Hi Tom,

We’re in need of some granite suggestions! Kitchen is L-shaped, approximately 16 x 12 and totally open to breakfast nook/banquette with huge windows and a living area with walls of sliding glass doors.

Perimeter cabinets will be maple painted antique white with brown accent finish. Raised panel on uppers, recessed panel on lowers.

Island (7′ x 5′) is knotty alder raised panel with nutmeg finish and has a white farmhouse sink.

The only appliances not covered by panels are the stainless double ovens & microwave and the black cooktop on the perimeter.

Floor is a creamy beige stone look porcelain tile 20″ x 20″. Colors in the living room lean toward warm/neutral with accents of dark green and eggplant.

Trying to come up with a granite that we can use on both the perimeter and the island and serve as a good focal point, but not having much luck.

I love crema bordeaux and granite with lots of movement but am not sure that would work in this situation.

Any advice/suggestions very much appreciated!

Thanks, Sue
PS Love your World Vision donation idea! We also have 2 children we’ve been helping.

Hello Sue,

This is a challenging one. The raised upper white cabinets with the lower recessed panels do work together sometimes but I can’t say that I have ever seen a knotted alder island with that traditional white look. The stainless and black appliances also add complexity to the whole kitchen presentation. My first thought is to suggest that you paint that island black or nutmeg, but I am going to assume that is out of the question.

So, you really need bridge granite color that ties this all together. You need earthy but elegant. You need color but a soft primary tone.

You mentioned Crema Bordeaux but it is far too colorful and strong. I would strongly recommend a color like classic Bordeaux in its natural classic deep red tones. This would be perfect. It has the traditional formality but also the natural earthy and sunset tones that would tie in the perimeter with the island. It also goes very well with stainless and black.

Another ‘different’ color would be Juparana Bronze. It has the right mix of primary colors in the stronger but still earthy variety. This granite color will go well with all your components, including the knotted alder.

Lastly, you need to only choose one granite color and not mix it up between the countertops and the island. You’ve really got enough going on in this room.

You do have options for the backsplash but don’t introduce another color. You could go with the same granite or even a cream or white tile, just stay in the tone or half tones of the granite and you will be fine.

I wish you the best and thank you for supporting the Rock Blog kids!

Tom,

We are replacing counter tops with granite and after looking at many slabs think we like granite in the green family, the two frontrunners right now being Rainforest Green and Verde Tropical (also sometimes referred to as Verde Hawaii). Costa Esmeralda also a possibility if we can find a dark enough shade. The kitchen gets a lot of light, has dark cherry cabinets, lighter oak floor, Biscuit tile backsplash. Range top is stainless but looks mostly black with the grates. Another question is what sink to use. We don’t really like stainless (the new avocado) and would use either a biscuit or anthracite color. The anthracite would probably be more edgy but more risky. What do you think on granite and sink color?

Clay

Hello Clay,

Sticking with green is a great plan. The darker the better for dark cherry cabinets. I highly recommend staying away from Verde Tropical if it is the one from India. This stone is very deceiving and loves to fracture upon impact from fabrication or bending stress. I have studied this granite in detail because it really is quite beautiful but problematic. I found that the crystal structure, although quite opalescent and refined, is also very weakly bonded. Surface tension will cause stress fractures and be unappealing.

Rainforest Green is another story in itself. This stone is not true granite and is quite softer than the .6 on the Mohs Scale as required to be classified as a granite. Because it is in higher in Orthoclase and softer minerals, you need to use a cutting board or else you will scratch it with a knife. It is also more porous than most granites, so be sure to have it professionally sealer. If you can handle those two maintenance issues, then I would say this is a great choice for cherry cabinets. I attached a nice photo of this stone.

A dark or medium Costa Esmeralda granite would be the best choice. This is gorgeous granite which is high in quartz minerals and very low maintenance.
As you may already know, it is quite expensive, but it is worth it. Don’t be worried about the white veins, they are great accents to brighten the room and match the towels.

Regarding the sink, certainly stainless works very well but the deep dark anthracite sink, like the one sold at Home Depot, would look amazing with any of these colors. If you like that look, go for it. It would be very classy for sure. You could match the same color for the faucet or even use a gun metal color.

Best wishes on your kitchen, Clay. Thank you for supporting the kids!

We are remodeling our kitchen with white cabinets
and stainless appliances. The kitchen will be about 16X14 not including the breakfast area. We will have an island that is 8X3. There will be windows all around the breakfast area so I think we will get a lot of light. Our kitchen will look into the family room with a counter that is bar height separating the two. We haven’t picked out tile for the floor or the backsplash because we thought it would be easier to pick out the granite first. We generally prefer a transitional look. We are currently considering tan brown and sapphire brown granite. Any help or suggestions you have would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Kathy

Hello Kathy,

One of the problems is that stainless appliances with white cabinets can look very sterile. I always suggest white cast iron sinks with pure white cabinets; however, if you break up the room with a good transitional color that works well with stainless but also compliments the brightness of the white cabinets, you can have a nice result.

Tan Brown granite is too dark and warm to pull this off. It looks great with stainless, but with white cabinets, you will pin-stripe the room. Sapphire Brown granite is a much better choice because the mineral colors are cooler with nice blue/green accents. This is a very good choice and you could use the same granite on the splash or select a white subway 3×6 tile to bring it all together.

Staying with the soft blues and green, while introducing darker colors, is the theme to carry. Other good colors would be Azul Mahogany, Butterfly Blue, Ascas Blue, and Waterfall Green. Watch out for the color gray! Gray or gray/blue would not be good, but silver or metallic is a nice accent. For example, Ruby Blue granite is a bad choice even though it seems to be blue.

Best wishes to you and thank you for supporting the Rock Blog Kids!

Hi Tom,
We are installing maple cabinets with a creamy, off-white paint and latte glaze. The doors are relatively simple shaker style, flat panel with a beaded trim that catches the glaze nicely.

My husband and I like a warm, rustic look, as such the backsplash is Napolina tumbled limestone (golden and brown tones) and we are installing an apron-front copper sink. All of my decisions to date have come naturally but I am stumped with the granite. Initially we had selected New Venetian Gold but we thought it was utterly boring when we saw the slabs. There were two others we each liked - Hurricane (my husband’s favorite) and Golden Eclipse (my personal favorite). They each have a lot of movement in them which we like. I’m worried that Hurricane will over power our space — our main kitchen is 14 x 25 with 2 adjacent, open rooms at 13 x 13 each. All 3 areas will have some cabinetry and there is moderate light throughout the day.

Bottomline - like Hurricane, worried it will be too crazy. Love Golden Eclipse and the dark, contrast it will provide. But it has metallic specks that I’m afraid won’t work with the other components.

Any insight gladly appreciated!

Mary

Hello Mary,

Thank you for the nice description of your kitchen. Certainly the New Venetian gold would have been a bad choice as it does not compliment the sink style or the cabinets. Normally I would say that wild exotics like Hurricane and Golden Eclipse would not work with Shaker style cabinets but you have fancied them up with the bead trim and the latte glaze - good job!

Assuming the Hurricane that you are referring to is the gold version, the colors do work well. However, the veining is typically very linear and that is why it is on my “top 10 worse granites - and the surprising reasons why” list. Meaning, the color is beautiful in the showroom, but once you get it in the kitchen, it is incredibly distracting to the eye. Stay away from this one in the kitchen but it is great for fireplaces and bar tops.

The Golden Eclipse is beautiful and the bold cluster of mica will be really complimentary to your design. Even though they are not copper, the metal presence connects the uncommon sink style you selected. If you select the right slabs, you will find colors that are almost exactly the color of your sink and still some latte highlights as well. I really like this choice! Look for big swirl movements when you see select the slabs and ask you fabrication how the seams will come together so that you don’t end up with a clear break in the pattern at seams.

I recommend a straight or a half-bullnose edge detail with this décor.

Thank you for supporting the Rock Blog kids and best wishes!

We are in the process of remodeling our kitchen. All has gone well until we got down to the granite. It has to be the hardest of all. Let me tell you a bit of what we have done. The walls are Terracotta with honey spice cabinets and stainless appl. We first looked at doing butterfly granite but it has to much gray, now we are looking a Jup Crema Bordeaux Granite. Please give input to help us out.

Thank you,
Ginger

Hello Ginger,

Certainly the Butterfly Green would not work so great job recognizing that it is too cold for terracotta walls. Crema Bordeaux Granite is beautiful but I believe that you will find it to be too busy and too dark to breakup the walls and the spice cabinets. I love this granite but I really don’t like this choice fro your arrangement. Here is the situation you are in and perhaps the reason why you are having trouble making a decision.

The Terracotta wall color wants to formalizing your kitchen. Mix that in with dark warm colored granite and you now create the cozy ‘bar’ atmosphere, which is not the best for an everyday kitchen feeling. The spice colored cabinets are the right choice but now you just need the perfect granite color that is warm but not so dark and formal.

You need a deep semi-opalescent dark gold with a little variety of black and silver and even clear quartz bundles. Perfect colors would be Juparana Persa, Delicattus Dark, or Juparana Natalia Dark.

Remember! Bright yellows don’t work but deep golds do, so look for colors like this and you will find the perfect granite that pulls it all together. It will brighten the room but still draw in the simple formality to compliment the terracotta. You can see some swatches on www.GraniteStock.com.

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