This video shows a very bad granite countertop installation.

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Dear Tom,
We are in the process of renovating our kitchen. Our house is over 150 years old. It is an all white colonial with 7 very large pillars that run across the front. We recently added to the kitchen area and have created a kitchen space that is 22 x 19 feet. We are having all white cabinets made which will go up to the ceiling and a large two tiered island in the center which will be about 10 ft long. The floor is teak.
There is a lot of natural light as one wall of the room is floor to ceiling windows which overlook our pool area.

Our question, is the color of the granite. The kitchen previously had these same white cabinets with Verde Butterfly and we liked it. I didn’t want to re-install the same kitchen so we looked at granite again. We saw the Black Galaxy but I saw your note on a prior replay that it shows dust and that future buyers don’t like its Vegas bling, bling look. Now I am concerned about what to choose. The kitchen is off of a very formal dinning room with heavy red velvet drapes (like in Gone With the Wind) and I do want the overall look of the kitchen to be formal-even though we did choose white cabinets.

Help!
Thanks a lot,
Colette

Hello Colette,

I was raised in the house that had those heavy red velvet drapes. I am glad that you mentioned that.

Neither the Verde Butterfly, nor the Black Galaxy is the best choice here. The Verde Butterfly is far too unsophisticated for an old classic home like yours, and the Black Galaxy is just totally wrong unless you want your guests to feel like they traveled through time when leaving from your living room to your kitchen. You can get away with this for a small accent dry bar, but with white cabinets, this granite is looks cheap and futuristic.

I am also concerned about green on white. I really like the deep greens with the red velvet nearby, but green granite on white cabinets presents a sterile atmosphere that is really best transitioned in a more contemporary home. Again, I think a dark green like Ubatuba would be perfect if your cabinets were cherry or darker.

Remaining understated, yet classy and charming, is the goal and those white cabinets make it a challenge. My best vision for your kitchen is in the deep brown/reds with highlights of yellow or cream. Juparana Ipe or something very similar would be a perfect choice. There is another color called Juparana Bordeaux but the veining and mottling are just too over powering to be charming. I mention this because it could work if you fall in love with it as most people do.

Two other perfect choices are Arandis and Colonial Dream. These two colors are very classy and sophisticated and I believe you will agree once you see full size slabs. These two draw in the same balance as Juparana Ipe but the colors are reversed from the Juparana Ipe, meaning there are generally beige with highlights of deeper browns and reds.

Consider a full high granite splash. A tile splash can look pretty nice too but I just don’t like to see tile splashes with white cabinets. It looks very stripy and cheap.

Well, I hope that I have helped! Thank you for supporting the Rock Blog’s World Vision kids.