Please vote on my granite choices!Update with new pictures!

[Brier Rose]

Hey Guys...me AGAIN !

Still trying to pick a granite. I actually got to take some pictures of the samples with the cabinets, so thought I'd post those and get a second round of opinions. I don't know why I'm having such a hard time with this!

BTW..I wound up LOVING the cabinets! They look so much better than I thought! I was picturing something ultra formal, when they said maghogany, but they have a more rustic look. Can't really see all the little black marks and distressing in the pictures very well though.

Anyway...here's the pics! Thanks for your help!

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A- Crema Brazil

B -Angola Black

It'll be paired with Mahogany cabinets.







BTW..this is the house it's going in!

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[HERSEY]

Where is going Kitchen, Bathroom. What colors are in the room, walls cabinets,floor?

 

[Brier Rose]

Guess it would have helped if I had given more details!

It's going in the kitchen. The cabinets are going to be mahogany. We haven't picked paint colors yet.

Oh, and right now the floor is unstained wood, we haven't chosen a color yet.

 

[CEDmom]

I'm not a big fan of granite but I voted for the cream one since I think the black with mahogany cabinets would be too dark.

 

[Mike.Wazowski]

I voted angola black -
I like the movement of the first one - BUT lighter color granites are much more pourous... I brought home 4 sample I liked - and COVERED them with normal stuff my kids (and I) drop on the counters - pops, beet juice, spagh cause, wine, PB, etc and the lighter colors all showed stains from the beets especially!
DO YOUR homework - try www.gardenweb.com they have a homesite kitchen forum where I learned a LOT about granite!
have you BEEN to the granite yard yet?
you might go there and fall in love with something completely different!
I did
I went intending to find an absolute Black slab (actually we need 3 to fo our kitchen) but fell in LOVE with the movement and colors in Paradiscio Bash - they came and templated Monday and part of it should be installed next week!

 

[Brier Rose]

I voted angola black -
I like the movement of the first one - BUT lighter color granites are much more pourous... I brought home 4 sample I liked - and COVERED them with normal stuff my kids (and I) drop on the counters - pops, beet juice, spagh cause, wine, PB, etc and the lighter colors all showed stains from the beets especially!
DO YOUR homework - try www.gardenweb.com they have a homesite kitchen forum where I learned a LOT about granite!
have you BEEN to the granite yard yet?
you might go there and fall in love with something completely different!
I did
I went intending to find an absolute Black slab (actually we need 3 to fo our kitchen) but fell in LOVE with the movement and colors in Paradiscio Bash - they came and templated Monday and part of it should be installed next week!

We actually went to the yard today, but all we saw were these two samples.
The builder was originally going with Black Impala. My future brother-in-law owns a granite company, and when he heard this he demanded (in a nice way of course ) that we go with something different.

The two choices I posted here are what he suggested. He called the granite yard, and had them get these samples for us.

He's been a lot of help. I'm sure I've been about to worry him to death!

 

[HERSEY]

Personally I would bring home several different samples along with sample color of cabinets and try them out in different light levels. Try colors you wouldn't ordinally choose. It's funny what the lights in your house will do. Good luck I love granite by the way.

 

[SplshMtn99]

Doesn't black show like EVERY crumb & spot? I know anywhere that I have black in my house, its the first place to show dust.

I would go with something lighter.

 

[Monte Cristo]

I picked the first as I would think that the black would make things too dark.

A bit but is the grade of the land going to be nearly flush with the front door? Seems like A LOT of brick below grade and why not use concrete foundation?

Beautiful house BTW. Good luck with it and have fun planning everything. DW and I did it a couple years ago and it's a lot of work.

 

[mmausse]

Did you know that Mahogany cabinets do not have to be stained dark. Mahogany with a light stain are beautiful! And with the Black Angola, it would be the perfect mix of light and dark. I agree w/ the other poster about the Creme granite - the lighter granites are more porous than the darker ones, AND the Creme would limit you in color choices - as you'd have to try and match something in the granite so as to have complementary cohesion. Good luck w/ your new house! You must be so excited!

 

[4nana]

Mahogany cabinets have a dark reddish tint finish and IMO you need something to compliment them to the fullest. I agree, in trying more samples for such a large investment before settling. I like a bright kitchen, so if I had to go with one, I would choose A, as black will be make it very dark. BTW - beautiful home and know you can't wait to move in!! Good luck!

 

[Brier Rose]

A bit but is the grade of the land going to be nearly flush with the front door? Seems like A LOT of brick below grade and why not use concrete foundation?

Yeah, they are filling in all the way up to just below the vents. I don't know why they didn't use concrete rather than the brick. We weren't involved at that point.

We were VERY lucky. This house was already under contract. My Dsis works with the builders wife, and they all know we've been looking for a house. I had mentioned that I liked this house, and so when the original buyers backed out because there first house didn't sell, the builder called and offered it to us at a fantastic price!!

 

[Brier Rose]

Did you know that Mahogany cabinets do not have to be stained dark. Mahogany with a light stain are beautiful! And with the Black Angola, it would be the perfect mix of light and dark. I agree w/ the other poster about the Creme granite - the lighter granites are more porous than the darker ones, AND the Creme would limit you in color choices - as you'd have to try and match something in the granite so as to have complementary cohesion. Good luck w/ your new house! You must be so excited!

Unfortunately the cabinets are already done. We came into the game a little too late!

The dark mahogany cabinets would not have been my first choice, but I'm ok with them.

DH on the other hand..LOVES them! If he would of had his choice he would have picked them from the beginning!

As a matter of fact, all the things that we have not been able to change have all be DH's first choices!

 

[Kiki]

http://www.chooseby.com/en/granitecolors/volga_blue.html This is the granite I have with my maple (deep reddish brown) cabinets. The shine on the granite is fantastic - the room is not dark at all. I have light oak floors and the walls are light grayish green (much nicer than that sounds!) Appliances are SS and backsplash is 1 inch mosaic glass tiles in dark greens and blues with light grout.

 

[mmausse]

Unfortunately the cabinets are already done. We came into the game a little too late!

The dark mahogany cabinets would not have been my first choice, but I'm ok with them.

DH on the other hand..LOVES them! If he would of had his choice he would have picked them from the beginning!

As a matter of fact, all the things that we have not been able to change have all be DH's first choices!

aah yes, DH's opinions DO matter in house choices. Now that I know that the dark mahogany is what you have, let me tell you about my kitchen. It has beautiful Quakermaid Dark Cherry Cabinets and I wanted to put granite but didn't like the speckeled ones, nor the dark black colors. My kitchen colors are red, white and blue - I have imported stained glass in those colors on all the kitchen and main entrance windows - it was there when I bought it. Anyhow, I wanted a granite that was different. I looked and looked - nobody really had the uniqueness that I was looking for. But then I saw it - it is a dark forest green with veins of light gray, black, and red throughtout.

I found a link with the color: It is Stone 167 (I think) http://www.marble.com/countertops/stone-selection.html

It reminds me of the heavens on a late summer night out in the country. It is so special. I am told that Home Depot now stocks it, but charges double what I paid for it. I got it w/ double roman edging for $64sf - HD is selling it (special order) for $138/sf no special edging. I found it in a small granite shop in Gaithersburg, MD - just seek and ye shall find what makes you happy! Don't settle for something less than what you're absolutely satisfied with -life's too short! Good luck!

 

[Brier Rose]

bumping for the new pics!

 

[golfgal]

A lot of help this poll will be, pretty much split down the middle . I like the look of the black better then the tan with your cabinets. Some friends had a granite that would be PERFECT with your cabinets but I don't know what it was called. It was a darker color but it had a lot of different colored specs in it including some reddish ones that would be about the same as your cabinets. It wasn't as dark as a black, but darker then the tan.

It was something along this line but this isn't it exactly. Decorating long distance isn't easy .

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

I used one that was kindof a mixture between grey, black, and white, and I'm very, very pleased with it...but my kitchen cabinets are white.

In looking for a new home, I'm really liking the houses with dark cabinets and black-toned granite.

Something for you to keep in mind: try to think about what will seem dated to you in 10 years. The best way I can do that is to think about what seemed to be popular 10 years ago...

 

[Brier Rose]

We had a big family dinner last night, and I took both granite samples with me hoping to get more imput. They were all 50/50 too, so that really helped!

One thing I did notice though, was that after all of the handling and touching of the samples, the black looked horrible! You could see every fingerprint and smudge!

I called my BIL(he owns a granite company) to ask him if there was anything that could be done about it, and he said I could have it honed to take down the shine, but that it would be pretty expensive. I think if I suggest this to DH he's gonna flip out! I don't think he can take any more of my "little " changes.

I wish I didn't like both of them so much..that makes it much harder.

I'm about ready to tell them to surprise me!

 

[pjshaff]

I think that the black looks so much shraper with your cabinet choice than the other. And I have to say that I liked the other choice before you put in the new pics. Good luck.