It can look great in contemporary kitchens. If you look on Houzz and put "bookmatched stone" in search, you will see a few pages of contemporary examples, many in bathrooms or for wall sheathing but it shows what it looks like generally:

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[Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by San Francisco Architects & Building Designers John Lum Architecture, Inc. AIA

A fourteen foot long island will be too long for a single stone slab, so bookmatching will be a way to minimize a seam in a stone with a lot of movement.
Your blue bahia example picture certainly has A LOT of movement.
Personally for me, hearing the details of your space, with the focus on the outdoors; the pool, the tile mural, greenery, I would not want a counter with a lot of movement. I think a counter in a near uniform color is called for.
Here is a picture of a kitchen looking out on a pool, similar to what you describe

[Modern Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2105) by Cincinnati Architects & Building Designers Drawing Dept

Beaglesdoitbetter's island has book matched (and beautiful!!) granite.

I agree with localeater. That granite has a lot of movement. Are you sure it wont be too busy for the kitchen and outdoor area?

My kitchen is not modern but we did book matched blue bahia (which is what your picture is).

FYI if you haven't researched it yet... blue bahia is $$$$$$ and you will need two slabs if you do book matched. I don't know how much the glass counters are, but cannot possibly imagine they could be more than buying 2 slabs of blue bahia.

Bookmatching is successful/ looks best if you can get a great seam.

Island is 14 ft. so hard to get a good picture that shows the counter correctly:

Here's our seam:

Wow! Gorgeous kitchen beaglesdoitbetter! It certainly does not look so busy when installed. It looks terrific in your kitchen!

alermar, my kitchen is similar, but the island is smaller and runs the other direction. The pool is behind me in this pic.:

I used walnut for the island and white quartz.

Ohhhh beaglesdoitbetter, I hope I didn't imply that the granite looked too busy in your kitchen -- it is absolutely stunning -- I'd pay big $$ just to cook in it once lol
Rockybird -- thank you for showing me your kitchen. The look is very similar to what we're going to do. I LOVE the wood on your island, and your white quartz looks clean and elegant. The red bar stools add nice color and movement. 2 Qs: What is the floor, and are those stools actually comfortable to sit in?

Hi alermar,

The floor is a concrete overlay. I dont recommend it. I just had a contractor over today about some other work and I mentioned I will want to tile eventually. I was under the impression that I could just tile over the overlay, but he said no, it would need to be ground down first. The mess!

The stools are comfortable, but the springs are not working great in one of them. They were incredibly cheap to purchase, like $65 each maybe? I had them in my prior house and didnt intend to keep them, but I thought the red added some pop.

I hope you post pics of what you do in the kitchen so we can follow it! I'd love to see what you end up doing.

Will do -- the process is achingly slow, and we're still waiting for the city to approve our plans. So my new kitchen is still a far off dream -- but that doesn't prevent me from obsessing ;)

Just a thought on the island. In France, they had islands for centuries but sometimes put in 2 islands with 4 feet in between - one would be a continuation of the other. This way you would be able to navigate around the kitchen more easily and quickly.

I love the glass for a counter too but it does scratch so take heart in that when not spending a fortune to get it.... And then it is easier to get the book matched granite. For me, I would tend towards neutral colours and add colour in accents in the room. So, if you have 14 feet for a counter you could have 2 five foot islands with a 4 foot space in between.

Good luck with your new kitchen!!!

LOL alermar, I was not offended at all :) You can come and cook in my kitchen any time, I mostly use it to reheat since I can't cook!

Just realized, I based the idea about 2 islands if they were in the centre of a kitchen --- but if the island is the divider between the kitchen and living or dining room --- then it would not be good to divide it.....

radley

LOL beaglesdoitbetter -- no need to cook == just sit in your kitchen with a cocktail and stare ;)

Radley -- I actually wanted to do the 2 island thing (island isn't a divider -- it sits between kitchen wall and patio), but DH and architect/friend (an artist who has his own vision -- which I have to admit I almost always LOVE) are completely opposed. I'm choosing my battles ;)

Back to the island size....One thing that someone showed me to envision something was to make a mock up of it.

By that I mean take some moving boxes and just pile them up to see the size. Or take dining room chairs, place them where the corners of the island would be and cover them with sheets and see the size / height of 2 islands vs one. It sounds odd but it does give a pretty good idea.

I am sure your kitchen will be super. Pictures later????

radley