You know Alku, that's actually a good idea. You can have a wide roll of foil behind the cooktop to match the width of your range. When it gets dirty, you would just crank the roll to expose a shiny new, clean foil surface, and the dirty foil would go into the roll below! No more cleaning behind the range...lol

sharon s- if you're still out there, I was wondering if you had any more pics of your kitchen you could share. The "L shape part of your layout is similar to what I'm thinking of doing. I am wondering how it's working out for you. Thanks

Wow, bunch of white sample pics at this website.

Here is a link that might be useful: White granites

I like this one, which I think is called White Gold.
{{!gwi}}

malhgold,

I'm still around. The "L" shape works really well for me. I do all my prep at the island. The range is behind me. This allows me to cook while someone else can be doing clean up duty at the main sink--keeps them out of my path.

My baking area is to the right of the range. I've been very happy with the layout. Everything is right at hand. I get cranky if I have to cover long distances in the kitchen. I like to have everything within in a few steps.

I'll try to get some more pictures later.

Sharon

I hit a yard in Westbury Ny (Long Island) today and I think I found MY white granite! It's called Galaxy White. I have seen pics of it online but none that look this good! It's predominantly creamy white with some brown/red splotches and LOTS of pearly bits, which I love. I am going to go back this week to pick my slab and put down a deposit. I also saw a FIERCE looking slab of Equator White in a rough surface finish that I loved but that would be unworkable in my kitchen. I'll post pics when I go back!

Oy. I know this is a little off-topic but I got a bid from my stone guy on our bathroom today. We're putting Arabescata(sp?) in for our tub surround, flooring and the vanity top. It is very white marble with some beautiful grey-black veining. It is also costing us an arm and a leg. We initially started off with a bid on some beige marble- crema marfil but when I saw the arabescata, I had to have it. Well, actually, I found some blue quartzite that I HAD to have but that will have to wait until I win the lottery or something LOL. The arabescata is very elegant and beautiful and interesting.

I am worried about how it will hold up? Many of you have mentioned the marble in your kitchens. My stone guy steered me away from granite in the bathroom and I am kinda wondering why- there would be so many more choices for us, tho much of the granite is quite busy for a small bathroom.

I would hate to spend a large sum on marble only to have it not hold up for the long haul.

I did see some white limestone at the stone warehouse- it was very rough and porous- do they polish that stuff up? If so, that might make a nice counter for someone looking for white or cream color in a natural stone without all the busy-ness. I don't know about the properties of it tho...

Amy
Fremont, CA

Here are a few new ones:

Brushed Equator White - very textured and sparkly!

Polished Equator White

White Galaxy full slab, followed by 2 detail shots:

White Spring - much less white than some of the others but a really pretty stone!

Tropical White (I think - I can't remember the exact name). Not very white, but a VERY cool stone!

I thought I wanted white, but now looking at a lot of these pictures, I think I really want a creamy white that's warmer to go with the white dove cabinets and dark alder island. I was thinking shivakashi, does anyone know how fragile that is or any other ideas?

I just noticed that the pics I posted are no longer showing up - here's White Galaxy (the one I'm using). This is by far the warmest white we saw when we were looking. Shivakashi is a warmer tone but it's got a LOT of pink in it, which we didn't care for. Colonial Cream/Colonial Dream/Colonial Gold are also warmer whites.

I posted a thread about looking for a white granite with no grey in it and got a lot of responses with pics of creamier colors. If you do a search with my user name it should come up.

Are there regularities about which white granites stain easily, and which ones don't? I have a sample of Imperial White that I really like the look of, but it seems to stain very easily, whereas the same goos poured onto the other granite sample I took home (darker) don't seem to stain it. Someone mentioned Andromeda white as one that doesn't stain as easily. It looks terrific, but I'm interested in knowing what my range of choices is.
thanks!

Jane-o, look for a slab that has been resined. Most whites are naturally more porous than darker granites. However, the resining process does a great job of sealing up those pores and making it very stain resistant. Also, before you rule anything out, give it a coat or two of a good sealer like Miracle 511 Impregnator (you can get it at Home Depot).

Thanks!

I just found previous postings about white granite/quartzite (which I could not find before), so I guess we'll go with the Blue Cloud - it's gorgeous!

I was so excited to see the pix of Palisades white/White America/White Fantasy. I had resigned myself to being unable to have carrarra in my kitchen b/c of the staining/maintenance. Now that I have seen this quartzite, I have hope, again! However, I went on the dente trading co site and it has been discontinued. Couldn't find it on the all granite and marble website, either. Have been steered toward something called Monte Blanc but have yet to see it next week. Anyone familiar with that stone? Or, anyone have any idea where I can get that Palisades/White America? Unfortunately, I am in the Boston area.

Also, for those of you with the quartzite (evan_nj, sharon_s, nuccia) has it continued to be stain/maintenance free?

Since this is the thread that never ends, I thought I'd finally get around to posting photos of our granite, Colonial Cream. It's more of a beige or cream granite (as the name implies) with swirls of browns and ambers, some silvery blue marks, and a few garnet dots. Also sparkly white mica--if that's what they're called. Looks sort of like caramel swirl ice cream.

Sharon S,
LOVE your White Fantasy quartzite and have looked all over for it in my area (FL). I have located some from one of the posts on this site and my fabricator is telling me they may not be able to get it for me as they don't have an account with the company that is selling it (which seems silly, but fabricator didn't sound very happy with me for tracking it down at a non-approved vendor).
Anyway, how are you liking your countertop? What is the maintenance and durability like? Both dealers I've talked to about the White Fantasy have pointed out that it's not as high-maintenance as marble, but that they'd treat it like marble as it will stain and etch more easily, is more porous? Have you found this to be the case? We love the look of marble and so, love this stone! But they're scaring me a little as I want low maintenance! We have two little kids. I'm sure plenty of juice spills in our future, etc. Has it stained? Do you have to baby it?

I'm also a little worried that it's not a product that my fabricator has worked with before. Were there any issues at installation or did it go in without a hitch? Any advice there?

I'm torn...LOVE the look but a little afraid to be pushing my fabricator into something that might be outside of their comfort zone. Or they may say they just can't get it and then I have to decide whether to risk going to another fabricator (that isn't the first rec of my contractor) or change my stone choice.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated (by anyone with White Fantasy quartzite kitchen counters for that matter).

Thanks,
Dawn

Hi, Dawn-

I'm glad you like my counter! It's been great. I had it sealed, and haven't had any staining issues. I'm really surprised that they said it would etch. I have no etching, and it was one of the things I tested with my sample. I have 3 boys who are not the neatest. My 16-year-old has a habit of nighttime grazing, and he tries to clean up after himself, but he's not good at it. ;-) I've found dried spaghetti sauce, lemonaid spills... none of it has caused any etching.

I can't imagine that the fabricator would have any installation issues. Mine went very smoothly. It's like any other quartzite. They probably just don't want to deal with a different supplier.

I don't know what to tell you. If your fabricator really doesn't want to work with it, and something does happen, they will probably just blame you. I hate when this stuff happens.

Can you get a sample to play with? I highly recommend getting a sample and having it sealed, then throw your worst at it. It's the only way to know if it is a good fit for you.

Good luck! Let me know what happens.

Sharon

We have had our White Fantasy granite/quartzite now for about three months. I have never lived with granite before so I can't really compare it to anything else, but it seems fine so far. The pattern is wonderful: it doesn't show anything in the way of crumbs and will hide almost anything. You have to really look hard to see what needs to be cleaned up. That could be a drawback, of course. There advantages to spills being conspicuous.

Two experiences suggest that it is somewhat susceptible to stains. (1) I left a jar on the counter trapping a pool of water underneath for a couple of days. When I took it up, the stone was darked by the moisture; it then dried out and reverted to the previous color. There is so much gray in the pattern that it wouldn't have been noticeable even if it had been stained. (2) My kids over cooked something in our microwave, which was sitting on the counter. It ran out under the microwave and sat for several days before we realized what had happened. This did cause a slight stain, but you would only see it if you knew what you were looking for it as this pattern masks everything. I don't know how these experiences compare with other granites, but it doesn't seem unreasonable to me that I should have cleaned something up within a day or two so I'm not displeased.

We love the look; it is so much more interesting that conventional granites. I think that, had we not found White Fantasy, we might have gone with soapstone instead.

Bumping this up for Fin1!

Alku05 - I am very interested in your granite. We were considering Bianco Romano but after seeing your beautiful kitchen, I would love to track down Andromeda White. I hope you do not mind if I ask you a couple questions. Do you know if there is a difference between Andromeda and Andromeda White? I went to a stone yard today and they had a stone they called Andromeda but it looked a little different than yours in that it seemed to have more a greenish hue rather than gray. Also, where do you live? I live in NC and am just wondering where you found your slabs.

Stnjan, I'm in Ca and found our slabs in Ventura. What you found does sound a lot like our counters. If you look carfully at our counters in person, the gray spots have a very faint green undertone in some places. It makes sense to me that the amount of green would vary throughout different slabs. The names of granite vary so much, it's better to go by appearance than name.

As you might have read above, we originally wanted Bianco Romano, but the slabs we were finding at the time weren't nice (two-toned). The Andromeda White we ended up choosing was extremely similar to the whiter half of the BR slabs, but without the movement.

You can se some closeups of our stone in my granite album linked below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Granite pictures

Bumping up for allwright!

Bumping up for aec2917!

Bumping for discussion of quartzite.

This reminds me of Bianco Carrera marble. I found it on Casabella.com. They call it Piracema White. You may have to hunt around for it though.

{{!gwi}}

Sharon S, I love your kitchen! The wall color is really great. Would you happen to know the brand and color? I keep thinking I want to paint my kitchen a warm khaki color, then I see your pic and I can't make up my mind. My cabinets look like yours and my counters will be black quartz. Thanks in advance on the paint color. Sorry to get off topic.

Thanks so much, CT! I checked my cans (a year later and I still haven't written down the colors. I'd better do that). The colors are from Benjamin Moore: the green is called Soft Fern (2144-40) and the trim is bone white. The island color matches to Hancock Gray. Another khaki-ish green I really like (used it in a bathroom) is Nantucket Gray.

Hope this helps!

Sharon

I forgot I promised to bump this up for someone! Hope I'm not too late.

bump

bump

bumping up for bungalowdawn!

bumping up for Marilyn!

bumping up for aflowerfreak!

I'm pretty sure that Thassos White is granite.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thassos White

On second look, I found it referred to as Marble on some websites. When I went granite shopping it was sold as a granite.
Donna

You might also want to look at quartzite. It is a NATURAL stone. It is harder than granite (some of them). I almost went with one since originally I wanted marble. You will have to check around to see if you can find it. It is absolutely beautiful in person. Cost was a smidge cheaper than my granite--which was a low-medium price granite.

Here is another quartize which was about three times the cost of the first one, but absolutely stunning in person.

We took a sample of quartzite home, called luce di luna at the yard we were at. It looks a lot like the first quartzite above, but the veins were fairly consistently horizontal. It was a beautiful stone, but everything stained it. We assume if it were properly sealed, it would be OK. We changed our cabinet colors, so moved on.

I want to put white galaxy in my powder room but to be honest it doesnt look white the undertones look beige. The installer wants to give me a white sink, but i want beige do you think beige would look better

Wow, I didn't know this thread was still around! Bumping up for dlspellman

To those with white granite, how is it holding up? It is so beautiful, I'm bumping this old thread up because I would love to have white granite.

What price points have you all been getting for white granite?

I was quoted $45/sq ft for White Princess Granite (quartize) and today found Super White Granite for $16/sq foot.

Can anyone recommend a good place to find White Princess in Southern California, specifically the LA area? I've found it in the Bay Area but there is a pretty hefty shipping cost, and I have to buy it before I see it, which makes me nervous.

Anyone know of good places to guy white granite or quartzite in the Chicago area?

I know I'm a bit late to this post but it was so helpful to me in choosing my granite for our kitchen renovation. I wanted the white marble, but knew it wouldn't work for our family. Maybe someday. For now, I went with River White and just had it installed. I love it and it doesn't have any browns in it which was what I was going for. I love the very white sections, but the contrasting grays and bits of light garnet are a nice contrast to my white painted cabinets. Take a look!

Here is a link that might be useful: My White Kitchen

This website has been very helpful, since we too fell in love with marble, but just aren't comfortable with its high susceptability to etching (and chipping/scratching). Has anyone found dealers of either white granite or whiter quartzite in the Portland, OR area? Thanks everyone!

Kathleen, you may want to check out Intrepid Marble And Granite. They supplied the Kashmir white granite for my kitchen and it is beautiful.

Here is a link that might be useful: white granite

If u still looking for a white granite , we have a source for you.
Also have a quartzite natural stone name Emerald Green, Volga Blue,Carnival,Sta Cecilia,Porto Rosa(Black w/pinck lines), Labrador Antique, Red Marinace,
Marble; Giallo Realle,Madras, Crema Marfil,Onyx,MichaelAngelo,Rain Forest green,Rosa Orchidia,Breccia Oniciata, Botatino Fiorito.

The best white granite available is Kashmir White Granite. This Granite is beautiful and with the black and grey spots. These spots called as Garnets.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kashmir White Granite

we too are doing our kitchen and found a "colonial white" granite that we are very happy with. The slabs we looked at did not have the yellowish markings so we were very happy. If you look closer at the pics though, the three front slabs are whiter than the ones behind which had some yellowish tints which I did not want.