Is there another photo? The one you pictured is gorgeous!

I am posting the second stone pics. Also my kitchen too..Thank you for your help in advanvace

That's the Kitchen.

marti8a, i have posted two more ..

That first one is a stunner! Looks like agate in there. Plus, it has some lighter coloration which seems to tie it better to the light floor. That's a beauty and gets my vote!

Thank you Deedles for such a quick reply..!..That's one I selected first..and then keep looking at the picture..i was thinking if it's going to make all yellow and too busy..Thanks again for voting :-)
The cosmos gold..it's very pretty..like 3d when you loom at it real close.

Mascarellow new - when you like closer, nothing special..

If I go with mascarello, my island will be like this in the picture

Sorry missed the island picture

Definitely the first one.

What's the name of the first one? I'm getting confused as to which is which.

Which one do YOU like better. Does one make you smile more than the other? If so, give it a lick and buy it!

I don't thnk you could go wrong with either!

One thing I've read about darker granites is it can sometimes be hard to see if they are clean everywhere. The "explore with fingers to feel the gunk" method really turns me off, so I am glad DH ended up liking a lighter one!

You picked two great slabs though. They're beautiful.

I like the first one, the lightness would work with the wood & the floor, also the stone pattern is spectacular, you'll have some fun places where the ?agate? shows.

Both slabs are gorgeous. It's really a matter of personal choice. Do you like the grayish tone of the first one, or the darker second one. Remember that the pattern in the granite will not be so "in your face" when the slab is horizontal. With the first one, you will need to be careful with the templating. You could end up with one piece of counter with the fine grained grayish part, and another one with almost all the carmel color part.

Try googling images of each of the granites to find pictures of countertops with them, to see what they might look like installed.

Both these slabs will work well with your cabinets. I think the first one is particularly interesting and it' my first pick.

so far all of you liked the first one.

Deedless, the first one yellow/gold is "Mascarellow New"
the black with Gold tone is "Cosmos Gold"

AnnaC54:>> Remember that the pattern in the granite will not be so "in your face" when the slab is horizontal. With the first one, you will need to be careful with the templating. You could end up with one piece of counter with the fine grained grayish part, and another one with almost all the carmel color part.

That's so true.
I did something with paint..I cud not find a lot od Mascarellow new online.

I am posting both
First one is Mascarello

Thank you all for helping ,me here!

That's the cosmos gold..( :-) forgive my seams are not accurate)

The first is too close in color to the cabinets, and the swirly grain of the oak and the granite compete for attention. It's too much going on.

Of the two, the second is the better choice.

But, not without under cabinet lighting.

Originally just looking at the slabs I was thinking that I preferred the Mascarello. But after your mock up, I think I like the Cosmos better. And I understand what you say about how pretty it is when you look closer. I kept being drawn to stones that looked almost 3 dimensional when I was stone hunting too.

My only concern would be how the Cosmos would look with the floors. I guess they are pretty neutral so probably not a huge concern.

Have you thought backsplash yet. If you think about what you want from the start it may save you some heartache on the backend when you realize that the backsplash that you love doesn't work with the granite you selected.

But add me into the both are beautiful and either would work crowd.

They are both beautiful. So hard to pick one! I still lean to the first one in a stand-alone situation, but greendesigns point about possibly being too competitive with the oak cabs is well taken.

I don't envy you having to choose.

I guess I forgot to mention in my post that I prefer the Cosmos. GD hit it regarding the carmel color in the Mascarello being close to the cabinets.

I like the second one, no contest. I do like the look of dark counters, but now that I have one, I must concur with williamsem...they're a pain to keep clean. Not that they're inherently dirtier, but you can't see anything on them. That sounds good, right? It isn't if you like a pristinely clean counter like I do. I have to go by touch to find dried, crusty drips of who knows what.

I agree with Green Design but have to add a disclaimer - I love Cosmos Gold anyway so I'm predisposed to lean that way. I do think the Marscarello would look a little "samey" next to the wood tone of your cabinets. I can't fully tell whether Cosmos is a better match or whether I just like it better on its own, and I do agree that good lighing is a must.

They are both very beautiful!! And I think both will work, but I do think I might like the second darker granite with the oak cabinets better!

I think something quieter (and dark) for the perimeter, then paint the island black and put the first granite on it.

Our Cambrian Black counters are leathered - it's pretty easy to see crud on that. But usually I just wipe everything down with a microfiber cloth.

My crazy colorful island top is shiny, but again - I wipe down with the microfiber cloth. Although for this one, I do like to have a touching orgy before going to bed! And sometimes I find things that I missed in the wipe down.

Personally I like the dark one. But then again, I am partial to darker granite, even though I haven't even looked for granite for my remodel yet.

I am sure whichever one you choose, it will look great! Good luck with all your decisions!

I thank you so much to all of you. Now these two were the only slabs that i liked at this particular place. Since I already paid 50% deposit, I believe i can't choose another place. (and my husband is not helping at all, and my family is not here either).
Cosmos I personally like it but I read a lot about it, easiy scratches and very hard to work with etc,..and I do lot of coooking and we have young kids and we always have visitors..so Cosmos won't be bullet proof for me..
Now looking at Mascarellow..I am not liking it so much as a countertop..This stone looks pretty as a painting.

I will update you..tomorrow..need to make a decision..

I like the second. You need to consider how the granite will be templated. Yes the first looks interesting as a whole slab, but where are you going to make the cuts?

OurWorld--Is the place where you placed the deposit the place that will be cutting your slab? Because, usually the place that fabricates the counters only carries a limited selection of slabs in stock, but will often send you to a slab wholesaler where you can select something else if you can't find anything you like in their stock. Then the slab wholesaler will place a hold on the slab, until you go to the fabricator with your deposit, and the fabricator then pays the wholesaler who sends it to the fabricator. So, if you talk to your fabricator, you might find them willing to let you select another slab from a wholesaler and apply the deposit to that. At least, that is how it is done in the Washington D.C. suburban area. (I was granite shopping for quite some time and went to numerous places.) Hope this helps.
Someone on this forum once mentioned that their grandfather used to say that if you can't decide between two choices it is usually because neither one is the right choice. I have thought about that often, as I usually have trouble making up my mind on things like this, too. I have found it to be generally true for me. If I can't decide between two choices, I try to go back out and look for the "right one" that I have no doubt about!

One other thought: I have a light colored granite and it too is hard to find the "dirt"on it! i think it must be more of a factor of the busyness of the design of the granite, rather than overall lightness or darkness that camoflages the dirt. I would imagine that a solid black granite would be the worst,however-it would probably actually HIGHTLIGHT every speck of dirt and grain of spilled salt!

cosmo gold...you need some contrast and the 1st one is to close to cab color. i am not liking the gray in 1st one.

good luck today!!

One other thing I forgot to mention, which you may not have considered: an ogee edge is not very comfortable to lean against when you are sitting at a snack bar. You also loose an inch or two of useable counter space, and I was told it chips easier. So I wouldn't decide on the top just to get the ogee edge. Also, I was warned by my fabricator that an ogee edge with a busy granite can look too fussy and overdone. They also said that people tend to have problems with people leaning on a plate set over the ogee edge and it tips.

Can they do a 1/4' rounded edge on the top of the cosmos? I have that and love it--very comfortable and looks beautiful.

Have you brought in a drawer or cabinet door to hold next to the slabs? If the golds of the first slab aren't just the right shade to complement the gold undertone of your cabinets you could have a major clash going on.

Also, I can testify to the importance of at least considering what kind of backsplash you want (don't buy anything until the counters are in, however, as lighting is so different in your home vs. granite workshop.) You could buy a few samples from a big box store (so you could return them) and bring them in to hold next to the granite. I was amazed at how every single type and kind of terrazzo looked too pinkish next to my granite, for instance. If you want a mosaic tile, you probably want a more uniform or subtle granite that won't "fight" with the busyness of the backsplash. IF you want white or bone subway tiles, try those next to each slab.

IF I had to choose just out of the two today, I would choose the second (cosmos). It is guaranteed to give you some nice contrast with the cabinets, and probably be easier to find a light-colored complementing backsplash tile. I would make sure that the gold running throughout it goes with your cabinet color first, though (you may have already done this.) I think it would also have more universal appeal for resale value, if that is a concern at all. I also think it complements the stainless steel appliances better. Computer monitors, of course, are not a good judge of color. HTH

Hi All,
I posted an update on monday here after I read fun2Learn's reply/Gds .It looks like I lost it.(Sorry about it)
fun2leatn>>"Someone on this forum once mentioned that their grandfather used to say that if you can't decide between two choices it is usually because neither one is the right choice"

I thought this was right and I just called them and requested them not to cut the stone on monday..and it's on hold until I am ready.

So I didn't think much about it. I don't have any choice now at the moment.
Cosmos, only problem is it's soft.

If you have any suggestions, plse let me know.

Thank you all again for all your help to make this decision and now and I am happy.?(

Hi OurWorld. I don't know if you have decided on the granite yet, but I just happened to be thinking about your situation and started wondering if it was possible to take your nice photos of the granite (from the layout of how each slab would fit in your kitchen )and photoshop it into the picture of your kitchen. I have been playing around a lot with photoshop lately for ny backsplash, but never tried to do a horizontal surface like a countertop before. I love to play with photoshop.

The cosmos photoshop turned out pretty well, I think. You can see the white square where you had shown your sink is actually over your actual sink area, so I think it is somewhat to scale. My computer started acting up when I was doing the island of the other one,however, and I couldn't figure out why it wasn't letting me stretch it enough to completely overlay the island, so I ended up having to put a "seam" in the island granite! (Hard to explain). It should help give you a good idea, though of course the lighting on the granite slabs when you took those photos isn't the same as the lighting was in your kitchen, so you have to account for that in your mind's eye.
I hope this helps. It is a big expensive decision!

Wow, both of these granites are gorgeous. I would choose the 2nd one, due to the contrast between your cabinets. I just installed Nettuno Bordeaux, (Typhoon Bordeaux) which also has a lot of movement. It is an exotic and therefore a 5 out of 5 on the hardness scale, a standard in the industry. I have the ogee edge, and it is very strong. Very important, that you template the cuts to have bookmatched seams, so that you don.t have a mismatched pattern, In your first example the inside corner, is a part of the stone that does not match. I would swap the 2 small pieces to have a better match.In any case, you have narrowed it down to 2 stunners indeed.

"Cosmos, only problem is it's soft. "

that'd toss that one out for me. plus it's very dark.

the other one (the first one) looks much like my sister's. She has oak cabinets also. It doesn't compete. looks great. I love it.

her granite -