The Granite Dilemma

So beyond the foundation, the joists, the walls and trusses, there are many interior decisions to be made.  Most of these, so far, have been easy.  The thing that has been difficult is getting my kitchen to perfection.  This part of the house is very important to me.  As a family, the kitchen and hearth room will be where we will spend most of our time.  As a cook, it will be where I will live!  I have for months poured over a website called "Houzz".  It has countless pictures and ideas for decorating, remodeling and building.  The pictures that I countinue to go back to are the ones that I am trying to build my kitchen around.  Here are some of my favorites:

Traditional Kitchen by Downers Grove Design-Build Firms Oakley Home Builders

Traditional Kitchen by Solon Interior Designers & Decorators House of L Interior Design

Traditional Kitchen

I love the crisp clean look of a white kitchen.  My first choice would be to go with marble countertops.  While this would be beautiful, it would not be practical.  Marble stains and requires much more maintenance than granite.  I have instead chose to have a marble subway tile backsplash.  What I have not decided, is if I should go with black granite around the perimeter and light on the island, or if the black on the island would be a better choice while using the light for the background.  Hmmmmm....... I have wasted entirely too much time on this decision.  I just want it to be the best decision that I can make.  Here are some granite photos taken during my many trips to the the warehouses.  I plan to make one final (I hope!) trip this week.  This is what I started with last fall:

It would be stunning, but might be "busy" and I could see myself tiring of it.  I picked this before I had a complete vision for what I wanted the kitchen to be.

Early in January, I picked this out, and then realized that the backsplash that I have fallen in love with would clash.   Too bad, this could have been a nice choice with a plain white subway tile.

Just to throw this one in, I loved it, but again, too busy for the backsplash.  The slab wasn't big enough for the island anyway and it was already reserved by someone else.  It is very pretty though!

Then there is this!  Bingo!  I loved this because it has a marble look without the upkeep of marble.  It is beautiful, and is actually quartzite, not granite.  What I DID find out is that it is more expensive than granite.  So, if I use this, (I have it on hold) we will use it sparingly.  This means only on the island, or only on the perimeter.  This is the reason that I started to think about pulling in some black and also the reason that I went back to all my Houzz pictures.  I compared all the white kitchens.  What I have found is that I like having the two different color countertops.  It creates interest.  When the dark is on the island, it grounds the kitchen.  When the dark is on the perimeter, the marble bscksplashes pop.  I don't this that there is a wrong answer here.  The deal breaker here will be whether or not I can find the dark slab that I am looking for in a large enough size for my island.  If not, than the piece you see above will have to go there.  It is just the right size.  The black granite that I will pair it with will be either Brown Antique (actually black, not brown) or Aqua Grantique.  We will be choosing a "honed" finish.  This means that it will be a matte surface instead of shiny.  Here are some photos:

  

Traditional Kitchen by San Francisco General Contractors Bill Fry Construction - Wm. H. Fry Const. Co.

Traditional Kitchen by Minneapolis Kitchen & Bath Designers Casa Verde Design

Right now, I am leaning towards the second picture, but I think that Michael prefers the upper one.  I will see what there is to choose from this week.  I will be very glad to have this decision behind me.  It is time to move on to another room!!!!  Sorry to bore you with this- but it is part of the process!  More exciting adventures to come!