Oh my, wow. Stunning stone. I can see how you fell under its spell.

Your countertops are going to be stunning! The Green Peace in your bathroom is also beautiful! You obviously have impeccable taste :) --can't wait to see your kitchen, your plans sound lovely!

A deep mahogeny stain has always been considered rich & classic but sounds like it may be darker than what you want. Do you prefer more reddish stains or brownish ones? Your bathroom cabs look like a lovely medium stain--is there some reason you don't want to go with that color in your kitchen?

it's a beauty!!!!!

You have fabulous taste in rocks! :-) Can't decide which I like more!

Sorry, but I see painted cabs with that gorgeous quartzite. I picture a medium to charcoal gray color to really let the yellow part ZING! You could also do a more Martha Stewart kind of gray. Pale yellow subways would complete the look...

Your Green Peace looks almost exactly like the Verde Fantastico we are in love with. That will go in our family bathroom once we recover financially from the other stuff we are doing now.

I could sure see something along the lines of a mahogany stain, perhaps ever so slightly antiqued? That would certainly go with other elements of my house. I'm just wondering if the kitchen would become too dark, and I don't mean dark in the sense of not being able to see, I guess I mean too much of the same thing. Perhaps a better question might be, how can I have darker richer cabs and not make the kitchen too uninteresting? I'm thinking about a lighter color/stain for the island base cabinet and certainly a lighter back splash. Are there other tricks to consider?

I have considered painting the cabs a solid color, perhaps a cream. Grey can certainly help other colors pop, but I don't think that is my style. I'd really like to explore stained wood options first.

If I'm asking for advice on cab color, I guess I should include a few snaps of my house, so here they are. You can see the current kitchen layout, the floor color, and a general design theme. The kitchen will be a complete re-do, except the floors (I even thought about replacing the floors in the kitchen, but for my small house I think it would look very odd to not have continuous wood flooring, dontchya think?). The window over the sink faces south, and there is a slider just to the left of the peninsula, so the kitchen gets plenty of sun. The peninsula will be replaced by an ~2' by 4-1/2' island, and the wall between the kitchen and dining room will move 12'' into the dining room.

Thanks in advance!

Jon

Here is the kitchen...

Here is a view of the dining room and the doorway into the kitchen...

And here is an example of my mahogany front door. I love this color...

I don't think you have to worry about the kitchen ever being 'uninteresting' with that stone! Very beautiful...Both slabs look like they could hang on the wall...They look like paintings!

You've seen it in person and have a better sense of the true appearance, but I'm afraid of the reddish mahogany with this stone...It seems like something cooler or more chocolatey would complement the colors better. Maybe the antiquing you mentioned will do the trick. Just be sure to try different options in person with the stone until you get the shade/combo right.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I do plan to spend some quality time with the person who my cabinet contractor uses for finishing, and I've been told I will have lots of samples to look at. We will take the samples to our granite fabricator and hold them next to the granite along with a few leftover floor pieces we have.

rhome410, I have seen a picture of a kitchen in a magazine that had cabinets unlike a color I've seen before, and they reminded my of something you describe - they had the darkness and richness of a mahogany, but tilted toward chocolate, or even a lighter version of espresso. That is certainly something I would consider.

Here are a few GW'er kitchens that seem to have a color combo of flooring & cabs I'm thinking about.

Steph1602's kitchen...

roxy2007's kitchen...(great contrast with the floor, and the darker color may help bring out the lighter colors of the quartzite? - this might be my favorite of the three)

tinker 2006's kitchen...(this picture has me really thinking about a white or very light colored island to help lighten the room)

Now there is one more consideration. The kitchen cabinets will continue into our family room so that the pantry to the right of our refer and what will become a new built-in book case in the family room (where our TV will hang) will meet to form a corner. If that's confusing, if the kitchen is U shaped, the family room wall hooks up to the U to form a question mark (which hopefully is not a sign!) So, whatever color of cabs is picked for the kitchen, we'd like to use the same color for the family room bookcase. And because the family room bookcase wall should look a little more furniture-like, I'm thinking of a richer darker color (and not a solid painted lighter color).

Wow, I'm all over the place on this thread. I'm still a GW klutz. If anyone has some thoughts, I'd love to hear them.

Jon

LOVE it! Totally edgy.

Just love all the colors! No matter what cabinet material you go with, it will look awesome! I see lots of metallic accents reflecting all that color - I might choose a brushed metal door style; something industrial looking. It just reminds me of a warehouse studio - like an artist's work in process. I agree with sabjimata - very edgy - just cool!

That rock is stunning, I am very excited for you. Makes me want to start over and redo my kitchen! It calls to me streamlined cabinets, not far out contemporary but clean lines (I like cienza's industrial suggestion but you don't have to go that far.) I keep seeing gray, cream, black. I adore natural wood but I would want contrast for that counter - in either direction.

But if you were to do wood grain, I would say natural cherry - not stained to make it darker or even redder, just natural to pick up the sweet red hues. I would avoid anything too red or honey colored. Darker could work, but I would want to avoid any tone that sort of blends with the counter. Natural cherry isn't dark, but has enough contrast for the counter to not get lost.

Cherry perimeter with a black island? Dark gray lowers and island with cream uppers? Black island and lower perimeter with stainless uppers (opaque glass) or open shelves. Gray lower and cherry uppers - that might be my favorite option that includes the natural wood...Forgive me I love gray.

I looked again at the counter and though about maple - I know some think it is not "current" but I think it would be a great backdrop to that counter. Maple & gray (stop with the gray already.) Maple & black. So many choices.

It sounds like you have a handle on working with your granite by bringing samples of the cabinet to the yard. I believe in letting your materials do the choosing. You are grounded in the counter & find the best compliments for it. We started with the cabinets, but counter is a great starting point as well. You should do with this approach and I look forward to seeing your kitchen progress with this counter. Wow :)

Interesting suggestions sparklekitty, thanks for the input. I've already chosen alder cabinets. At the cabinet maker's shop 8 weeks ago, I saw a wide range of sample stain colors and painted cabinets (solid and faux) with alder, so although I had not yet picked out my granite, I was pretty confortable that I could pick a do-able cabinet color that would work. It's not too late to change to something like cherry, but I probably won't at this point (I'm assuming cherry is more expensive than alder, and my budget has already expanded quite nicely, and demo has not yet begun!)

A few of you have warned against going too red, sounds like good advice. Black (espresso?) is interesting, perhaps for the island. I'm afraid that maple or any other mid-tone color will be too close to the flooring - I think some contrast with the flooring ('mountain' hickory) would be a good idea.

Yes, the best solution will probably reveal itself when we take our floor sample, along with cabinet color options to the granite slab.

I really appreciate all of the help.

Jon

Just a quick update...

Counter top installation will occur on Saturday. This past Saturday DW and I met the granite contractor at his shop to confirm final layout of all pieces. It was the first time we've seen all three slabs standing side by side, and with natural light (it was cloudy, so the light was nicely diffused). My goodness we love these stones and canâÂÂt wait to see them installed.

At our GCâÂÂs recommendation, the cabinet finisher has prepped the cabs but wonâÂÂt finish until after the stone has been installed so we can look at finish samples next to the countertop lying horizontal, with our light, and with our floors in sight. WeâÂÂve seen several samples and weâÂÂre leaning towards a medium dark, rich stain with dark glaze on all but the island, and then a lighter old-world faux job on the island. Has anyone done something like this?

So, if all goes well weâÂÂll have countertops installed Saturday afternoon, and weâÂÂll meet again with the cabinet finisher that afternoon to make decisions on additional samples. IâÂÂm sure a few pictures and questions for you fine folks will follow shortly.

Jon

amazing, gorgeous.
hard to think this is just in the earth!
good luck.

OOOO... this is gonna be fun to watch. Good luck! I can't wait to see it install and how you decide to proceed!

I just saw your stone! I am in love with it! That is absolutely gorgeous. I've never seen anything like it. It's truely a work of art. I agree with rhome about not wanting red with that counter. I think then your eye would be drawn to the red versus green contrast rather than resting on the beauty of the stone.

I used Alder cabinets in my master bath and used a tobacco type stain. They read neutral to me, niether warm nor cool. A stain like that could work. You are correct about needing to bring your flooring sample with you. It looks as though you already have a good eye. I'm confident you will be able to pick something complementary. Alder is a neat choice. You should check on the price of Cherry too. Natural Cherry is gorgeous.

Add me to the list of people waiting for the install!

doonie, you are correct to say this stone is unique. We looked at every slab of stone in about two dozen prominent stone yards in three counties and never saw anything close to it. While we loved it, it had some negatives - each slab is narrow which meant we would need 3 slabs, and no two slabs match so our seems will be noticeable. In the end we just couldn't choose anything else.

We went with Alder because of its ability to take on lots of different looks. The cabinets are installed and look great. I like the thought of a tobacco colored stain, perhaps with a darker glaze to fill in the beading. I'm going to add that to my request for stain samples.

Jon

Itsnotrocketscience, I don't blame you on not being able to choose anything else. I would have been the same way on seeing that. I'd love to see photos of the installed cabinets.

This is the Alder we have in our master bath. I love the stain on it. I think we did get some light glazing too.

{{!gwi}}

Woohoo! The granite was installed today and it looks fabulous. The cabinet finishers arrived as the granite guys were just finishing. After viewing a number of samples we've zeroed in on what we'll use for everything except the island (a walnut stain with a Van Dyke glaze). We want to do something different for the island and have asked for a few additional samples.

It really feels like we're over the hump now. By the end of next week the cabs should be finished, then tile, some ceiling work, painting, final electrical and plumbing hookup. Crossing my fingers for T-day, but X-mas is looking good.

Here are my progress pictures.

For a few more pictures, click the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Progress pictures

Holy Toledo! That stone is breathtaking! I bet you are looking at it right now as I am typing and will be making excuses to walk by for years to come...

Wow! I have never seen such a gorgeous stone used as a countertop. Some times we splurge on things and regret it later. With this stone, you could never regret your choice. It's beautiful!

Wow, that is gorgeous stone. I feel like I'm walking through a California redwood forest in the spring. What color cabs? Can you make them look like redwood trees?

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, we splurged a bit on this stone and won't regret it a bit. The material cost was under $4K, which is quite a bit for a small-ish kitchen, but heck, we're spending over $3K for a gosh darn hood. After the final slab layout was complete, we realized we had enough material for a 6 ft by 13'' shelf that will replace a wooden shelf that sits below and just outside our kitchen window - to the eye that will extend the counter top while you are standing at the sink.

Our granite contractor was so excited, he suggested we make some buttons or 4'' x 4'' tiles out of the remnants to incorporate into our backsplash. Our GC thinks he would do so at no additional charge, or a very moderate charge.

As I mentioned above, we've chosen a walnut stain with a dark brown glaze to add contrast and depth. Dark enough to be rich, but not so dark to hide the wood grain. We looked at samples with red and orange tones, and it seemed to compete with the granite too much, and they did not go so well with the dark burgandy-like colors in the stone. The more neutral walnut help set it off quite nicely, where the granite is lighter colored and where it is darker colored.

We have not met with the tile guy yet, but after a conversation with our GC, he suggested something along the lines of a light colored (cream?) honed marble tile with deep burgundy accents. Perhaps a bottom row or two of 4''x4'' tiles set horizontally, then an accent color trim, then 4'' x 4'' tiles set on the diagonal above the trim, with accent colored buttons (either granite buttons or tile buttons the same color as the accent trim, or both). I'm liking that idea, but we'll wait until we see the cabinet finish take shape.

Gosh this is fun! I took a chocolate desert cooking workshop a week ago...I need my kitchen back!

Jon

The counters turned out beautifully. I think you are on the right track with the walnut neutral color stain. The GCs recommendation on the backsplash sounds good too. I love what you are doing. I can hardly wait to see the finished product!

WOW! DH prefers more dramatic granite with dynamic movement while I tend to go for the more classic & subtle -- but after seeing yours I may have to rethink things. It's AMAZING. Can't wait to see the finished kitchen!!!

Memory finally jogged. Your elements remind me of one of my favorite GW kitchens, which I thought you might like to peruse because of the color combinations. See Andrea345, if you've not done so already, in the Finished Kitchens Blog, and see how copper and its bronzer variants and saturated yellow look with green stone. Your point is well taken about all the stainless. I just thought I'd throw in this visual. The Lacanche yellow gives you an idea of yellow; I had a more greened down or "golded" down one in mind. Still, closest I could come to a notion of a notion. This link also has a link to more photos of the kitchen.

Here is a link that might be useful: FKB

THAT is freakin' gorgeous!

Thanks Kitchendetective. I remember seeing that kitchen a while back. I think the stone in Andrea345's kitchen is probably closer to what I have in my bathroom (Green Peace). Yes, that is one of my favorites as well. The copper BS gives it a dramatic, modern yet kind of relaxed vibe. It has actually given my some ideas if I ever use the left-over Green Peace in my hallway bathroom.

Well, since ya bumped me, I'll piggy back my own thread for an update...

Not much progress this week. ;-( Cabinet finishers seemed done after Tuesday, but still no doors or drawers. Either they didn't start finishing them until Tuesday and are probably ready to install soon, or my GC asked them to hold them to prevent damage while other work is going on.

My simple Modern Aire hood was installed on Friday (yeah), but it appears there is no power to it yet so I can't play with it. I had asked the installer to wire the motors for max flow rate, which would be 1200 CFM. He said he'd try, but because it is only 36'' wide, he thought that might begin to lift the baffle filters. If it did, he would connect to the poles that would limit full rating to 1000 CFM. (So if there was no electricity, what did he do?)

I will update ny B/S saga in my other thread.

TTFN (ta ta for now)

Jon

Jon,
Stunning choices!
Sounds like you got a good deal on your MA hood for the LA area! Mine 42" was over $5k because you must use a "dealer". (yes, drug reference intended).
With 1200cfm, even at medium power, my baffles sucked right up. I called MA & they graciously sent out heavier baffles. Problem solved!

My 36'' MA hood will be about $3300 installed. I may have saved a bit because of the direct connection to MA I enjoyed, but holy moly that's a lot for some sheet metal and a couple of blowers. It sure looks well built, and I love how easy the baffel filters can be removed for cleaning. I can only imagine how much noise full throttle must create if the flow if strong enough to lift all but heavy filters. I guess I won't need that whole house fan I've been thinking about to cool off my bedroom at night - just open my bedroom window and turn this baby on at the other end of the house!

Jon

I do believe that is the most beautiful stone I've ever seen. The colors and movement remind me of the algae pools in natural hot springs!

Whoa! What a beautiful stone! I'd be waiting with bated breath to see finished pictures!

Cannot wait to see your completed cabs + countertops. Seems like Walnut is a fantastic choice with this stone. Please do remember to take lots of pictures and upload to FKB if possible!