I think you should consider what it’ll look like in your own kitchen. Everyone’s natural light, light fixtures, slabs, etc are unique. Also, I’m sure it’s possible that some slabs out there actually have beige. It’s not unusual to have natural stone vary widely.

I agree with Connecticut Yankee..

Lighting can drastically change the color white or gray or beige. Windows can change lighting, LED or electrical light fixtures can also change colors. Take your cabinet door with your to the slab granite yard and study it with a few flashlights.

A great article on lighting

Help!! I new WHITE kitchen cabinets look yellow!

See how many variations of the same stone below

Transitional Kitchen Remodel Edgewater, MD by Reico Kitchen & Bath · More Info

12804 - Silver Cloud Granite Project · More Info

Don't go by a sample--it could be old or from a different slab than you are considering.

The slabs you posted look gray/white/black to me, not beige at all. Very pretty stone.

Yes, looking at the exact slab in my kitchen would be ideal, but unfortunately that's not possible lol. I did try my phone flashlight to see how it looked. I was just wondering if anyone with this granite had a similar impression of theirs.

The sample I got is more beige than the slabs I saw I think. And I think it'll be ok. I'm looking at it in different lights at home.

Backsplash will be tricky since the kitchen guy said I should have that all picked out and ordered before the countertop is installed--which I understand. That way there's no delay. But it's going to be a little tough

It’s much better to wait to choose backsplash after your countertops are installed. Some people have waited as much as a year or two. No need to rush. Don’t let your “kitchen guy” pressure you. You don’t want to have any regrets on your choices.

It’s almost impossible to choose the right backsplash before you install the slab in your kitchen. You have different lighting in your house and the backsplash is a vertical space.

I understand the contractor wants you to have everything there when he comes, but it’s easy to mess up the backsplash choice picking it in a tile store.

Did they bring the slabs outside? In my experience they are willing to do that so you can at least compare your 2 contenders under the same light source. Also if you have the design they can blue tape your layout on the slabs and you can get an idea of what your favorite parts of the slab will look like all together. It may be that the tan parts of the slabs don’t need to be used.

The contractor said....

"Backsplash will be tricky since the kitchen guy said I should have that all picked out and ordered before the countertop is installed--which I understand."

NO NO No NO !!! A thousand no's

Do not fall for one single word of that bullshit ( pardon my Francais)

You could tile a backsplash a year from now!

It can not go on until the tops are in place. Get samples, line them up and select after install. It goes on in a day, gets grouted the next day. There will be no tragedy in a clean painted wall for weeks! Don't make that commitment yet, and you said "tricky", so I want to know more.

What are your cabinets, the flooring? Tops are but one part of a whole. You are seeing "beige" in these tops? I don't see it, and even if faint, the GRAY is going to dominate.

What is the layout, do you know where the seams will be? Do you have a corner turn in the perimeter? In short? Show the rest!

Before you settle on this granite? You take a drawer face, unscrewed TO THE SLAB, and in daylight.

i still want pictures of the existing kitchen : ) and the rest of the plan .

You may end up thanking me: ) or NOT, but nothing to lose by putting it all out there, and everything to gain.

I'll ask him again about the backsplash. If we wait months, I imagine we'll need to hire someone to do that separately, which is not a big deal. He even broke out backsplash separately from the rest of the labor, saying that people often do that themselves or hire someone else.

Floor is red oak--regular bruce flooring. Nothing fancy. Perimeter cabinets are natural maple and the island will be a darker brown.

I'm so *done* with shopping for granite, I'm not sure I want more opinions lol. My main thing was not to have brown countertops with the brown floor and brown cabinets. Too much brown, even though there's contrast.

I don't know yet where the seam will be. Countertop on sink wall is about 9.5 ft, then turn a corner and have 2ft more, then stove and another 15" countertop on the other side. Island is about 4ft x 3ft.

Regarding the backsplash - first, I want to reiterate that you should wait to choose a backsplash until everything else is installed. Second, I always advise people to remove the backsplash from the GC's Scope of Work. Then later, hire someone yourself to install the backsplash. The advantages to doing that are: takes the pressure off you, but more importantly, when you hire your own backsplash installer you are hiring someone who only does tile work every day, and they are going to have the expertise. As opposed to the GC who just gets someone on his crew to do it who will not have that level of skill. We have seen many times on this forum examples of the GC's tile installer not being that good.

Regarding the Viscon granite, I'll link a thread with 150 or so comments that has a lot of photos of this granite that you may find useful. Also, keep going to other stoneyards if you can to see more slabs. Or ask the 2 stoneyards to show you more Viscon granite slabs. Usually I think that Viscon granite has more white in its background than beige so I am surprised to see your post about the beige.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2690316/do-you-like-your-viscont-white-granite-counters

I understand design fatigue.

But this your money. There are tops in materials OTHER than granite. ".....Quartzite in perhaps Taj Mahal ? Brown, brown brown..doesn't dictate this top above all others.

Why is the island being stained when you are already in wood overload? What about painted?

You seem unwilling to show the exact samples, we're not even sure if this is refresh, or gut or??

But to turn the design fatigue, to oh, I'm "soooo over it"? Just remember you'll live with the result long after the "moolah" is spent.

Note? You want to know exactly where that seam will be , ( middle of the sink is best ) and how it will turn and which direction for the veining.

At the very least? Take the two dimensional feet and inches Layout PLAN to the stone yard.

That's one of my favorite stones, in part because it's a crisp, cool white. My brother has it and indeed it looks white - not beige - in his case.

Jany Moyer, I don't happen to have kitchen pictures of my current/original kitchen to upload. It is a total gut, so that would not be useful for this discussion. The island is being stained dark brown because that's what I chose. I don't want painted cabinets. *shrug*

I've been looking seriously at granite for several weeks and thinking about it/casually looking for months. I decided on granite for its properties--decided against quartzite and quartz. Taj Mahal is brown, so not sure why you're suggesting that. I only asked if others with this stone see it as white white or more beige in between the gray/black.

I will, at some point, know where the seam will be. The two slabs I'm considering will be work, imo, for my countertop layout. I don't need to take a diagram to the stone yard to see.

I also know what else is going on in my life and I'm trying to make this decision to free up brain space for other things.

fwiw, here's my kitchen layout. It's been tweaked since this but this is basically it.

This is my cabinet color around the perimeter.

This is the island color

@karin_mt thanks for your response.

After seeing your cabinet colors, especially the perimeter, I would not use that granite.

I'm going for this kind of look

Modern Maple Kitchen · More Info

Cgs

I love your 2# and 3# inspiration photos. They are a bit darker more gold than the cabinet you are showing you have chosen. I love the slab backsplash look. I have it myself so I am totally biased.

Do you have to use that granite? I am seeing granite in your space but a different one.. Maybe Karin_MT can give you some suggestions.

I happen to love this combo below. The warmth of your yellow wood and brown wood work nicely with Yellow River Granite.

If your cabinets were like your inspiration photo than I think you could do this stone. For some reason the cool stone seems to be fighting with the warm woods.

Your inspiration photos is this cabinet below.

The wood will darken/yellow over time. I see what you mean, but I think it'll be ok. But I appreciate you putting that together like that. It helps.

I've been worried about the silver cloud having these beige areas, but I think it will look fine if it does--creamy white rather than white white? I don't think it's as beige as the sample I got, but also don't think it's as white white as it looks in the picture. I've also read (probably here) that if you want white countertops with natural maple, it should be pure white, rather than a creamy warm? I don't know. Again, i think either can look ok. I guess I'm not good with the tones/undertones and maybe that just means it's all fine to me. I don't think you have to stick with all warm or all cool.

I was talking to an acquaintance today who's an architect, and while she's not an interior designer by training she does do stuff like this and talked about warm/cool, undertones, etc and she thought it would work, but she may have just been trying to make me feel good lol.

My bedroom is yellow and gray. I guess I like the combination.

Yes, the cabinets in your inspiration photos are much less yellow than the one you posted. You would need to see all the materials in one place with your own eyes to determine if they work well. The last photo Boxerpal posted looks great, but your cabinets don't look like that.

There's no prohibition against warm and cool colors, it's a matter of how it all looks together. I recently did a home office that's gray cabinetry, gray grasscloth and gray fabrics. But to warm it up we used cherry wood on the desk top, a honey oak floor and a caramel color ottoman. Cool and warm, and it looks awesome.

Make sure the elements work together. I would hate to have you love the maple cabinets and love the granite and then decide they look awful in your house together.

I know you’re “granite weary” but was there any River White granite at the stone yards? Did you bring one of your doors with you? It’s not too late to take one door to the slab you love and check how they look. You will never regret another visit but might regret NOT doing this again. (Been there - granite shopping can make you exhausted. Found mine at the FIFTH place we visited and I was not having fun anymore. So,of course we found 5 slabs of what I wanted when the other 4 places had nothing like it. Hang in there!)

River White was one of the first that caught my eye and I got a sample and looked at it several times at different places. I just couldn't get on board with the purple spots. I wanted to love it but just couldn't. Even on my last visit when I was looking at Viscount White, I kept trying to accept the purple spots on the River White slabs and couldn't.

I only have a small sample of my wood for the cabinet. Maybe I'll borrow a door sample and take another look. The color is not as yellow as it looks in the image I posted.

I think this is a bit more accurate, though the grain more subtle. I don't know--maybe looks a little pink here and it's not pink at all, but I think this is closer in color.

Well that's a horse of a different color! It could work.

Put 'em all together and see how you like it.

These choices look great to me, but I'm a geologist not any kind of designer. Viscont White is a clean and uncomplicated color, which is why I like it. But then again, I always lean toward cool colors so maybe that's part of my preference for it.

I need @Boxerpal to put them together for me lol. I might go back with a door and look at it again. The closer stone yard isn't that far.

Go to the stone yard! Reassurance is good.

Thought I'd post some (almost) finished photos. I love it. I don't think the natural maple is necessarily showing true to color here.

No corner cabinet. All drawers!

Very excited about my new drawers!

Closeup of cab/corner

Still need backsplash and paint. Struggling with backsplash.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/6468859/backsplash-for-natural-maple-with-silver-cloud-granite

Looks GORGEOUS! And yes, nothing is better than deep drawers!

The countertop looks perfect….😊

Thanks!

Oh I also wanted to mention that the seam is absolutely invisible. I know where it is, and I can find it if I try hard. I really thought it would be visible--so happy with it! The seam is in the closeup picture I posted above.

It looks very nice--the maple is not showing yellow at all. I like a dark tile backsplash with your selections.

Thank you! We're leaning toward dark tile but have been cautioned it could make the kitchen look smaller or darker. But I think there's just not soooo much backsplash that it'll be a problem, and things like coffee maker, toaster oven, etc will block part of it.

You might tape up some black construction paper over the entire backsplash area. It may give you an idea how dark it will be, not a perfect example but may be close enough

You're not painting the entire kitchen black! I don't see how a dark backsplash is going to make your room look smaller or darker.

Thank you @Diana Bier Interiors, LLC. That's what I think--it's not a huge area. The part in the photo is the entire backspalsh. There's no backsplash on the wall to the right--just a tall pantry cabinet and refrigerator. Any opinion on gray glass vs a matte tile? There's a dark leathered tile I like as well as a gray glass one.

I am going to try to mock something up @amateurdeziner. Someone (maybe you) suggested trash bags on another thread. I did a quick try of that but need to do it better. Or I might buy a box of one of the tiles I'm considering and tape them onto cardboard or something.

I think a glossy black ceramic or porcelain tile would look good. Or even a zelige or zelige-look tile. Not a fan of glass tile.

This is one of my favorites:

2009 Southern Accents Showhome · More Info

Do these kitchens look dark to you?

Midcentury Modern Custom Home Build in Eagle · More Info

Shaker kitchen - Highgate · More Info

The only way to really see the options are to bring samples of actual tiles home and view them in your space.

Yeah I have tiles at home and am trying to mock something up with poster board or trash bags just to get an idea.

Leaning toward the leathered dark gray on the right. It's the only thing I've found (other than glass) that's dark gray, rather than black. True black is a little stark against the naturally maple though it's not as stark as it seemed before the appliances were in and some stuff is back on the counters (I have one piece of black poster board up). This tile has some variation, but doesn't seem too busy.

Here are some dark slate gray tiles. I think the dark matching grout look would be great for your kitchen.

If any tiles that you love are “too long”, remember your tile installer can cut them down to a better size.

Another deep,gray tile.

Home Depot option. The white grout is throwing off the color. It might work with your countertop.

I keep posting stuff and it disappears.

@RedRyder The 2nd one you posted from Floor & Decor is the one we're probably getting, but I haven't seen that 3rd one and I've been to home depot and looked online. I"ll have to look again because that one looks nice too. I like the first one too but don't want anything that has to be sealed. I kept going for basalt, but it has to be sealed.

I did a mockup--this is what I posted that disappeared. I like the look. This construction paper is darker than the tile wil be. I think slightly lighter will look even nicer.

Under cabinet lighting will make it perfect!!

Under cabinet lighting would be great, but it was very expensive so we didn't get it. And I only "need" it in that one spot to the left of the stove and even there, with the new ceiling lights, I don't really need it, thought it would be nice. But it would seem strange to me to only have that one light. And still expensive. Close to $1000.

Have you looked into LED strip lights?

The construction paper was worth the time. You definitely want something softer than “real black”.

I hope you can find the tile you like. And a dark grout for it. The tile will “complete” the room.

There are simple under-counter strips you can easily install. Definitely worth finding them since they’re invaluable to a cook. It will also brighten the space nicely.

Your kitchen is really beautiful….. 🥰