You take a 2 dimensional / flat on paper dimensioned plan of the kitchen, TO the stone yard. It shows every wall, window, where the appliances are located. Every last inch, to the speck of that inch.

You do that, because you want to know where and HOW seams will be placed. What will the veining do in a corner with an L shaped kitchen?

It's a forever granite, ............and how does that look with any open or adjacent areas in your home?

Where's the kitchen plan we aren't seeing? The granite we aren't seeing? what is the flooring, the cabinet finish etc? and I realize you did not ASK.

You have no idea what will be "left over" or if you have enough, or need MORE.

You don't need "renderings" for the stone yard . You need the 2 d cad plan, or an incredibly accurate scale drawing you provide.

The scary word here? "Unusual"........so show us the whole finish plan and floor.

The short answer: "yes". the fabricator will take measurements and create a template. But they will not do that until you have the cabinets in.

However, As @JAN MOYER indicated, you should do your homework ahead of time. I recommend creating a to-scale floor plan.

The seams will need to be matched and because you said the granite is unusual, I am going to assume that matching seams will consume more granite that just the square footage you have. Because you want both the counter and the backsplash in this granite, there will be even more matching necessary than a counter alone.

Also, please be careful. If this is a busy granite, will you love it until your next renovation? What about resale? What about the other elements of the home? Does it work with those?

Do you have a kitchen designer you are working with?

Sorry no faricator I know wouldtackle this untilthe cabinets are in place . You can take a drawing to scale all measurements marked and get an answer as to how many slabs you might need but IMO not any more help until the kitchen is installed . BTW I sure hope all the base cabinets are now going to be drawers . IMO a waste of money to do otherwise in any kitchen reno. I think here you could at least post a pic of the slabs you are considering .It also is imperative you post pics of the cabinet style and color and the flooring .

Here is the slab color called Bianco Antico. It is unusual as it is the lightest Bianco Antico we have ever seen. Cabinets are to be a Provincial 211 Stain on Maple, Shaker style with angled edge.

Flooring is to be Unicomstarker Board Paper, which is very neutral.

This is our rough mock up using existing kitchen L shape. The only new addition is the 66" section on back wall.

Cabinets will look similar to this

Here are some story boards I made up. We had to blow the Bianco Antico picture up more so it shows that it has alot of the beige background.

Our other option was the quartzite Taj Mahal

Make sure that the stone yard has at least 3 slabs of that particular granite, and ask if you can put a hold on it until the cabinets are in. You should be able to - sometimes they will let you mark your name on the back of your chosen slabs with marker so they don't get sold.

Try to do a photoshop with this stone on counter and backsplash - I am inclined to say that in a relatively small kitchen, using it on the backsplash might be too much pattern.

It is going to be a lot with that granite on the counter as well as backsplash.

I agree with the previous comments that the cabinets need to be in place so that the fabricator can measure them. Any stone countertop needs to be precisely cut for the space it will be installed in. There's no do-overs with stone and no fudging. Furthermore, you will need to have chosen your sink, so that the sink cutout can be made, though that can be done using the sink's dimensions that the manufacturer provides online.

You can put a downpayment on the granite slabs to hold them. Furthermore, the stoneyard will tag them as yours. You must take photos of the slabs with your tags on them - take photos of the entire slabs to show their individual patterns. I am saying this because it has happened on rare occasions that a stoneyard will switch the slabs, whether by honest mistake or on purpose.

I really like your stone, but I agree with the other comment that it would be too much to have it as a backsplash as well. That stone, with its beautiful patterns and shading, would look wonderful with a plain cream 3x6 subway tile backsplash.

I do not love either granite or Taj top with the flooring, which is not as "neutral" as you believe.

Take a sample back to the stone yard.........put it with both slabs.

What is the flooring in the rest of your home??

I see a significant yellow/green undertone in the floor........triple check yourself , and it is FAR too busy for a back splash .

I think you are loving in isolation. Which is not what happens when ALL is installed.

SOAPSTONE BELOW

Hi Roy - this process is frustrating to say the least. Our hopes were to be able to pick something that will be cohesive in that we could continue it up the backsplash. We can see the kitchen from the living room walkthrough. To me the backsplash is important as that is what you will see from the living room. We are hoping not to have too many/no grout lines on backsplash. (we understand there would be some seaming if using natural stone).

I do see where this Granite may be too busy for backsplash in a 11 x 12 kitchen. So thank you to everyone for their input on that. For this reason we may now have to consider Taj Mahal. Any other Granite we have seen requires a separate backsplash. This to us, means that the artwork would be on the counter and not the backsplash. With Taj we would be able to do both. Also Taj it more readily available everywhere it seems.

We have chosen to pick one Quartz, one Granite and one Quartzite to get pricing on. We have know idea what prices will come in at as the fabricators seem to hold all the cards.

We have been looking for a Granite choice for over a month now. The Astoria is currently on hold by a kitchen company that the Granite place can't get hold of. It is also 3cm and would require a separate backsplash. With the Bianco Antico at 2cm we though it might work for both counter/backsplash. Guess its too busy. Thanks all.

Sorry, I’m no help with your questions. Although I like the Antico granite, I agree that it’s a bit much with a backsplash. The Taj Mahal is so gorgeous and very often used as backsplash, so you’re on point. Taj is always at the top of my wish list. I love your cabinet color - can you well me what they are?

Show pics of the entire space. Half information, gets you half advice including the adjacent spaces.

HI Joan - thanks for your input. The flooring is actually very neutral. In person it reads greige in that if you put it with browns it looks beige - if you put it with black/grey it will look a bit grey. It is listed as a beige on their website: https://www.unicomstarker.com/detail-collection/product/BRD/board (board paper)

We did take a floor sample with us and both went very well. Must be the coloring of the photo over the computer. Thank you.

There are a lot of elements that feed into selecting finishes for a successful kitchen.

A few points. Do NOT blow up the image of the granite to capture a background color. The granite will NEVER read as that background color.

Here is your floor in a 2x2 mosaic tile.

Here are your elements so far. See above.

• I love the floor,
• the cabinet finish, not so much
• the granite.............I'm reserving my judgment. I would probably not recommend granite as IMO it's always too busy in appearance, especially in small spaces.

Did you have an inspirational photo that you were working from?

Hey ConneticutY: The cabinet is a shaker style and ours will have and angled edge inside (for easier cleaning). The stain is Provincial 211 by minwax. The picture is the closest we could find online.

Hi JanMoyer:

The point of the thread was asking about the Natural Stone. We are frustrated with the process for sure. After finding what we though was a good fit - not being able to act on it is frustrating.

I feel I have supplied as many mock ups as I can. As the kitchen is mid tear out I don't think pictures of that would be of use.

More information: The kitchen also has an outside door along the wall between the fridge and the new counter are on back wall. The floring in the next room (which has a walk through) is the old oak strip flooring. This is why we were unable to do a vinyl/plank flooring. The flooring was picked with a designer that we hired to do the colors with. She also helped us (at that point) to pick a Quartz option that we have now put on the bottom of the list as we are preferring natural stone at this point. Hope that helps.

Hey Beverly: Great points. I only blew up the granite to portray how it actually looked when we saw it. Compared to other Bianco Antico granite it had alot of beige/cream spacing in the background between veining (which was unusual from what we had been seeing). So I blew it up so it would look like it actually did. Partial pictures made it look more busy than it actually was.

2 x 2 tile - we were hoping to have very little grout involved in the backsplash. We do know the floor with have variance.

We did not have an inspirational photo we were working from. We had the actual sample of the cabinet from the shop. As it was a 3 x 4 minwax stained maple - we have requested an actual finished product sample from the cabinet maker that we are waiting on - just in case it reads differently. The cabinet photo I used was the closest I could find online. Provincial 211 by minwax usually reads neutral medium brown. Thank you.

Just received some advice from a family member that pretty much sums up how this process in regards to the countertop makes us feel " DO NOT ALLOW ONESELF TO BE FROZEN INTO A STATE OF STATIC IMMOBILITY. " lol

Professional cabinet shops do not use MINWAX on cabinets.

There are all manner of modern finishes that are formulated to take a beating in a kitchen with special final finishes that repel water and cleaning solvents. Shops that fabricate kitchen cabinets on a regular basis use these factory finishes. I certainly hope your cabinets are not being fabricated by some local well meaning craftsman who cannot offer you a good finish.

Hi Beverly: No the cabinets will not be in minwax. The sample color stain was minwax. This is why we have asked for an "actual" finished sample from the cabinet maker. He explained the process by which he finishes his cabinets. He is our contractors recommendation, of whom we trust. I appreciate your concern - I can see where that portion of my post did not reflect the full explanation.

It is really overwhelming to pick everything out - i would say when in doubt go simpler. Your flooring has definite movement and I feel flooring is always a bigger design impact than anticipated. Hang in there!

Maple is VERY difficult to stain well because the grain is so tight and hard.. It can look quite blotchy, and is usually best selected in a factory finished stain. So......despite a great contractor? You need to see many samples from different parts and pieces of the kitchen construction and make certain.

For what it's worth - I like the color of your cabinets!

We built three years ago and used Taj and I am still in love with it EVERY SINGLE DAY! It’s soft w a little warmth and would have run it up the back splash but money constraints dictated otherwise. I still love it and think it is longer lasting than a busy pattern. (See my old posts w pics if you like as well.)I know it’s nerve racking but just take a deep breath and trust yourself. It’ll all be fine as both are pretty! I tend to lean minimalist when in doubt. Good luck!

I'd encourage you to go with what you like. On Houzz there is sometimes overwhelming concern for the tastes of some hypothetical future buyer that results in boring, boring choices of finishes and colors (hence all those white kitches and gray walls). We have full height backsplashes and counters made from a wild and colorful granite. I enjoy looking at the big bold swirls and the close up inticasies of the amazing rock structure every single day (gives me something to do while washing dishes!); I don't give a tinker's damn about what the next guy will think of it.

Also FWIW, as a woodworker, I generally try to avoid coloring wood, instead choosing wood for my projects that starts out the color I want without alteration-- it's a much safer and easier path! However, I use tons of curly and birdseye maple and frequently use mostly dyes and occasionally pigment stains to bring up the grain patterns. I find maple to be one of the easier woods to color in general; if someone is managing to get blotching on maple it indicates that they're pretty bad at what they do, using the wrong materials and techniques.