Tom,

The kitchen in our new home is 13 x 21′ with a long narrow center island,

counters on three perimeter walls, plus a small adjoining breakfast nook

with southern windows — so the light is pretty good.

Our kitchen is also open into the living room and dining room with simple

archway openings.

Cabinets are Armstrong Mocha Maple with arch doors. Appliances are mainly

stainless plus a black dishwasher. Flooring is 20 x 20″ very light warm

beige ceramic tile. Walls are light beige in kitchen and living room and

dining room is sage green. We have natural stain oak trim for baseboard and

windows.

I am considering Lady’s Dream for countertops with a stainless sink. Could

you offer thoughts on this or other stone suggestions? I don’t want anything

that’s dark since we already have walls of dark cabinets. Thanks for your

advice, and thanks for thinking of a creative way to support World Vision!

Moissy

Hello Moissy,

I can picture your color pallet well and thank you for the great description. First let me say, that if I owned the quarry that produced Lady Dream, I think I would close it down. There is one version of it with salmon vein that looks rather nice in a bathroom, but other than that, I really dislike the pink/grey colors in this granite. I just can’t think of one combination in which I could recommend it be a compliment. Never go pink in the kitchen – never.

I hope my comment above did not completely disrupt your direction and I seriously what to make two other suggestions that will go better and still give you some of the better coloring of Lady Dream, but with more warm and beautiful tones. Those two granite color choices are Amber Fantasy and Crema Bordeaux. The latter will look darker and more sophisticated but the light cream floors will allow you to go pretty dark without closing in the room. The Amber Fantasy will be brighter and more playful. I love both of these choices with the design and pallet you described.

The arched panel cabinets are perfect and I would recommend an Ogee Bullnose edge detail as shown on www.HomeGranite.com.

Stainless is not a must here. You could match the floor or appliances with a crème or white sink.

Thank you for supporting the Rock Blog’s kids and my very best to you!

Dear Tom,

Your website is very helpful, Thank you for it. We also live in southern California, so I hope that you can help me pick out something and I will be able to find it locally. We are just beginning our kitchen remodel of our 40 year old home. I need help in picking out a flooring and also granite to go with our cabinets.

A little about the space. As you walk into our home the living room is on your right, if you continue to walk straight through from the entry the dining/kitchen space is next and is approx a 15.5′ x 24′ space. The kitchen is “U” shaped and we will have a large center island approx. 51″ x 80″. We will have all stainless appliances. There is a window that looks out into the backyard above the sink as well as a sliding door that goes out to the backyard these both face east. We want all granite countertops. We will also have a granite buffet area (sits on base cabinets) opposite the window wall that is approx 6′ long. This extends into that dining part of the room. So, the cabinets we have chosen are Kitchenmaid maple with the Nutmeg Glaze, We are thinking of using a Versailles pattern travertine in either a cappuccino or a walnut color for the flooring that will also include the entry way. This has a variation of cream and warm brown shades in it but it is not to light as to show all the dirt. I would prefer wood floors but I don’t think it practical with a dog, 2 cats, 2 teenagers and a pool in the backyard. What do you think of this choice?

As far as the granite goes, we have looked at Santa Barbara and Giallo Humatia. I saw a Lapidus in a magazine on some similiar cabinets, but it was hard to really see it. Not sure if it would work.I do not like any granite with a peach, pink, rust tone to it and nothing too dark. I think I want something with a warm brown, cinnamon or nutmeg spot in it. Something warm. I just want to make sure the flooring, the cabinets and the granite all go together. I like the Santa Cecilia and have it in my bathroom but read your “track home” thoughts on it in other posts. I haven’t decided on wall colors yet.

I definitely appreciate any help you can give me. Sorry this is so long.

Kim ( Thousand Oaks, Ca)

Hello Kim,

I really like the Versailles patterned tile flooring in a kitchen as long as it is in the dark tones as you mentioned. This makes for a warmer and lower maintenance floor because the grout joint will be a little darker and not show every speck of dust and dirt. Be sure to seal it well and get a good quality travertine selection without too much pitting.

The cabinet color and glaze is also right on target with a well thought out updated décor that will be timeless. Finally, stainless is a must as you have mentioned.

Certainly any granite color that is peachy or yellow would ruin the room. The perfect granite color to me for this combination would be Terra Brazilis or something very similar. There are a ton of new colors coming on the market so you need to take a walk down the isles of some of the large suppliers in Southern California. I would suggest going to the Bedrosian Tile slab yard in Orange (on Pacific) and see their huge selection. You can ask for manager Dan Drew and just tell him that Tom Cordova said to give you a tour. Their prices are reasonable and the selection is gigantic. If you need quality fabricator/installer, let me know.

The Santa Cecelia color is certainly one of the lower cost granite and it is right for some kitchens that really need a certain specific color and temperature. I would not recommend it for a kitchen with a big island and travertine Versailles pattern floors — too cheap looking. You need to look at the semi exotic level, like Terra Brazilis and others.

Other colors that would go well are Dark Juperana Persa or one with a little more deep green like Esmeralda Quartzite (this would look amazing).

Regarding the edge detail, consider a Roman Ogee edge detail like the one shown on www.HomeGranite.com.

Thank you for your support and anyway I can help out a So Cal neighbor, let me know.

We are trying to decide on granite colour for a
large kitchen with espresso cabinets (quite dark brown but not as black as we had feared) . Kitchen is quite large and u-shaped with an 8 foot island in middle and a buffet / hutch at other end. Southern exposure. Granite will be used on all. Appliances are stainless. Fixtures and faucets and bar stools are brushed nickel (stools have dark brown leather also). Floor is cream ceramic . Backsplah will probably be the same tile but smaller.
Kitchen has 2 walk outs so quite bright. Kitchen is open to hall (wall was removed) which exposes dark cherry floors. Have been considering Juperana Golden Beach, Matisse, or possibly Antique Brown. Help!!

Beth

Hi Beth,

Without a doubt the Giallo Matisse is a perfect choice. The
color collection in this granite works perfectly with espresso cabinets and a large island. The leather topped chairs are a big bonus to accent and pull it all together.

There are couple considerations. First, I hope you are not set on the tile back splash. You could go that direction but I think you would greatly diminish the classy richness of the kitchen as well as create a ’stripe’
feeling that you would eventually regret. If your kitchen was less spacious, I might say that it would work but your kitchen really can handle the same granite slab on the splash all the way up to the cabinets. The Giallo Matisse has a nice wide veining movement that allows for a beautiful flow from the countertop up the wall. When properly cut and placed, it looks like art in a natural way. (There is a good swatch on www.GraniteStock.com that shows the right color range that you should look for.)

Secondly, you need to carefully choose the slabs. Try to stay on the medium to light side because the dark slabs can give off a dirty feeling. Still, pulling in some black is essential; just keep it to the accent level.

One comment about Golden Beach, I do love this stone; however, not with dark espresso cabinets. The two temperatures are too contrasting and that granite should stay closer to the nutmeg or even cherry glaze cabinetry.

Antique Brown is beautiful granite. However, it is quite dull and commercial in a large kitchen.

I hoped that I have helped. Thank you for supporting the World Vision kids.

Dear Tom,

We are in the process of updating our kitchen. The kitchen is large and

receives a good amount of natural light. We have chosen a maple cabinet

with a cordovan stain (is a bit reddish) the door is a raised panel and full

overlay. Our appliances are stainless (top of stove is black) and the sink

will be an under mount stainless. The kitchen will include under cabinet

lighting and recessed cans over the peninsula and throughout the room. The

problem is the granite color – I tend to prefer the darker colors such as

Tan Brown, Cranberry Brown and Indian Mahogany while my husband prefers the

lighter colors such as Vyara Gold and Rosewood. Neither one of us is

totally opposed to the others choices. Our style tends to lean toward

traditional with some modern updates. We have not picked out flooring or

hardware for cabinets yet but are planning on 16″ tile installed on the

diagonal for the flooring. The other question I have is about edges – we

like the look of the ogee!

Ogee or double ogee edge but are concerned that this may chip easier than

some of the simpler edges. We have an active household with three children

and spend A LOT of time in the kitchen.

Thanks for your help, this site is great!

Susan

Hi Susan,

I understand your kitchen well and I see the maple wood with the cordovan stain often. There is no doubt that anything pink or even light rosy will be a violation of beauty. The only reddish tone that will work must be dark and right on target with the cabinet stain. There are three ways to go.

First, the light version with the right color inclusion. The two colors here are Bianco Romano or White Springs. Both are very light but have subtle movement and compliment the stain perfectly. Even a black cooktop and stainless fixtures will work here.

Second, the dark version is the right selection of Tan Brown Granite, the darker the better but the reddish inclusions really need to be very close to the color of the cabinet stain. These inclusions are not always the same color so different slabs will look different. In addition, you mentioned Indian Mahogany, but that color is not as rich as Dakota Mahogany. Take a look at Dakota Mahogany which is one of my favorites for this kitchen pallet combination.

Lastly, blackish granites with no red in them all look spectacular with cordovan stain cabinets. However, Black Absolute Granite is just too difficult to keep up with kids around because it always shows dust and it doesn’t show ants!! So, take a look at Café Imperial as a possible darker more homogeneous granite option.

Don’t be scared of dark! Darker colors are also more kid friendly and easier on the eyes to do homework on. Make the edge detail a Roman Ogee edge (as show on the front page of www.HomeGranite.com). This is a perfect for the raised panel cabinet design.

Best wishes and thank you for supporting the Rock Blog’s World Vision kids.

Hi Tom,

Our kitchen has light oak cabinets (with a ’sorta’ orange undertone). We recently laid porcelain tile in varying shades, ranging from very red to brown (that we love). We want to go for an “earthy” feel (like a cabin in the Rockies). We have painted the walls Benjamin Moore Lilly Pad (light green) and have stainless steel appliances, but I’m really stumped on the granite color. I thought I wanted to go with one in the brown family, but with the floors so varying, I’m thinking of staying in the cream/white family (we currently have white Formica) or something in the green family to complement the red in the floor. Please help!

Kiera

Hi Kiera,

I love what you are trying to accomplish with the natural cabin look and you could definitely blow the whole décor by choosing the wrong granite color.

The toughest part about what you have to work with is the orange tint on the oak cabinets. My guess is that the cabinets are somewhat older as it common for medium glaze on oak cabinets to get a little more orange in time. After you are all done with you kitchen, you might decide to tune up the cabinets with a appropriate rejuvenating cleaner that will reduce the orange tint.

Regarding the granite, I want to make a few good suggestions. At the top of the list is Caramelo Granite. This is a granite color that you will have to see in person to appreciate the subtle greenish cast mixed in with the blacks, beiges and grays. I completed a kitchen design near a lake in a cabin filled residential area last year with a very similar pallet to yours. The Caramelo granite was perfect. It also properly introduces natural ‘rock’ colors into the natural setting.

Secondly, Green Marinace or RainForest Green would clearly compliment the décor and bring the outdoors in to your home. Green Marinace is one that you will love or hate. It will work well with all the colors in your kitchen for sure, but some folks think it is a little busy. It might be a little busy with your floor, so that is why it is my second choice for you.

Lastly, Rain Forest Green would be an exotic (yet still natural choice).
[You can see a kitchen done in this granite color on the Granite Kitchen Gallery page of www.HomeGranite.com.] This granite color will present a darker and richer kitchen while still connecting with the floor colors perfectly. The only draw back with this stone is that it is not truly a granite. Granite has at least 65% quartz, which makes it harder than a knife. Rain Forest Green is a natural stone from India but the composition is more of a mix of Orthoclase and softer minerals. You can still use it but you must use a cutting board and the granite should be properly sealed at least once a year with a high quality sealer. Personally, I feel this is very small maintenance to consider if you love the stone. Because of the maintenance and the more exotic look, it is my third best choice for you. In addition, if you choose Rainforest Green, also look at its counterpart, Rainforest Brown. You might like that even better.

Follow my Home Owner’s Checklist on the blog when looking at slabs.

My very best wishes to you and thank you for supporting the Rock Blog’s World Vision kids!

Hi Tom,

My husband and I are replacing countertops in our home. We currently have honey colored oak cabinets and similar colored oak flooring. Our appliances are stainless steel. We have been frustrated because although we love the black granites many friends tell us that they are hard to keep clean so we have also been looking at gold tone granites such as jupanaro fantastico and madura gold. I am worried that the grey in the jupanara fantastico might not work with the honey colored cabinets. Any suggestions?

Jean

Hello Jean,

Juparana Fantastico granite is a beautiful color and goes very will with honey colored cabinets. Only with flat or shakers style would that the variations in this granite not blend well. Honey oak cabinets with raised
panel styles and are totally traditional and Juparana Fantastico granite with its grey veins (but usually more like silver/gray) and overall browns and cream tones is perfect to enhance the upgraded kitchen presences. I personally really like this choice and I’m struggling to consider what might be any reservations at all.

Black color granite would surely not be the way to go. Not only does it present the higher maintenance issues that I mention elsewhere on the blog, but black on honey makes for a totally cold and dull kitchen atmosphere.
The battle between urban and classical would wage in your kitchen if you mix black granite with honey oak cabinets!

Other colors that work very well with Honey Oak cabinets (in the classical sense) are dark greens, red/browns and whites. All other colors cause confusion.

Best wishes and thank you for supporting the Rock Blog kids!

Dear Tom,

After one a quick look at slabs shown in the yard of my neighborhood fabricator and many hours on the computer attempting to learn about granite and viewing the online samples, I discovered The Rock Blog! FANTASTIC!!!!

It’s out with my old custom almond “contemporary” kitchen cabinets (an oxymoron?) and in with new traditional, painted yellow cabinets glazed with brown in the lines defining the panels. The yellow cabinets will be installed above the countertops along one wall and base cabinets will be on three walls, two of which will have the yellow finish; one shorter cabinet will be in a cherry stain. Think of an open rectangle with an opening for the door leading into the dining room.

While the cabinetry will have a traditional flair, the appliances and sink will be in stainless steel. The kitchen opens into a huge dining room with a view of a cherry dining table and cherry wood surrounding banks of windows that extend the full length of the dining room. This same cherry finish is also on the French doors and another door leading to the porch. Because there is a window in the kitchen, the dining room decor is very much part of the kitchen. Also visible is a pale green Persian rug with swirls of three shades of blue and the same shade of the cherry wood.

My good sense tells me to consider a brown granite although I worry about replicating the brown and yellow color scheme of the 70s. Tan Brown worked well with the cabinet finishes, but it’s hardly exciting and I feel its dark color would overpower the cherry finish in the adjoining room. What do you think of Zion Brown or Juperana Ipe?

I am also wondering if any of the greens or blues would be good choices. Surely blue and yellow have long been a wonderful combination; just ask the Swedes. The Granitestock site shows an incredibly beautiful Blue Louise (not Louise Blue), blue granite that seems to incorporate both the yellow and the cherry color. Are there any problems with this granite? Availability issues?

Also on the Granitestock site are Prairie Green, Verde Tropical and Candais Green. Any thoughts?

Blue Louise is beautiful and surely would make for an impressive countertop, but is it available from most vendors? Can you recommend any other stones?

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated. I was planning to look at granite this Monday at a site that has a huge selection but will wait to hear from you. Donation will be made immediately.

Thank you,

Toby

Hello Toby,

Blue Louise is a wonderful color filled with deep rich colors that would go well in your decor. It is very expensive but is getting more common so I believe the price might be better at some places rather than others. It also vary in price by the size and quality of the slabs so check the slabs in person of anything you discover by making phone calls.

A more subdued and far less expensive color would be Butterfly Blue. The blue accents mixed with some blacks and deep reds would be a great way to set off the ‘yellow’ that you seem to love so much. Butterfly Blue also looks great with stainless.

A third choice is Red Dragon. This looks great with yellow and bridges the traditional decor with stainless very nicely. You need to see a nice big sample of this along with your pallet to really understand how it looks.

I don’t really think the other colors you mentioned would look so great. They each just seem to clutter the overall vision and look messy — sorry.

Thank you for supporting the Rock Blog’s World Vision kids and best to you!

Hi Tom.

We are building a new home. The kitchen dimensions are about 13X13′. One of the walls in the kitchen has a full array of cherry cabinets with cherry stain and a black glaze. It also has a black cooktop on that side, as well as a stainless fridge. The other side of the kitchen has hanging cherry/glass cabinets and is open to the living room. The rest of the appliances are stainless. The flooring is a laminate, and is the Mannington Heritage Cherry Buckskin. Right now, we are planning on a stainless sink, with stainless faucet. (Should we consider a black sink, as mentioned in a previous blog?) We are also considering oil-rubbed bronze cabinet hardware.
There are no windows in the kitchen, but it will get some light from a nearby breakfast nook on one end. We will also have some light on the other end from the dining room.

We are thinking of using the tan brown in the kitchen. Will this work, or do you think it will be too dark?

Also, we will have the same cabinetry in the bathrooms. We are looking at Dal Tile’s, “Castle de Verre” collection…a range of gold, beige, and grey with bronzey glass accents. Would the tan brown work with these colors? Do you have any suggestions on a granite to use in the kids’ bathroom, that may make it a little more “neutral”…but not boring.

Additionally, would you be able to recommend something for our small powder room that might make it pop?

I hope that these questions aren’t too basic. Your blog has been very interesting to read. I would appreciate any help/advice that you could give me in terms of color ranges that I should be looking at.

Thanks so much!

Joanne

Hello Joanne,

This certainly is a tough one because the Tan Brown looks great with Cherry cabinets with a black glaze. This is also very reasonably priced granite that looks like a million bucks when combined in this color pallet and stainless steel sinks.

However, given the lack of natural light directly into the kitchen, I want to suggest that you take a look at Tropical Brown Granite. The problem with Tan Brown is that the black minerals are just too large and dark for a kitchen that doesn’t get enough sunlight. Frankly, there are so many poor variations of Tan Brown in the market place these days that I have a hard time recommending it at all. The best Tan Brown is very consistent without large blotching clusters of black minerals. The good quality is getting rarer.

Tropical Brown has less of the red but with the black glaze on the cherry cabinets, it will look perfect. This is very dense and low maintenance granite from Saudi Arabia in which you definitely notice easier routine cleaning. Although Tropical Brown is a homogeneous granite color, it does come in two distinct ranges. You want the one that is browner and not green. You will know what I mean when you see it. This granite leans to the more sophisticated compliment of kitchen decor. For the splash you can use the same granite or easily combine a cream tile with accents of the granite.

If your child’s bathroom is large enough, I would recommend Tropical Brown as well because it is a dark neutral that is very low maintenance. It will be hard for kids to stain this granite! If you don’t like this for the bathroom, ask your fabricator what other colors he/she might have in remnants. All fabricators have piles of great granite colors in their yard that are too small for kitchens but perfect for vanity tops. This is a great way to get an upgraded color at no extra costs.

Best wishes and thank you for supporting the Rock Blog’s kids!

Hello Tom!
We love Worldvision! Thank you for all the great info on this site!
Our kitchen is down to the studs. It is U-Shaped and opens onto the living room area. The cabinets will all be white. The floors are hardwoods, with a slight pink tint in their natural state. We are trying for a “modern cottage” feel. I can send you pictures of the kitchen before it was gutted if that would help. I do not really like gold, so we’ve looked at slate and black and green granites. We could sure use some suggestions. The kitchen has 7 to 9 feet of uninterrupted counter space for serving, so the countertops are a big feature in the kitchen.
Thank you for your help. – Carmen

Hello Carmen,

I love the modern cottage decor and I wish it was intended more often. True white cabinets are great but you need to avoid black countertops or else you present a more contemporary/modern kitchen. The one exception is a color like Peribonka Granite, which is more green/back. This color would work very well but I think you will have a hard time finding it. It is from Canada, so ask around for it.

The green granite direction is more appropriate but there are so many greens that are totally wrong. There is nothing worse than a wavy green and white granite (like Lapland Green Granite) on white cabinets. Many dark greens are nice but are just too contrasting when they have the ‘true green’ color in them (such as San Francisco Green Granite).

Consider granite with some movement to keep the kitchen ‘cottage-playful’, yet cozy and still elegant. Good colors for this are Verde Borgogna Granite, which is on the darker side or Vermont Green on the lighter side. The Borgogna will look the best with your appliances but I think you will like the Vermont Green better as it has a slate feel but with earthy inclusions.

You could actually go with Vermont Green Slate in a honed finish as well, but you would need to be prepared for the higher maintenance issues of routing sealing and using cutting boards. Slate seems to scratch just by looking at it! I don’t like slate for kitchen countertops because they simply wear down too quickly.

For the edge detail, you can round the top edge and still maintain the cottage charm but a full bullnose will blow the overall style. A square edge would be best, though. Keep that in mind. Match knob and pulls with the stove finish.

Best wishes to you and thank you so much for supporting the Rock Blog’s World Visions kids.

Hi Tom,

You should be seeing my question soon. Choosing the granite is proving to be more difficult than I thought! I am so glad to have found you!

If I might add one more thing – my son is telling me that I should go with engineered stone such as Silestone. He had that in his first home and now has granite. He is very strong on the engineered stone. He is very often correct about things, and given that he has experience with each and I don’t, I am a bit puzzled about what to do. Any thoughts? – Peggy

Hello Peggy,

Thank you for your patience. I never received the original posting so if I miss some elements of your question, please let me know.

First let me give you some comments about engineered stone versus natural granite. Specifically, you mentioned Silestone which is a trade name for an engineered stone made by Cosentino in Spain. It is widely marketed though Home Depot. Silestone is man-made and created by combining quartz with colored polyester epoxy resin. It is extremely stain resistant and scratch resistant as well. Since these are two very desirable aspects in a kitchen, engineered stone boast these benefits and claims that it is superior to natural granite.

On the other hand, granite is truly natural and created when the Earth was formed. It is sort of like comparing apples and oranges. Since sellers of both products know that the other is like a shark in their swimming pool, marketing and technical advances are being created to close the gap. Suppliers of engineered stone continue to develop more ‘natural-like’ colors but they don’t seem to be able to measure up to mother nature. Likewise on the granite promotions side, some new development of sealers are truly at a promising level now and provide an almost maintenance free surface. The bottom line is that you should take a look at Silestone and see if you like it. In my opinion, it only belongs in an ultra urban or contemporary decor.

Back to granite now and the color pallet you mentioned. By far my favorite with taupe cabinetry is Mascarello. If you have enough light in the kitchen, I would also recommend a dark tumbled travertine full height back splash in a tiny module, maybe even mosaic. If your light is limited, then you need to at least run slab splash 4” up with the same granite, above that you can paint or go with a lighter tile color in a big module.

The Colonial Dream is another great choice and the long thick veining movement is excellent in a galley kitchen. However, this is a little too light for your cabinetry and the selection of slabs would have to be perfect. There are just so many shades in this granite and a peachy tone would be horrible. By the way, there is no way you will like Silestone if these two granite colors appeal to you.

A stainless or bronze sink with matching fixtures is the right move. Try to match the knobs and pulls in the same finish. This is not always the requirement but Mascarello is so bold that you need to tie in everything around it so it doesn’t get messy.

My best wishes to you, Peggy! Thank you for supporting the Rock Blog’s World Vision kids!

Tom