I definitely think you can do the antique brown countertop on the island. It will work perfect together without changing anything else.

I really like antique brown.

Do you really want a different material? I'm wondering if a craftsman could just marry the two existing pieces together for you, installed at counter height. Of course, there would be a seam, but our installers did such a nice job on our seam its hard to find. I'd choose a seam and money in my pocket over adding another material; finding a countertop to coordinate with those existing finishes looks difficult to me.

jterrilynn:

It's not that big a deal to pull the counters, have the edges milled on a CNC machine and seamed together. If you pay a bit more and have the seam top polished, it will be fairly inconspicuous. You may have to have all the edges re-profiled after the seam is made because the likely hood of the upper and lower top aligning perfectly is slim.

You probably have duplex receptacles in your splash that will have to be moved to the island sides to meet code. Don't forget that in your budget.

Another vote for using the same material as the perimeter in the island..

I'd ask a fabricator if they can seam the two slabs into one.

My vote is for adding a seam and put them together if you can find a really good fabricator in your area.

Thank you all! I have this dilemma cross posted on the decorating side. I have come to terms with using the same granite. However, there are issues so I may do a separate post to determine what this stone is. If possible I think I will re-granite the whole one level in one piece of the same stone. I donâÂÂt think I would be happy with joining seams, the top tier bullnose cutoff would leave my shallow 11â overhang on the other side even shallower. I would also have too many seams as there is a narrow pieced in section of granite at the back of the slide-in range. In the scheme of things this large island with a two tier in an open plan house with 8â ceiling is just not aesthetically pleasing. Plus I do prefer a one level for many reasons. Feel free to offer ideas on what the name of this stone isâ¦

The bigger issue is how you plan to convert the island to a single level. It ain't gonna be an easy or cheap project to do that. Those cabinets on the back can't readily be remade without painting them to hide the redo. Alterations like that are labor intensive, and that usually tips the scale towards just starting over with all new cabinets and a much more simple and quick install labor.

Now, you probably could remove those cabinets entirely, and then source from the original company some tall fillers and some legs to make it into a tabl island setup, but it won't match. But, you're not gonna cut those boxes down, take the doors completely apart to remill the stiles and center panels, and then put the whole thing back together cheaper than you can just buy new. The granite is down the difficulty and expense scale from the cabinetry issues that you have.

Holly you bring up some very good points! I really do not even need a storage area by counter seating area. If those were deep cabinets I might struggle with eliminating them but they are not. They are 12â deep. I have way more cabinets than I need in the kitchen as it is. My mind is so trained on utilizing whatâÂÂs there or repurposing stuff that I never thought of just eliminating that whole section and starting over for a counter height seating area. It would also solve another peeve in that I like my counter seating deeper than the 11â that there now.

KD to the rescue! I'm glad to see some out-of-the-box thinking starting to emerge.