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merimom_gw

Need a light color countertop to go with cherry cabs, slate floor

merimom
15 years ago

We are currently in the midst of a remodel of our kitchen. It is a pretty basic U-shape with cherry cabinets (Kraftmaid Sunset Cherry....in boxes, in the garage). We were about to order our Tigerwood hardwood floors when my DH had a change of heart...He thinks tile is the way to go since we are a young family with 2 active boys and a dog. I guess I agree, but I will miss the wood :-(

He likes slate. I love the look of slate, but I just dont want to live with it (too uneven and rough on barefeet). So I found a nice slate-look porcelain tile (Rex Ceramiche Slate Solutions in Multicolor) that we are considering.

The problem is this....We seem to like things that are dark in color, but we dont get a lot of light in the kitchen so I need to lighten it up with a light color counter and backsplash.

Does anyone have any suggestions or photos of cherry cabinets, slate floors, and a light-colored countertop? It seems most tend to go with the cherry/slate/uba tuba combo, which I like, but it will just be too dark for our room.

THANKS!

Here is a link that might be useful: Tile Floor

Comments (24)

  • ccoombs1
    15 years ago

    My cabinets are dark and my room does not get much natural light. I wanted an exotic (and DH insisted on an exotic) so we got this delicatus. It is mostly light tones, with gray, cream, golden and little spots of black.

  • merimom
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    ccombs1 - Wow, that certainly is an exotic granite. I've never seen anything like it. Not sure if my DH would go for anything like that, but I will definitely show him the photo. Thanks.

  • ccoombs1
    15 years ago

    Thanks. DH and I both love natural stones, so it was natural for him to insist we had a really eye-catching stone in the kitchen. i am glad he insisted....I LOVE it. I would have been happy with any of the many lighter colored granites that are on the market. Look at the attached link. Ivory Brown and Kashmir White are both fairly common (and therefore less expensive than an exotic) and are both nice and light. There was a thread here not long ago from someone looking for white granite....I'll see if I can find it.

    Here is a link that might be useful: some granite for you to look at.

  • ccoombs1
    15 years ago

    Here's a thread for you.....

    Here is a link that might be useful: thread

  • perplexedinny
    15 years ago

    If the granites have too much movement, you may want to look at an engineered stone like Caesarstone. We have a color called Baja. It looks like a sandy beach. My inspiration was Bosche's kitchen on the Finished Kitchen Blog. Her kitchen is stunning.

  • remodelfla
    15 years ago

    It all depends on personal taste. I love granite with waves in it as opposed to more speckly chunky colors in granite. There are limitless possibilities out there for you. Good look with your search.

  • dkass
    15 years ago

    We also have 2 boys and a puppy dog! We have Brazilian cherry floors through out the house but decided on travertine on the floor. We have natural cherry cabinets with Yellow River granite. We are not done with our kitchen yet but we love the way the floors lighten up the kitchen. We also just today put undercabinet lights (Xenon). I'll try to show you some pictures.


  • merimom
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Thanks everyone! I think we are going to decide our countertop and then figure out our floors. Seems like there are more floor options, but getting us to agree on a granite might be more of a challenge. I think I might like what someone called "colonial dream" or "colonial cream" but I need to go see it in person.

  • cindyinsocal
    15 years ago

    I have cherry cabinets with a slate and wood inlay floor. Our KD helped us realize that a golden tone granite would bring out the warmth in the slate. Green granites all tended to blend in with the floor and make the space very dark. I have Madura Gold granite. It is a very gold piece with some black and some red in it. I have seen lots of madura gold that is much pinker than mine. Good luck!


  • suzatwork
    15 years ago

    We have a medium dark cherry for the perimeter cabinets, and a 'coffee' stained cherry for the island. We used the same light granite on all, called New Ornamentale. I think it's similar to Giallo Ornamental and has similar coloring to New Venetian Gold only New Ornamental has some 'flow' to the pattern:

    {{!gwi}}

  • alku05
    15 years ago

    Our floors aren't slate, but they are dark. We chose the light counters (Andromeda White granite) and backsplash to brighten the room up a bit and give some nice contrast. My DH is pretty conservative style-wise, so the counter we chose a fairly "quiet" stone.

  • Fori
    15 years ago

    Brushed stainless with a bright tile 'splash?

  • rickthe
    15 years ago

    I have serious quality problems with the Kraftmaid Cherry. I urge you to remove your new cabinets to inspect them for defects. (Easy way: Slit the side corners so the front side of the box falls forward and cabinet face is exposed.) If you ordered furniture sides pull the cab out and inspect the wood and for bloched stain. My back panels had unfilled knot holes that exposed the particle board behind the cherry veneer.

    Make sure that you view them in the strong daylight to reveal the defects. (The darker the room the better the cabinets will appear and the more difficult it will be to see the true condition.

    My cabinet doors have multiple (3-9) open knots, pin and birdpeck holes, cats paws and multiple 2- to 8 inch mineral streaks, unfilled pits on edges of the doors and machine router rings on many edges of the frames. Exposed staple points (missed center of join) and the sides, fronts and backs are not level. (So that the C-top cannot rest evenly on 4 sides.)

    I suggest that you check the bottoms of the doors and wall cabinets since they will be in clear sight once they are mounted!

    I would rate my Cherry Wood as #1 and 2 common. (Well below furniture grade.)

  • Kimmer57
    10 years ago

    I love your kitchen! I have dark cherry cabinets and thought I wanted white granite but was nervous until I saw your post! Crisp, clean, elegant... What is your beautiful backsplash?

  • dilly_ny
    10 years ago

    I have colonial gold granite and I love it. The slabs vary a lot so be sure to look at multiple slabs before you pick.

    Are your cherry cabinets stained a redish tone? Or more natural toned?

  • eandhl
    10 years ago

    I once saw a kit with darker cherry cabs and one of the lighter honed Eucalyptus granite stones. Beautiful!

  • krycek1984
    10 years ago

    We ordered dark cherry cabinets...kaffe from kraftmaid. We are using slate floors and the counter top we chose is ice blue/delicatus ice. I'm not sure how dark your cabinets will be but we think it will be great!

  • Gracie
    10 years ago

    So that's what new kitchens looked like in 2008.

  • mjocean
    10 years ago

    Hi Merimom,

    We are just finishing up our natural cherry kitchen with Montauk Black slate floor tile. We installed Piracema White granite on the coutertops. As you will see in the photos, there is a lot of dark gray veining and waves in the granite. I am technologically challenged and can only attach one photo to my messages so you will see several posts.
    Best of luck!
    MJ

  • mjocean
    10 years ago

    Photo 2

  • mjocean
    10 years ago

    photo 3

  • mjocean
    10 years ago

    photo 4

  • mjocean
    10 years ago

    photo 5

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