What counts as bling? Are you only interested in stones with sparkly or pearly bits? Our stone has a lot of blue. It is Azul do Mar and it looks like a picture that we have of the ocean off Point Lobos. As you can see, it has a lot of movement. Our stone is like a cousin to Azul Macabas, both come from Brazil and have similar aqua blue tones but Azul Macabas is mainly blue and white - more like the sky than the ocean.

We love ours. It gives the kitchen a calm feel. It is very easy to care for - it is quartzite (though the yard grouped it with the granites) - very hard and non-porous. We have had it for 5 years and even if a spot of something has dried on, it cleans off easily.

We chose to highlight it by using it for the backsplash as well and we even had wall plates made from some of the scrap.

Here is what one of the slabs looked like during placement of the templates.

Of course, I should point out that one downside of blue stones in general is cost. We could afford it without compromising elsewhere and we like it enough that it is worth the cost to us.

We have Blue Pearl GT over Maple cabinets in Chocolate with SS appliances and I love the look! When researching the stone, I couldn't find many photos of it with darker cabinets and I've found it definately reads differently depending on the cabinets you are going with. The silver in it is magical and it really picks up on the light in the room. I also found that this is not a one slab fits all kind of stone. They do have color variations, with some being more blue, some more black, some more grey and some even have more of a brownish tone to them (we looked at a lot!). Here are a couple shots of our stone (unfortunately, its not the most photogenic granite) in our not-quite-done kitchen:

Good luck to you!

Kaycee - in case you're taking opinions, I like the backsplash in the middle. Not that I can really see the samples very well, but the middle one has more grays which sets off the blue countertop very well and fewer large blue swatches to compete.

belugacoop - you're right about how a blue slab looks outside in the sun vs. in your kitchen. Any possibility you could get them to whack a bit off the corner for you to take home? I only mention this because I've seen a number of slabs which look as though the corners have been "sampled."

Thanks, Suzanne! Believe me, I will be taking opinions at some point (with better pics to be posted). But the kitchen isn't even done yet and I can't wrap my head around making another decision just now. LOL

Agreed on getting a sample to take home. Or at the very least, bringing a cabinet door in to the stone yard to get a bit of feel for it against actual slabs you are considering.

We had Blue Pearl for 15 years and loved every day of it. It was on our old typical seen-them-a-thousand-times oak cabinets. We did a gut remodel of our kitchen a year ago this month and we now have dark cabinets with Volga Blue. So, I can speak from experience with two of the blues you are considering.

I love my Volga Blue, which we also used as a full backsplash. While the crystals, mica and whatever else you want to call the sparkly parts were much more prevalent in the Blue Pearl, those parts in the Volga Blue are rich and vivid. For Blue Pearl, think a sea of thousands of silver and blue sparkles and the Volga Blue a sea of black and gray with numerous (but not thousands) of peacock blue pops and even several silver, gold, and sort of brown/maroon chunks of mica. Depending on the time of day, you can see wild and vivid blue or not much at all. It truly depends, in our kitchen anyway, what type of lighting you have. We happen to have a couple of skylights and a window that is covered by a patio (so it is not direct light) and several can lights and under cab lights. Especially in the afternoon and evening, our blue is totally noticeable but certainly much, much more so with light on the granite. If you walked in the kitchen in the early morning with only the natural light coming in, you may not realize there is much blue in the counters.

We still have the Blue Pearl on the fireplace across the family room from the kitchen (which is why we steered toward something blue to coordinate well) and we used a few salvaged pieces from the demo in our garage. I still love the Blue Pearl, too.

So, I may not be much help except to say that I genuinely love these two very different stones. I would choose either one again in a heartbeat. If you are looking for something different, the Volga Blue fits that bill. My guess is, you probably know (or have known) someone with Blue Pearl which is somewhat common or used often, though you may never know someone with Volga Blue which is more rare, IMO. People who see our kitchen for the first time and notice the pops of blue are always amazed at the beauty.

HTH...

Cloud Swift-your quartzite looks like it should be hung on a wall, it's beautiful.

Kaycee-I've seen a lot of blue pearl with the dark brown cabinets, and yours is the prettiest. Is there brown in yours? I think I had some of the same samples, one was an irridescent grey that I liked a lot. I actually felt there were so many choices that would go great with it because of the varied colors in the flecks. I totally relate to being overwhelmed by choices!

3mutts- Your description of the two granites mirrors mine. The blue pearl is sparkly and silvery-the bling! And the volga blue is very deep and reminds me of a peacock. I thought the Volga blue was not going to be in my budget, but the fabricator thinks he can do it with the one slab. Soo, it looks like I'll be moving on to backsplashes and sinks. What do you have for your backsplash? I found so many that I liked with the blue pearl, but not of those worked with the volga blue. My cabinets are white. I will try to post. What kind of sink do you have?

Thank you, Beluga. Ours actually reads more grey/silver with a touch of blue and black undertones. But you can see some browns in it upon close inspection. Blue Pearl is definately an interesting stone.

I personally think that Volga blue, Blue Pearl, Silver
pearl, Ubatuab, Verde Peacock, all tend to look black in
certain lighting. I love those stones but If black really
bothers you, you might want to find something in the
lighter blue like Bahia or Azul or Costa Esmerelda
or even a Vetrazzo or Quartz. And you are sooooo right,
each stone is different in the stone yard. It is hard
to picture what it will look like in your own space.
Keep in mind slab yards do not always have good lighting
and inside your kitchen the lighting may be brighter.

Here are some pics, I hope they help you visualize.
~boxer

Blue Bahia from Living Stone Co.

Volga Blue Again Stone Studio

Volga Blue

Blue Bahia Choice Granite Co.

Azul Macuabus Quartzite

Borealis Blue from Marble City Co.

Blue Bahia from Green Mountain Marble

Blue Bahia from Cogswell Stone

DFW Granite Blue Bahia

Vetrazzo

Vetrazzo

Copper AZUL

Blue Agate from Glamrock Co.

Costa Esmeralda

Blue Pearl that really looks Blue. I love it

Verde Butterfly

Emerald Pearl (see this one does look a bit darker)

Azul Persa

Blue Pearl by Dimensional Stone

Blue Pearl ( I think with white cabs the blue pearl
does have the shimmer blue to the dark color. Pretty)

Blue Bahai looks lovely, but it can be prone to etching so I wouldn't want to use it in a kitchen, though some have done it.

I just went into the kitchen and snapped this photo. It is Blue Pearl GT.

It is really hard to capture its beauty with my camera. It is amazing in the evening, when the blue bits really pop.

As many of you know, another Blue Pearl here. Love it, but a friend who visited thought it was black. It's definitely blue. Sorry, can't seem to resize the photo. Some people don't care for the busy mosaic BS with the blue pearl, but I can't imagine anything else. It doesn't show dirt, and is easy to clean. I agree with Boxerpups if you want a lighter, brighter blue, you may want to go with something else.

I was perusing the Cambria quartz countertop site, and was struck by some of the very lovely blues they are currently offering. They may not have the variability of granite, but sometimes that can be a good thing, in the right situation.

Cambria's Bala Blue:
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Cambria's Bristol Blue:
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Cambria's Parys:
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Cambria's Castell: This one looked odd on the monitor - it seems very taupe/brown, but when you look very closely, there are dots of turquoise blue scattered over it. This one you'd definitely have to see a large sample to be certain it would work:
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I want to redo my kitchen in Copper Blue or Cinderella Blue.

OOOOOOh, Aaaaaaah.

Ne

I used Volga Blue. I too have a couple of skylites and also a covered patio outside so I don't get a lot of "direct" light however my kitchen window in front of the sink is quite large and I have plenty of lights incl. under cabs. Volga looks beautiful lights on or off. I don't have anything "blue" in my home - but after going to just about every slab yard around (at least 10) I chose volga blue after seeing those subtle abalone-like markings within the the black. It actually showed some depth when looking at it. When walking in the room it reads as black however once your up close you see the beautiful markings in it. It looks fabulous with my white marble island. As someone who changes/moves things around from place to place in my house/kitchen, I did not want a lot of "movement" in my counters. I have different colored dishes, place mats, etc. and everything looks great with it and was thrilled the second it was installed! Could not be happier. If you are looking for something that actually shows/reads blue when you walk into the room - this is not the right choice for you. Hope this helps

Wow thanks for all of the pics! I am definitely going with the blue volga. I like that it reads black at first then up closer has so much depth to it. Now it's time to look at backsplashes! I'm going to just look until the countertop is installed.

Following up on this thread...wondering how if Kellykath or belugacoop could come back with some pictures. Anybody else doing anything with Galacitic Blue or Volga blue?? Kitchen light slim to nonexistent due to trees around home so kitchen is darker...wondering how this would work on my newly ordered natural cherry cabinets???

Bumping...anybody...any opinions??

Berlingirl,
I saw that you liked amhers104 countertops. Just wanted to tell you that I have natural cherry cabinets and I used verde peacock granite with them. It is more blue/green than blue but it does have some gold/tan splotches in in too that coordinates well with the natural cherry wood. I have gotten tons of compliments on my granite. Here are a couple of close up photos (taken at night) so you can get an idea of what it looks like.
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Vate- your granite is gorgeous!!!!

Love that badgergal...it is beautiful. Your kitchen is wonderful!! I did find some of that around here. It is a maybe in my book! DH likes it, my DD is not on board. I'm looking for some dramatic contrast. Has anybody ever heard of Galactic Blue?

Love the pictures! Love the blue granite options.
So, is blue coming back into style?
I have natural maple cabinets and would love to put a blue in!

Hi ready2moves, didn't know blue was out of style. I've always thought it was expensive and hard to find, with the exception of some of the Blue pearls available. That seems to be my issue, can't find it. I've always loved the color myself. I live in a fairly rural part of the country with very few options as far as granite goes. Have a few places within a few hours, but they are certainly not "budget friendly". Makes it a real challenge. I can't imagine what it would be like to be able to drive around and look at multiple pieces of potential countertop. We are looking to put something on natural Cherry cabinets. I never knew white was such a popular kitchen color until I started looking around here. I have had two white kitchens in the last 13 years (not by choice) and personally can't wait to have some wood toned ones. Any other interesting colors out there? Cabinets and granite combos?