I like them both, but consistent with my preference for quiet, I prefer the steel grey (full disclosure, honed steel grey was one of my final 2 choices). Especially with the marble.
Every slab of honed or leathered steel grey that I saw had a bit of blue to it, much more so than a polished finish; will that work for you?

raee - the steel gray looked like a true gray to me, not necessarily with blue undertones. That said, it wouldn't bother me if it did. Thanks for the input.

I agree to do the solid steel gray. I do like the forest black but I think it will compete with the marble. Let the marble island be the star of the show.

My preference would be the leathered steel gray. I would want the Calacatta slab to be the focus and I believe the Forrest Black would compete with the Calacatta instead of compliment it.

Considering that you have two different cabinet colors, I would go for the steel gray. And I LOVE your island counter choice!! Is it a marble or quartzite? You're ahead of me by a few weeks but my choices are very similar to yours...white beaded inset perimeter, gray or black island (order goes in tomorrow so I better decide!), calacatta quartzite or superwhite counters for all or just island and possibly a dark gray Caesarstone for perimeter...

Can't wait to see your progression. Make sure to keep us updated and post pics:)

I agree with the grey as well given your island counter and BS choices. I think it will look beautiful together. Can't wait to see it all together.

I disagree - I love that forest. I always love the intriguing granites. As it will be a flat surface and not standing up, I don't think it will compete with the marble. It's so beautiful.

I think the Forest Black would be too much movement with the arabesque tile and the marble island. Too often people get the colors right, but they don't balance the movement. It is a physical action that happens to your eyes when there is too much going on at the same time. Here in the South, they call it being too BUSY.
I think the Steel Gray, honed or not, is the perfect match to the gray in the marble and wouldn't outshine or overtake the tiles.
There is a lot going on with your choices. You don't want peoples eyes to get confused. You have the two different cabinet colors, the Calcutta, and the perimeted counters.
The dramatic is in the marble! And the island in the stormy gray.
What is your flooring?

I have to agree with roro67. The marble combined with the forest black combined with the arabesque tile is a lot of patterns. Then you have cabinets with detail and green in the grey of the island, different colours for the island and cabinets and ..... What is your lighting and flooring going to be like? You are also going to have two high contrast parts to your kitchen - the light marble with the dark island and then the perimeter with dark counters and white cabinets.

If you haven't already done so mock up on paper your island and perimeter and floor and colour everything in.

Sometimes it can be true that less is more.

Steel gray...for the reasons mentioned above. Busy backsplash shouldnt contend with countertop, and the other takes away from the marble.

Thanks for all feedback. Our flooring is a light porcelain tile:

We will have 2 of these pendants in polished nickel over the island:

The stain on the island (hopefully) will be a light brownish greenish gray. I'm having my cabinet maker match Ultracraft's storm grey stain:

All said, we are most likely going to go with the steel gray granite. I still do like the forest black - it is so pretty IRL.

I'm a little late, since you've chosen, but just wanted to comment on the pendants. Very pretty. Steel gray is my preference for your perimeter counters, for all the reasons stated previously.

This post was edited by romy718 on Mon, Sep 30, 13 at 23:48

Is your flooring in yet or are all these components open?

Snookums - the flooring isn't in yet, but it's already down in the laundry/mudroom/pantry, which leads into the kitchen.

ok. I would pick something quiet for the perimeter then. Let the arabesque shine. You have a lot of texture and pattern with each which is trickier to mix well. You generally seem to be selecting soothing things, except for the black and white slab. So think about the overall feel you are wanting in the end, when wanting each individual thing to be interesting.

This post was edited by snookums2 on Tue, Oct 1, 13 at 0:48

I vote for steel gray as well. I prefer one stone with movement and one quieter stone, especially with the arabesque.

Sounds like a really interesting and pretty kitchen!

Um, you didn't ask, and I'm one of the least qualified people here to raise a concern....but.....before you put in more of that floor I think you should have a decorator or designer look at it IRL with your other choices. From here, that floor seems creamy and warm while the marble, backsplash, and counters are entirely cool. I hope I'm really wrong and it is more than likely that I am! But you'd rather know now.

kksmama - I hope the kitchen isn't cool because I definitely do not like a cool kitchen. The floor has beiges, greens, grays and blues in it, which does actually look quite nice with BM Chantilly lace, the storm gray stain, and the glass arabesque. The calacutta has browns and gold in it along with the gray (it isn't calacutta gold, but has that look). Adding to the mix is the fact that our kitchen is the darkest kitchen on the planet. We get almost zero natural light - we live on a heavily wooded lot and the one bank of windows has a 4' overhang on top of it :/ It's depressing.

We put all of differnt pieces together in our dark kitchen and it look good together in that lighting. Let's keep our fingers crossed.