The white Quartz on the island will be very contrast-y with the wood island. I would pick a counter that has some of the warm tones of the wood as well as a little white from the perimeter cabinetry. I call it "pulling" the color. Once the island is more cohesive, the perimeter countertops can be a darker version of the island top but in the same tone family. If you do use natural stone, put it on the island to make it the star of the show. Put a complementary Quartz on the perimeter.

I agree with the previous comment. We mixed woods in the kitchen but they're not tooooo different. And we did the same counters throughout. We were originally going to do a black granite for the island but thought it would be "too much" since the island is so big. We made the island to be more like a massive piece of furniture.

Oh, we also did the brass finish on the pendant lights even though we have stainless appliances and chrome faucets. I was worried about doing it but am thrilled with how it all came out. Good luck!

Thanks for the replies! Here are a few of my inspiration photos - I think I must just be drawn to the contrasty look of the white on wood. I would kill to do a carrara marble island top but the maintenance terrifies me (I have two young boys and I'm an avid cook) and I can't find many white-toned granites that I love. :/ But I will keep looking. I like the idea of a natural stone there and quartz on the perimeter. Good to know that others have mixed their metal finishes and been happy with the result!

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hUw_VQ5l9r0/TSG8MzYrdII/AAAAAAAAIm0/y2qWGR5tPLc/s1600-h/3899106938_17833521e9_o1_thumb1.png

and this one

Yes, the marble is a concern to some. However, I have four antique pieces in my home with white/gray marble tops. One is a buffet piece that I use in my kitchen as a prep surface for baking. It is fabulous for rolling out various doughs, etc. Never sticks, easy clean up. For maintenance, I polish occasionally with a marble polish. Stains don't seem to be a problem after all these decades.

A great alternative to the marble tops can be either a quartzite top ( some colors are more durable than others, so make sure you ask lots of questions ) or going with Caesarstone Frosty Carinna or LG Viatera Minuet.... these quartz tops will give you that marble look....
I love the look of the mixed metals - as far as the handles for the cabients take a moment to consider the size of the kitchen and how many doors/drawers you have.... on white cabinets anything other than a chrome or brushed nickel knob/pull will stand out.. if you do them the same as the lights will it be too much of the gold? Will you then begin to lose the special feel of the fixtures if that finish is now everywhere? Will it become too matchy-matchy?? All of your inspiration photos have the fixtures standing alone.... something to think about....

I just finished my kitchen a while back and as you can see I have stainless steel appliances and went with a bronze colour light fixture and everything blends well together the handles on my cupboards are also bronze ( rusted ) colour. Hope this helps.

I like the look of different counter surfaces in a kitchen.

Because the island is so big, you should make the lights not so much pendants but perhaps chandeliers and I would have two of them.

I mixed upper and lower cabinet colors and used white quartz on the counters as well as carerra marble herringbone for the backsplash. We also used polished nickel on our cabinet hardware with stainless appliances. It helped brighten up our small space!

We just bought a home in Tahoe that had chipped tile kitchen counters with a grayish granite island in good shape. Likewise with medium stain cherry cabinets. We chose to keep the island but replaced counters with a caesarstone quartz that looks like marble; it has just enough grey in it that it works! And the maintenance iw way better for a kitchen that is a workhorse!

I, too, would caution against an island that's too huge, although I think yours is going to be OK.

Given the location of the main sink on the island - right in the cooking zone (perfect!), you might want to make the second sink a little larger than what looks like a little bar sink.

But about the colours - I like a bit of contrast in a kitchen, so I think that overall, your mix is going to be good, and I'd suggest a mottled lighter-coloured quartz or other solid surface. Not sure about a pecan stain on cherry, though: cherry is a beautiful wood, so why stain it? If you want a pecan stain, why not stain a cheaper wood such as birch or beech?

We have a huge Island with dark espresso colored cabinets. Our perimeter cabinets are a light natural wood (Alder) color. The Perimeter counter is black granite and the island is a light color (St. Cecelia). We our sink, faucet, cabinet handles and appliances are stainless. The pendants are stainless with colored glass shades. We love it and that is the main thing you need to consider - how will the final result look to you?

I love your inspiration images! I personally would not do different countertops but do all a light white with the gray or beige marble look. This would tie the two spaces together and keep the flow going so your cabinets and pendants stand out. I would advise against the black. I think it has too much contrast for the look you are going for and black is hard to keep clean looking since it tends to leave water spots. You will have to post your final result!

My manager did dark grey on his island, but his kitchen has a similar layout to yours. He went with a light granite - though I would suggest a quarts instead because you'll have seams in the island and the natural stone may not line up nicely. The pendants are modern-industrial, though I LOVE the brass ones you posted above!

Nice kitchen! Whatever you decide, make sure the color of everything isn't "heavy", too dark and foreboding. Do have adequate lighting. Nothing worse than when people skimp on that. Make it inviting, a place you want to be in, because the kitchen is the heart of your home.

I loved carrera marble in my last house on the bake center counter. As with the earlier comments, I rolled dough on the surface easily and it held up well to lots of entertaining without issues of staining. For high traffic, very low maintenance, I really like the forgiving texture of light colored flamed granite, which provides a similar natural appearance, but a more unqiue look and feel.

I just decided to check this page and was shocked to see all your wonderful responses!! Thank you all so much! In response to curlygirl - I actually did ask the builder to do a large rectangular island at first but I changed my mind because the odd shape makes the difference in having a kitchen table in the space. I tried to use the drawing tools to show the shape of the island and where we may put a table. I do love the square/rectangle shapes but I think this way will work better for the layout of the space.

Debbie Washburn - your reply was super helpful for me. I am going to stick with chrome pulls on the cabinets, that makes total sense. Unfortunately I'm limited to Cambria brand of quartz, and the only cararra look-a-like is their Torquay style I believe. I haven't seen it on a large piece but just from looking at a small sample I wasn't totally crazy about it. I love the princess quartzite but have also heard some stories about the maintenance being a pain. I will definitely be considering that though when I go to look at slabs in a few weeks.

Vickie - I am also considering one really big chandelier/pendant, I will follow up with an image or two of that. Our island shape makes smaller pendants tricky since you never look at it from a really centered view and my OCD side has that bugging me a bit.

Keightyd-that image is ridiculously close to our kitchen layout, wow! Thanks!

Summery-Our prep sink is 18 1/4 by 14 3/4in by 18in deep in stainless steel. I hope that is big enough! I read some garden web forums and the advice I found was to stick with a minimum of 15in or otherwise it was too small to be useful. I don't think the picture I attached really draws it to scale.

mountainmama-I LOVE your white quartz! Gorgeous!! It was so helpful to see that because I worried it would blend too much against the backsplash to just do white on the perimeter but it doesn't! It looks perfect. :)

Angela-I will look into flamed granite - sounds great.

You all have really been such a help to me - sorry if I missed replying to some! All the replies were great and brought up points I hadn't considered!

I have thought about one oversized light such as this picture but not this exact fixture. I really like the Darlana light fixture in this other picture, however in the biggest size. I think this picture is showing it in their medium or large and they also carry an extra large version.

One suggestion that I always like to offer to folks buying new counters is carefully consider the edge and the thickness you want by looking at the photos of counters you love. I was very flippant about this decision when I remodeled one kitchen and I was SO SO disappointed with the results.

For one thing, imho, white marble should be thick, like 2", otherwise it looks like a dentist office (I don't know why that is, but it does!). Second, if one is looking for a vintage flair, the edge should be curved or designed while for a modern look it should be a sharp square edge. Anyway, what I think looks good is not important, but just suggesting that YOU look carefully at your photos and then you will know what you like when you go to order.

Oh--and also the overhang! I almost forgot! I learned (again, the hard way) that I prefer the edge to be almost flush to the cabinets!

also about the white Carrara marble and maintenance--my experience was that anything acidic removes the finish but this made me (again) realize I had not done my homework-- the vintage counters I loved do not have a shiny finish, it's flat. So had I ordered them NOT polished, then the acid spills would have been a non-issue.

I never got stains per se, just the acid and water marks. I will do marble again just unpolished, 2" thick, no overhang, gorgeous edging. And if it is used sparingly in a kitchen it's even prettier.

Have fun!

2" thick marble is beyond expensive. Cost of 2" thick marble counters for a large kitchen I did 15 years ago was $50K. You can use 3/4" thick marble and have them run a 2" mitred fascia along the edges. The trick is to have them grind down the point of the long mitre to a more rounded profile. The point is fragile and will chip but the rounded edge is fine. Good Luck!

I highly recommend quartz such as Caesarstone or Cambria to my clients for their kitchens rather than marble or granite as it is totally maintenance-free. No sealing required and there's such a wide range of styles and colours today. Cambria Torquay is a great substitute to Carrara marble.

I have heard from two sources to be cautious using quartz products if you get a lot of sunlight - they can discolor if exposed to sunlight. My kitchen has large windows that are right against the countertop. I was going to use a white quartz product, but now am afraid it may yellow over time. Has anyone else heard this too?

Quartz all the way

I cannot imagine a quartz product like Cambria or Caesarstone discoloring from the sun. Maybe that is true for natural quartz stone which is entirely different. We put Cambria countertops in the kitchen a couple of years ago and they are indestructible. So now they are in all the bathrooms as well. A great look with minimal maintenance.

I believe your question was about mixing metals and not about countertops. I love your ideas. Go with it! You can even mix metals with your accessories.