It's Kashmir Gold granite

Just went in Friday.�

new:

Turns out I don't hate tile. Love the drip edge. Don't like anything brown that isn't wood, though. (That would include the cabinets. Not wood!)

I will definitely consider tile for a remodel if I can pull off a metal or Corian sink with it.

I have Arborite (laminate) counters in the Black Grit pattern

From Finished counter

Get some samples of everything you kinda like and cook and chop and pour on them before you tear out your old kitchen!

My marble above is 4cm honed Carrara marble. Yes, it will etch, but the honing helps hide it. Staining shouldn't be an issue with the good sealers on the market now.

I have super white quartzite, it will etch if acids are left on a long time, but after almost 1.5 years only have one little etch mark by the sink. If you wipe of when a spill happens no problems... Also, honed is much more forgiving - mine is polished

From Kitchen before and after

From Kitchen before and after

I love seeing counters..each are beautiful in their own way...I also have Delicatus White "Alaska"..I've had mine a year and a half..no staining at all..

KA:)

the cherry

Funny, Babushka Cat. Love that marble. What type of backsplash tiles are leaning against the wall?

Prill, your soapstone and backsplash are so pretty. What type of backsplash do you have?

Mtnrdredux - I am drooling over each one of those counters. I LOVE them all!

I also have Alaska White granite, installed at the beginning of June and inspired by Kitchenaddict's. Here's mine:

This delicatus granite has a lot of variety in terms of more black and sometimes less black... i know the "glass" chunks in the granite don't translate well in pictures but when i saw it in person i was very impressed.

Cienza...I am getting same cabs and grayi/tan granite like yours......what floor are you using?

Everyone's stone is absolutely gorgeous.....sure hope mine turns out as well...hard to imagine when you're looking at a slab....

Jodi-

and Quartzite Bianca (or Luce di Luna)

here's a photo taken during the tile installation...(you can see the arabesques before the grout)

i can't take credit for the calaCATta - was done originally by az stone - i just shamelessly appropriated :)

re: questions about my marble: it is calacatta marble. i was told where i bought it that the color is not typical of a calacatta as it is very warm with a lot of coffee colored swirls and not as much grey as it would typically have. i loved the coffee swirls even though some could consider the non-typical nature as a negative. i fawn over it every day. i have not yet moved back into the kitchen (still microwaving on a folding table in the livingroom) so i cannot yet speak to durability.

regarding selecting marble for a kitchen: i really tried not to like marble (was my favorite from the outset) given the issues raised on this site and elsewhere but after doing an exhaustive assessment of the alternatives and testing marble at home i came back to marble. i am the jeans/wrinkled linen who uses antiques in day to day living type of person who is a good fit for marble. also note i am a single professional so putting marble in my kitchen is perhaps an easier choice than if it was for a large family with a bunch of kids. i also considered the white quartzites but they were too grey for me and given they too were susceptible to etching, i decided why not get marble then!

my cabinet paint color is benjamin moore simply white in the advance line, satin finish. backsplash tiles still under assessment, cannot report that on that selection yet.

-babushka

I've found it very challenging to adequately photograph my countertop. Please forgive me for posting a zillion pictures, but I'm trying to get some reasonable pictures and it's just not easy to capture the colors and movement. I'm happy to delete redundancies or failures, just let me know...

OK, this is pretty self-indulgent, I know:

Just curious, that's all.

Has anyone done zinc?

kitchenaddict, would you mind providing info on your backsplash?

I keep coming back for the photos, and saw a question for me..Hope you don't mind if I answer it...

hi psims..

BS is Crema Marfil Tumbled Marble..

KA:)

If you click on the photos I bet you'll get over to my photobucket and you can see the layout of the kitchen better. It's suppose to be the shape of a piano.

I *wish* I had not put stupid ogee edges on my islula. Still not a day goes by I don't rue that decision. Just tossing the whine out here for anyone contemplating form/function. Many, many claim the function is not impaired for them by the swirly edge, but this is not my experience; and I hadn't really contemplated taking any functional hit at all, so that's mostly what I want to do by whining -- raise consciousness to this as an issue to contemplate in advance.

Joaniepoanie: They're from lutron. We actually had them painted to match the backsplash later.

leela4 - what kind of soapstone do you have? It looks great in it's natural state. (I'm guessing it's unoiled?)

and the perimeter... Engineered quartz

There a lots of little tiny silver flecks in it.

Nancy

But they are super functional. And they feel great on my hands.
And, I guess not everything in the kitchen need to be pretty,
or should be pretty.

verde esmeralda.

I'm also turning into a soapstone fan...so many beautiful countertops on here

and bostonpam's typhoon granite..to die for.
I had that granite on my wish list too

We love it because it uses recycled glass and mirror. There's lots to look at close up, but in context, it just looks clean and bright. I have abused our little sample mercilessly and it's cleaned up every time--even with turmeric!

Someone was asking about vetrazzo. I know someone on GW installed it, but I can't remember who. It's beautiful, and it's what we originally wanted. We ended up with the quartz choice for the easy maintenance, but here's some cool pictures of vetrazzo.

There's more pictures at the link below.

And -- funny, true story -- as I was perusing it just now I was running through in my head how I could post to it ... then I came across my own post. I honestly have zero memory of having seen this before. And yet ... I think it's my "favorite"? What does this mean? Easy to please I guess.

Oh my, and this goes on ... I saw kitschy's question and decided to respond to it, making several points all of which, I realized after having written it I already made above. My goodness. This does not bode well in the memory department.

The island is 10'+, estimated to weigh over 950 lbs. I have Super White.

Here are the counters in place:

Peninsula

I was going to respond to your post above (from Nov.) anyway-love your counters, and I ALWAYS feel self-indulgent when I post ANY picture of my kitchen. But what better place to stoke that inner TKO . . .

Leathered Yellow Nile Silestone on perimeter counters

From STILL not finished kitchen

It has lots of cool texture:

From STILL not finished kitchen

Here is our Buckingham - but a terrible camera...

Soon to be out of the ABB club!!

From a distance the granite reads almost black

Confess I'm loving the 'Jet Mist' granites, though I went in a completely different direction.

Silestone Lyra on the island:

,

Silestone Zirconium on perimeter:
,

Since DuPont's Zodiaq quartz has not been mentioned I'll add mine.

Galaxy Black

For all those who want to do another kitchen to use a different stone I have one word...

BATHROOMS! ;)

White diamond aka Bianco antico