I like the Antique brown granite. There is a similar granite call Labrador Antique that is brown but has subtle blue crystals that reflect the light (This is my possible countertop list). Are all your cupboards the same colour? You could do the same on the permitter or a contrasting colour such as Zodiaq Quartz Antique Salt. It is a creamy white so the tones of the two countertops would mesh really well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Labrador Antique

Paradiso granite has both brown and black tones and might be a good alternative...

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LOVE it!
We have picked Antique Brown for our island as well (9' x 4'). We have maple cabinets in a dark "walnut" colour. For the perimeter I went for contrast! Hanstone Quartz in a white Aurora Snow. It has some flecks of grey green tone that is picked up on our wall colour. I'm planning on a white backsplash to blend in. We've been waiting weeks for our sink (black enamelled cast iron) so we can get the counters on. I'm hoping it wont be much longer!
I love the Antique Brown and its eye catching and easy to spot. At different angles you can see some shimmer spots.

We put this in the house we just moved from. it was gorgeous. We got compliments on it all the time. Plus, it's not very common. I do remember cringing at the price though! But it was worth it! I will say that with a polished finish, I spent more time than I cared to, wiping things off and then polishing it after with water and then buffing with a dry microfiber cloth in order to get it back to the beautiful no streak shiny finish. It's beautiful, but like a shiny black car (even though it's just a bit warmer than black), it shows fingerprints and smudges and streaks pretty badly. That's one of the reasons I'm going with a honed surface in our new house. I haven't seen it honed. You won't regret choosing it. It's subtle and beautiful. Internet photos don't do it justice.

I just saw some gorgeous slabs of Antique Brown granite at a granite warehouse last weekend. They had it in both honed and polished. I loved them both, they were so beautiful!

I would have chosen the honed for the perimeter of my kitchen and a polished patterned and more colorful granite for my island in a minute...but I could fit all my kitchen counters on one slab, so I couldn't justify buying 2 slabs.

If you want something dark, Antique Brown is absolutely gorgeous. When I was looking, I saw so many other patterned granites that would go beautiful with it!

I had it in my last house. We had the polished on a shelf in our entry and the honed in the kitchen. I wouldn't mix them nearby. Even the same stone looks completely different in the two separate finishes. The blue inclusions (very few) really pop out in the polished. They appear more like an oily rainbow sheen in the honed. It was the number one thing people commented on in my kitchen. No one believed it was granite. I almost used it again here, but decided to go white instead. It looks great on dark cabinets. Very rich.

Antique Brown is a gorgeous granite--probably my favorite of all. It is especially nice as you can find slabs that are relatively uniform, if you want that, so you have less issues with coordinating a backsplash.

We used it in our vacation house (polished) and I love the look of it, though as other posters have mentioned, it does show fingerprints and smudges very easily.

The other thing to be aware of is that from a fabrication point of view, it is one of the granites that is "crumbly" in that sometimes when doing the edge little bits can come off. Not a huge issue, and they can fill, but it is more costly to fabricate because of the additional care and effort needed.

I will attempt to post a few photos of my kitchen here:

IIRC, Laborador Antique read much lighter than Antique Brown/Brown Antique. When we were considering it, we were going for a color that read almost black. There is a huge variety of "Antique Brown" out there, some much browner and some blacker, so be sure to pick your slabs in real life in person to make sure they match, if you end up going that route. I never saw any with blue inclusions - the ones that did ended up being something else. Oh, another thing, the honed Antique Brown read really gray from any other angle than straight brown.

It was quoted at $75/sqft in the Boston area, cheaper than many other kinds we've been shown. We probably won't use it because my KD and others are convinced we'll be annoyed by the "crumb factor."

(I guess I must have gone around with my KD and said things like "that fancy edge looks like a crumb magnet" and "those ornate pulls look hard to clean" ad infinitum, so she now thinks I am obsessed with "clean." The fact is that I HATE to clean, so anything that requires extra cleaning - like extra nooks and crannies - is much to be avoided!)

Leigh, We had Antique Brown leathered granite placed on our center island. I love the finish! And it does not show the "muck" marks like the polished surfaces do. I cook a lot and it's been a great durable surface for my family. Plus, I think, it's gorgeous!

Hopefully this helps you!
A close up and distant view of the granite center island:

Thank you all for your input.
Clarygrace -Paradiso granite is beautiful! It would perfect in our kitchen.
Vsalz- wow to your kitchen! I totally covet your farm sink
Vivkyw OMG your kitchen is amazing. Where do you live? I could spend hours in your kitchen just looking out at your outside views.
Doonie- I need to see a leathered finish in person. I know the fingerprints and smudges will drive me crazy. Btw what is on your perimeter cabinets?
I have much to consider. Go dark or light? Our light kitchen we are lookin
g at Millenium cream on the perimeter cabinets and possibly Bahama Gold on the island. The yards here have Bahama Gold, but I can't find this on
the web. Must go by a different name. It looks similar to Kahmir gold with
striations. Any thought on going light? Our kitchen has natural cherry
cabinets and a cinnamon sapele floor. We have plenty of natural light.

Also look for it to be called Marron Cohiba. Yes, it is pricier than other granites because it's more fragile. We had a slight eased edge on ours. Ours never crumbled or anything of the sort. But we paid a higher price than for regular granite.

Those with the honed, you don't have the polishing factor and smudging that the polished finish has?

Thanks for posting this! I'm 95% sure I'm going with antique brown (or marron cohiba) with a leather finish. Jreuter used it in her kitchen a couple years back and gave it rave reviews - I will link her kitchen below. There is no problem with fingerprints or smudges with the leather.

Good luck with your granite search!

Here is a link that might be useful: Jreuter's kitchen

Here is another link with good pictures of antique brown granite for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Granite Gurus: antique brown granite

As to the leather finish that is on our Antique Brown Granite...I love it! It's the best finish ever. I do not see smudge marks, nor water marks. The finish I have is relatively smooth and there are no crooks and crannies for crumbs and what not to gather.

On our perimeters, we went with a leathered quartz, another great finish and even though it is light, we haven't had any issues with staining. Ours is Yellow Nile Silestone. Hopefully that helps some of you.

I will say, it is important to get a fabricator who is used to working with Antique Brown. We did have to change fabricators after our first one broke 2 slabs due to the stones inherent brittleness. Also the leathered and honed finishes are different depending on whom you get them from.

Hi Leighof3,

Thanks for the kind comments. The house is in the San Juan Islands in Washington State. The views there really do upstage the kitchen, as the "Juans" are one of the most beautiful places on the planet!

Antique brown is beautiful.
Here are pictures I love.
~boxer

I was in a friends house today and they have it both on the counter and island. The cabinets are antique white, and the island is a medium wood, it looks beautiful on all, and I know they love it!

I love it too and it's what I've chosen for my perimeter and island counters. Perimeter cabs are SW Creamy and island is dark stained. Unfortunately, I won't have pictures for a couple months. I'm just crossing fingers and holding my breath that it looks good.

Boxer~ those are some gorgeous pictures. That looks more brown from my monitor. I just looked at some Maroon Cahiba yesterday that was very black. Gosh it's beautiful. I am thinking of putting it in my laundry that is just off my kitchen. I was quoted $60 sf here as it was a remnant. I think that was the cost, he gave me so many prices on so many things I might be mistaken.

leighof3 I would definitely choose Antique Brown (also called Maroon Cohiba in this part of the country) over the absolute black. So much more interesting. Bahama Gold is ok but it really has a uniform appearance almost like a quartz or Corian at least the slabs here do. They vary so much so this might not be true of them all. Good luck!

Boxer-those kitchens are wonderful. Sigh...
Gr8day -if I go with the " light" kitchen I wonder if the Bahama Gold is too simple with the Millenium cream.
My first love is the millenium cream. The slab i am looking at is cream with brown and gold. Will the antigue brown leathered island be too much of a contrast? Remember my cabinets are natural cherry with Mannington dark henna Sapele floor. Will the island be visually too heavy?
A big thank you to everyone!

Mine was more solid and dark than those in Boxers' photos. It was so dark that DH *swore* it was black. The only way I convinced him it wasn't was by showing him the contrast with our black rangetop. If not for that, it did look black. But it had the warmth to it that made it great. Very little movement or speckles. I loved it.

Ours:

You can kind of see the sparkles that are in some spots here:

I have almost decided to put antique brown granite on my counter tops. I have spent days looking at granite and need to make a decision. I love the antique brown, but worry it won't look good with my black appliances. Changing appliances is not an option. The antique brown I am looking at does have black in it. The other granite I am considering is cosmic black. Any thoughts??

I love the depth of antique brown. I find it more interesting of all the dark granites. I think the antique brown has enough black in it to pick up the black appliances. Today I was sooo exited to show my hubby the beautiful Millenium cream granite I fell in love with only to find it was gone. The slab had enough brown in it that it would look really nice with an Antique Brown island. So sad! Hopefully they will get more Millenium cream soon

I put the antique brown in my kitchen too (as well as the office bathroom and mudroom vanity). After I saw the slabs I didn't want anything else although the price was really high. My perimeter cabinets are painted white and the island is walnut. I considered the honed, polished and leathered antique brown granites and all three were available. My first choice was the honed finish. In the end, we chose the polished because my fabricator insisted that we wouldn't be happy with the honed in the long run. He gave us a few reasons that made sense but now I can't remember what they were. I also had a hard time deciding whether I would use contrasting granites for the island and perimeter of the kitchen. But I decided that sometimes keeping it simple is better. I decided to change it up with the edge. My perimeter kitchen area, servery and desk area all have a straight edge whereas my island has a 1 1/2" dupont step (I was aiming for more of a furniture look for the island). I have no regrets, I'm really happy with the result.
It is true that this granite is much more brittle/delicate. Some of the edges have already started to chip in my kitchen but it's not terribly obvious. Also, although antique brown tends to be uniform, there are slabs that may have fissures (long white lines) running through them . If you like or don't mind that look, it would work to your advantage as they are sometimes sold at a cheaper rate. Most people want a "clean" slab, that is, a uniform brown.
It's too bad that the Millennium cream granite that you had your heart set on was bought. Next time you go there and find something that you really like and don't want to lose it before your husband can see it, ask the salesperson to put it on hold for you. Around here, you just provide your info (name, phone #, granite fabricator name) and they'll keep it for you for two weeks. I did that so that I could price shop. My granite fabricator took me around to 4 different suppliers, we picked out the slabs that I liked from each supplier, asked them to hold it for me and then they called my fabricator later to tell him what their price would be for the slabs. I saved a lot of money because we bought from the supplier that had the cheapest price and I got the slabs that I wanted.
Best of luck in your decision!

Silly-Could you post pictures of your kitchen? I would love to see the two different edges. It sounds like something I might like.

Sillybilly5-yes please post pictures of your kitchen. Yes I definitely learned my lesson. Hopefully it isn't too painful. I am finding out now that Millenium cream granite is a rare find in my area. No wonder It was snapped up so quickly. The hunt for the elusive MC begins.

I love antique brown and it was one of our top choices.
It looks beautiful with slightly off white or cream cabinets.
But our fabricator would not let us get it
because he said that all the slabs available had "issues"
and would be too fragile.
So sad!

Check your slabs carefully.
The whole point of granite, from my point of view,
is that it should be super durable and pretty much carefree.

francoise47-What did you end up picking and are you pleased??

kimryan1 -- after considering nearly every kind of countertop from soapstone to Caesarstone, we picked a honed black pearl. It makes for a fine, sturdy, no-nonsense countertop. But it not as inherently beautiful as Antique Brown and some of the other stones we considered.
I do like that it is dark, but muted and not a deep black.

The Millenium Cream looks just like my Ivory Silk. I mean exactly. Maybe you could call around and see if there is any of it around to go see if you can't find the Millenium anywhere. So sorry about your missing out on that.

I need to decide on the countertops with my white inset cabinets. What do you people out in Garden Web land think of an Antique brown granite polished on the perimeter and carrara marble honed on the island. Cabinets are white and backspash will be subway tile or hexagon in carrara marble. I would love some feedback as its been very difficult for me to picture and I am coming down to the wire. Thanks so much. Sam

Marion13: Would love to see pics of your kitchen. I just discovered the antique brown and think I will use it on my perimeter with off white inset cabinets. Marble is too high maintenance for me, but I am absolutely a fan of it. It is gorgeous and I am sure your combination of marble and granite will be too.

Hi this is an old post but I'm looking at the Labrador antique but I also have a sample of a very dark brown I'm guessing it antique brown? I have attached pictures of each with my cabinet color? I have brookhaven antique
white cabinets and I think I will use the same on both countertop and island?
Not sure which way to go on the floor tile light or dark suggestions?
@vickyw I love your kitchen do u remember the floor you used?
If any of you have finished your kitchen would love to see any new pictures and if you used 2 different granites would love to see both!
Thank you!

Hi Boxerpups, I love the Antique Brown with the blue backsplash tile. Do you have more info on the exact cabinet and tile color? I love that kitchen too.

I am considering using the Antique Brown leathered finish, with white cabinetry in my kitchen. Unsure about exactly what to use for a backsplash -- something almost white in a subway pattern -- maybe with a crackle finish. Any suggestions?