Drink a lot :oP It's so much easier to decide when you can't see straight :)

And don't fall in love....it sucks :oP (But go for the contrast and the fun...you won't regret it!)

Take home samples of your top 3 (or 5 or ???) and live with them over a few days. See how they look different in daylight/indoor lighting. Ask your friends/family/neighbors (but ignore them if one sample talks louder than they do). Keep in mind the mission statement (see the faq thread): is the granite going to be dominant or do you already have another focal point so that the granite needs to be subdued? Look at the rest of your house: do you prefer a neutral background, with color being added through easily-changed accessories, or are you comfortable mixing colors/textures/patterns in a room? But mostly, meditate on them. One piece will start speaking to you. It may shout "pick me! I will brighten your day and enliven your life!" or it may whisper "take me, I'm yours, I will bring you tranquility and order." Listen to it. This is a big decision. Some things can be easily replaced. Granite is not one of them.

I voted for color (blue! blue! blue!) and movement (clouds and waves), and I kept on searching (approximately 47,983 granite yards) until I found the one that spoke to me.

And if you think that's fun, just wait til you need to pick the floor and backsplash!

Hi Drarc,
I have a suggestion:) Think back to when you were just dreaming about getting a new kitchen. Do you remember the vision that was in your head? What did your ideal kitchen look like? What was the focal point? What colours did you envision?

Now think back to all the photos of kitchens that you pored over. What kitchens photos gave you that "aha" happy feeling? Did you notice a trend in the photos that gave you that happy feeling?

Did all those kitchens share a similarity in colours or design? Did the countertops take centre stage (maybe with lots of colour and movement) or was there something else in the kitchens that greatly appealed to you?

Once I gave up my love affair with marble, I chose to go with granite. I had a firm image in my head of what I wanted, but once I started visiting the yards, I was almost dissuaded by the incredible beauty of some the slabs. Incredible, nature's art. But then my boyfriend gently reminded me that if I were to go with something different from my original vision, it would have radically altered the look of my kitchen. And he was right: I don't think I would have liked it if I chose to go with something completely different than my original plan.

Perhaps this reflection might help you to make a decision around your granite.

If it doesn't, then, yeah, take Igloochic's advice and open up a bottle of red;)

After opening a bottle of white sorry bluekitobsessed I might not know my granite preference, but I do know my wine preference! I looked at the responses to my post and I am thinking through all the wise and thoughtful responses. I do think one of the problems is that I have lot of photos in my mind. I had no problem choosing my cabinets, light cherry, shaker door and slab drawers. Now comes the hard part. Most of those cabinets are pictured with black granite.....not my style. So I have a different photo of swirls of brown and black and a little ivory granite. I think the problem is the photo in my head of my kitchen doesn't match anything I am seeing. I want to be bold in my choice, but I want to choose something I will like over time (I guess this is like falling in lust verses falling in love).....I want the lust but my gut tells me you are marrying this piece of stone so choose a nice sensible slab. Now I am having second thoughts.....maybe I am just getting cold feet, I know I will probably grow to love the nice creams and browns in the predictable pattern, but...... I want excitement, I want mystery, I want....another glass.

Picking my granite was probably the most difficult kitchen remodel decision, featuring a multitude of trips to granite yards far and wide. Looking back, I know why the choice was so hard-- because instead of following my own instincts and choosing what I was drawn to again and again, a warm Madura Gold/Golden Oak type, I listened to everyone who told me that would be too monochromatic with my warm maple cabinets. I was steered toward a more contrasty granite. And while dark granites are beautiful, I just couldn't fall in love with one, so I dragged my husband from yard to yard in search of the perfect granite. The story ends with us picking a Madura Gold granite after all, and we are very glad we did. The moral of the story, obviously, is there are no rules more important than picking something to which you are instinctively drawn. Take home a sample and live with it and if it continues to make you happy, go with it. If we had followed this advice, we could have chosen our granite in a day, Good luck.

I say go for it. You are only going to do this once (or close to once). When I was choosing my stone, I said I wanted Carrera Marble or something similar. Then I wanted soapstone. Couldn't afford either. Said I wanted a nice quiet granite. I knew I wanted Shaker maple cabs (natural or cream) and black maple painted cabs below. Very French Bistro.

Welllllll, I decided to go with more of a "transitional" look. I fell in love with my granite. Not quiet at all. Lots and lots of movement and color. Not wild about the color of blue. Tons of blue in it. I love the blue in it! So I say, go with what you love or what makes you excited. You will be living with it for a long period of time. Do I still wish I had the marble. Sure, but that will be in my dream house after I win the Lotto (of course, one has to play the lotto in order to win....). Here is a picture of what I eventually chose. Not quiet at all, but I love it!

wow mustbnuts you are nuts. I love that slab. But then it is easy for me to love it from here. I would be too afraid to use the blue but I love it. Is it installed yet? I have been thinking about a slab called Mascarello, It is orange, brown, cream, black, silver and white all in swirls and veins. I wish I had the eye to see it on a counter and the guts to say what the heck. I spent so much time at the Daltile slab yard before I put the two slabs on hold that I am embarrassed to go back and say "just kidding" can you pull some more slabs for me? I even had the receptionist trying to help me. Sad. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

I have no advice for you, only empathy. My cabinets are in and I still haven't chosen the granite. I have cream perimeter cabinets and a dark cherry island, and can't decide between very dark granite (uba tuba) or very light (kashmir gold). I have looked at the FKB, magazines, etc. and it doesn't help. Good luck with your decision and keep us posted.

Granite is still in the yard--I check on it weekly with floor samples, etc. Will post a picture of it finished in about a couple of months. Go with what makes you excited to cook and clean. You will be spending a lot of time doing that in the kitchen (I presume, unless you have a personal chef and maid). Get what will feel pleasurable in there for you.

drarc your post could have been written by me (in fact I think I wrote some similar ones) but particularly about the high contrast (darker) not being me, and still wanting some pizzazz. I have light oak cabinets, a whitish floor,and in my mind picture a nice creamy with touches of white and lots of other bits of burgundy, blue, caramel.... I had narrowed it down to white springs, and typhoon bordeau. When I went back the white spring had more rust and yellow in it, and the typhoon bordeaux was more purple than what I want.( I needs me some cream)... so I am on here instead of running to another yard which closes today at 1. (if I keep at it, I will not get to any granite yard and can keep the indecisive inertia going strong).
Well I do hear it will all work out.

Go for the granite with more movement. It's a natural stone, you can't get tired of looking at it.
Donna

I expected to look around for a weekend, make a choice, and be happy. In reality, it took me about 10 trips (going to multiple places each time), over about 5 weeks, before I picked. It seemed so overwhelming at first, and if I had had to pick something that first weekend, I would have made a mistake, since my vision really changed/developed over that month. I literally took 30-40 samples home, slowly whittled them down, and also kept going back to look at the whole slabs. My old kitchen had pieces of granite everywhere, so that I could observe them in different lights and different moods. I took a ton of pictures, but they are never as good as having a sample.

Stain resistance and durability were as important to me as appearance, so some really gorgeous stones got eliminated because they were too light, and red wine left stains on them overnight. At one point, I had made a choice and was about to buy, when a more experienced granite guy told me my dream stone was prone to chipping. I was so sad, since I couldn't bear starting over, but eventually I found something perfect.

Give yourself time, and it'll come together!

Hey Muscat I hear you, only I have my schedule in place and have to have a granite in the next few weeks, and I won't buy the sink or floor tile without the granite decided. sheilaaus it is good to hear I am not crazy.

An update is that I cancelled the safe autumn harmony and picked up three samples, Mascarello (I see there is a post on this stone today) and a few of the Golden Beach/Wave/Chrystal/Ray/Shores. Similar tones, so it is all in the slab. All have movement, which I am now committed to. I also stopped by the tile store with my samples and have a really nice floor tile picked out. It goes great with the granite and my kitchen. I think I will be able to choose a slab this week.

I think that there is a process of selection that it is hard to speed up. The first trip through the yard the 500 slabs were easily identified as "ugly" and "pretty" I ended up with about 100 great choices. It then became difficult as I kept changing my mind with each slab. By the end of the day I could identify any slab out of a line up but I changed my mind every 10 minutes. Today I have it down to 10 slabs and they all are in the same color family, so it will end up being the one that looks the best that day. When I put the slab on hold I will post it here. Now if I change my mind again.......I might move from wine to scotch!

drarc, good luck! From your OP to your last post, you already sound like you are in command of the granite, rather than the granite being in command of you! It is overwhelming, but keep remembering how much fun it is, too. As much about the process as the product, right? (OK, no, but it is good to look at it that way.) :)

Yeah drarc, be wild w/ me! I'm the other poster considering Mascarello. They are working on an estimate and hopefully I will be able to afford it! I think this is one of those granites that will mesmorize you. I can just imagine my husband asking what I put in the coffee as I sit and stare at my countertop.

I have totally committed to movement, so today I went back to the granite yard and selected two slabs that I was convinced I would fall in love with. I brought them home and I know I don't like one, but the other I love the colors, but there is some funky spider lines in it. I am wondering if I saw those when I looked at the slab. I am wishing I would have looked more closely at the detail of the slab. ARGH!!! Here are the two slabs. The first, Solarius is too pink. The second ,Mascarello I think will look good.....but then again......

Looks beautiful to me! If there are any places on the stone you don't want in your kitchen, you can template around them. I think it is really pretty!

well, I THOUGHT I knew exactly what I wanted when I went to the granite yard. I was picking a nice, safe (and cheaper) stone with no movement and a repeating pattern. Well I took my DH with me and the stone yard had just gotten in a load of high-end exotic stones with LOADS of the most beautiful movement and veining you would ever want to see. So now I have changed my mind completly. I want exotic....I want streaks and movement.....got a spare glass of that white wine? this is gonna be a HARD decision!! lol!!

Another turn in the granite selection process...... I thought Muscarello was the way to go. I took a sample home but it just didn't look great close up...... I went back to Granite yard A thinking that this was not representational of the slab, but sadly it was. I changed my mind again. I took a few samples from Granite yard B (where I earlier put and cancelled a hold on Autumn Harmony) and, perfect. One of the samples, "revelation" matched perfectly with my tile floor, cabinets and walls. I am finally happy and finished. Yeah!!

Now that looks great together. I do have a question. Did you have a drink before you went per Igloochic's advice? It sounds like you already fell in love.

I was stone cold (sorry couldn't resist) sober. I did enjoy a glass of wine to celebrate my decision. The great thing is I only have a few more decisions to make. To buy an instahot, undercab lighting, soap dispensor, and backsplash. I think it is downhill from here........well maybe not the backsplash.

Oh! Pretty! Pretty! I love your choice! You did great. They all look so great together. Can't wait to see it all completed. It is the perfect match. Congrats!

Just saw this.....here's what we picked - we wanted lots of movement because we had dark floors and we were going with cherry cabs.....

And of course.....the red wine helped with the selection as that was granite choice #2!!!!

Beautiful kitchen! Great choice. Just love it!