Pictures would be helpful for us as well as for you. Get samples from the stone yard of the granites and bring them home and look at them with your cabinets in your kitchen. You'll get a different impression when you see them with your lighting at home and when you can see the granite horizontally vs. vertically in the yard.

Just from a quick google search, I think the Azul Palatino is pretty boring. And if you are just going to do a basic subway, your granite can really sing.

The steel grey is nice, but you'd have to consider how it looks with the blue paint (though paint is a relatively easy change). I like your pick the best, but while I'm not really worried about the pulls/appliances, I did see a lot of images with big yellowish patches. I'd want to be sure a honey cabinet doesn't turn those yellowish patches into "Hey, did the cat pee on the counter?" patches! :) Have you brought along a cabinet sample to the granite yards?

Don't settle, keep looking. Are there other stone yards you can visit? I would find all the stone yards that are up to an hour away and visit all of them. Well worth the time investment.

edit - duplicate post

This post was edited by chispa on Wed, Feb 20, 13 at 11:29

I've seen Azul Platino and Steel Grey, but not Persa Avorio. The Azul was inexpensive but it really does have that typical builder-grade pre-fab granite look. I think you could go more special than that, if you are going to buy slabs.

Get a sample of the Persa Avorio and check it in your light. Or, take a door off and haul it to the slab yard, and make them haul it into the daylight.

There are very few grey granites -- I know, I've been searching. The Virginia Mist is one -- search on the forum for that name and you'll see other alternatives proposed.

Thank you for the input, I spent more time with my samples, in different light, and called in a friend who's spent a lot of time choosing her own granite. She agreed that the Azul has a look we're not going for, and that the persa looks boring with what we've got going on. The steel gray is actually closest to what my original vision and inspiration pictures looked like, and I think will be a nice compliment to the stainless appliances and my Bosch wall ovens that have a large amount of black glass. I'm trusting that the subway tile will brighten up the space and the fact that it's open to the adjoining room will help with that too. I decided against continuing to look as we'd already put a deposit in with this stone yard, and any other color I might be interested in is way more expensive. I'm feeling peaceful about this decision (the last one, woohoo!) and getting excited about getting to enjoy the finished project. Thanks for helping me think it through!

KathyNY76, just have to laugh, because the cat pee thing is exactly what my husband said about the persa. It was not his favorite, much as I liked it. Maybe with a different cabinet and wallcolor, but not here. He loves the steel gray, which is pretty dark and actually looks really nice with our wall color, which is a bit on the dusty side - not too bright - so he is pleased with this choice - and glad that I will talk about something other than granite now!