I agree counters are *hard* to pick.

That slab looks beautiful and I personally think it has a lot of advantages. People often complain about polished black granite showing every little thing and needing a lot of wiping/polishing. Also, lighting needs to be done carefully so that the polished surfaces aren't reflecting bright undercounter lighting pinpoints, etc.

We're doing River White granite. Husband insisted on granite, and I knew we needed something light in our space.

I am struggling with this decision right now, too. I am moving from a modest home to a modest condo. I have lived with almond laminate for almost 30 years and want something different and I am drawn to polished black granite. My new kitchen will have white shaker style cabinets, a wood floor and stainless appliances. I think black and white is a good look, but I worry that the black granite will show every little thing, including dust.

I think your slab is very pretty. Please remember to post a picture of your finished kitchen. I would love to see it.

Good luck with your decision.

I put black pearl in my laundry room that has white cabinets and honestly, I love it. It's so smooth and pristine. I don't find fingerprints to be a problem at all and you would think in a laundry room it would be a problem but it's definitely not. There are advantages to the black to offset any disadvantage. No worry about stains or matching and it always looks sharp and crisp together with the white cabinets. There are no mica chips to worry about and it always looks classy.

I have one of the ivory granites in my kitchen and it has pits and mica pock marks that have been filled and it stained when I left spaghetti sauce on it overnight. Not that you can really tell with all the swirls and dots but it did. Where I clean it most it looks a little dull compared to the other sections of it. Sometimes the whiter granites can feel rougher on the surface or so I'm told, ours definitely does, it sort of sheds if that makes sense. As if it has rock dust on it. It bugs me a lot. I sort of regret it but my choices were limited due to replacing the existing counter that had backsplash and cabinets already in.

I like how the slabs you show have some grey in them to allow even more disguising of crumbs on the counter. Recently I was at a show house that had black absolute counters with white cabinets and it was so dressy and classy looking. They did a really nice double heavy edge treatment on it to make it even more impressive. Everyone was just hanging in that kitchen and they couldn't get them to move out of there. It just had such an inviting and clean appearance. Like a tuxedo, black and white, always a winner, always appropriate, goes with everything.

Oh wow gr8day - I have Moonlight granite (white with gray, wine,flecks) and I was convinced it was shedding rock dust and certainly doesn't have that absolutely ice-like smooth granite surface I was expecting. I thought it was just me! Couldn't believe you just described my experience perfectly.

I saw some gorgeous black slabs when I was looking - they just didn't fit my space. If you love it, it will work for you. :)

I'll just throw this out there. I have a quartz counter but it has the overall look of your slab. I have creamy white cabs and overall I really like the look of them together. However, I've decided that I really am not as crazy about working on a dark counter. Yes, little crumbs and small drips don't show, but do you really want that? I prefer to keep a clean, smooth counter and I have to run my hands over everything to discover what little bits of this and that need special attention. The other thing is probably a personal preference. I don't think it's as easy to work (prep) against a dark background. It reminds me of reading light text on black. I have plenty of natural light in my kitchen so the dark counters don't really darken the space.

I have absolute black in our 2nd home (a modern loft), one we are contemplating changing out in a pending update. The downside is that every little splatter and dribble shows up as a watermark, and every speck of dust. You set a cold drink down, and you must wipe the counter. High sheen on solid black creates a mirror effect. I think your choice has enough variation that this effect would be minimized.

I talked to the fabricator today who in turned talked to the warehouse and said they could make an antique finish on the slab and they are experienced in doing so. It would be a couple of hundred $ more. Just had to ask...

I love the look of dark counters with white cabinets but I am not sure I would like working on a dark counter like Linelle is finding out since I disliked my black desk and now I have a cherry desk in my home office.

yes that's been a concern for me too. At some point we need to go with something. Quartzite is lovely too but I know I'm far from a neat cook and I'd mess the stone pretty quickly.

By "antiqued" do you mean leathered? I think sometimes the fabricators use these terms to mean the same thing. I love my leathered antique brown granite which is soft black, brown, and grey. The leathered/antique finish is really beautiful. You get some shiny bits, some matte bits and a lot of texture.

Oh, I just saw your comment about quartzite. I have quartzite on my island, and I treat it exactly like my granite. In fact today we were coloring eggs. I had laid down some paper towels but the die dribbled and pooled around and soaked through and was sitting on the stone for about 30 minutes as the kids were coloring. Afterwards it just wiped right off. We treat it like granite. It's light so I do pay attention if something red gets on there. Of course it's sealed, but no differently than the rest of the granite. Having said that, I think it I left red wine or pasta sauce on the white quartzite overnight it might stain, but I haven't had that experience yet. We aren't a very tidy family, but I think I'd wipe up spaghetti sauce before going to bed. So far, quartzite has been fine for us.

Yes, leathered / antique or brushed, Antique is usually associated with cambrian black because that is how the mining exploiters refer to it. I mentioned earlier that the cambrian is mined locally.

We always were aware of this finish because where we work we are in contact with the mining company as they provide us with this granite to use in high traffic public places. We actually have a display panel showing all different finishes available (flamed, honed, sandblasted, water blasted, etc.. and of course antique) on that granite. We know how resistant that stone is!

We just thought we had to find the slab already treated, but it turns out we can pick the polished slab and send it back to be treated. Thanks for the comments on quartzite, I just love the look of this stone.