should have realized and perhaps warned against -- i.e., that veins might be opened up, exposing, what, resin? I'm assuming that's what the white powder is. If Karin is reading this, perhaps she can advise: a quartzite vein shouldn't be powdering like this, correct? Or is it possible this powder does naturally occur? I just wouldn't have thought ANYTHING in a slab of quartzite would be affected by the head of a safety pin. And for anyone wondering, Tenax Proseal sealant did the job: our tops are very resistant to both water- and oil-based liquids.

Thank you! The cabinets and trim are the same color. The color is Shiloh’s Polar white- It’s a soft white. Shiloh is owned by WW Wood. I’m pretty sure they use Benjamin Moore but I don’t know if the name they call it is the actual BM name. You could try calling them and ask what brand and exact color it is. If you’d like a close match for a different brand I’d suggest borrowing a Shiloh Polar sample from a cabinet store that Carrie’s Shiloh and take it to a paint store and I’m sure they can color match. Good luck!