Above is the Bianco Sardo (closeup). Below is the Jet Mist. Thanks again!

Since you love Jet Mist, is there any other place you can cut corners? I can't say that your combo would not work, I personally don't care for it. But, that said, you might get the thumbs up from everyone else here.
It is very hard to find something that really talks to you. You found it with the Jet Mist. I am just concerned that your kitchen won't live up to your expectations if you go with second best.

My reaction is not awful, but not great. The Bianco is so grainy and the jet mist seems to have a lot of more subtle stuff going on too. I think it might be more of a near miss than a hit.

Is the bottom line that much different between all of one and combining those two? When we looked at granite, the cost of the stone itself was typically less than the fabrication and installation. You might also wind up paying for entire slabs and wasting as much as you save.

I would look at other stone yards. The same stones can vary in cost and you might find some jet mist or something similar at another yard where they have just enough at the end of a run that they want to close out -- or a slab plus a remnant that will get you what you need and not run up your cost.

It's not a combo that works. You'd need to change the Jet Mist to something more "speckly" to work, and since it's the one you want to highlight, I think the Sardo has to go. Maybe a very quiet quartz would work, but even a nice budget laminate would if it's got a bit of movement and isn't too speckled like the Travertine Silver. However, if this project is really stretching your budget, as your post would suggest, I'd look at doing the Formica Basalt slate as the island counter too, as it's visually very very close.

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Take it from someone who fell in love with an expensive stone...find a place where you can afford to do all Jet Mist. You will feel like you settled any time you look at the long stretch of counters in a stone you do not LOVE.
I had quotes from fabricators for my stone and the clincher was that I had to buy 2 full slabs. Well, about 40-50 sq feet of one slab was going to be UNUSED! I searched around and found a place that ONLY charged for the square footage that was actually USED, NOT for the full slab, so I was able to afford what I REALLY loved and wanted.
Also, if you liked 2 slabs and were seriously considering them, there is NO reason the yard couldn't have taken one slab on the picker thingy and driven it to the location of the other slab. If they refused this, then find another yard. This is THOUSANDS of dollars we are talking about investing. If they cannot do something as simple as move a slab, then you need to find a new place.

Thank you all! I am such a newbie, I didn't know I could ask to have the slab moved. Learn somethin' new every day.

I don't know that there's anywhere else to cut corners. We are going with Ikea cabinets and are planning to do sheet vinyl (or vinyl tile) for the floor. We aren't replacing any of our appliances. We are even leaving most of the lighting, just adding a bit where needed. The project is still costing a bloody fortune because we're putting in a slider and a window, and we're moving the sink and fridge (need plumbing). And we're tearing up the floor to make it stop squeaking.

We have almost 84 s.f. of countertop to cover (including the island). It's a lot! So any upgrade to granite costs me another $1000 per price group. Bianco Sardo is Group A, Jet Mist is Group C.

I must say ... I do love the jet mist and I think my husband will love it, too -- he was really gravitating to grey when we were looking at things online. He hasn't seen it in person yet. I also LOVED Fantasy Brown (quartzite) and was thinking that we could do the island with that and do laminate on the perimeter if push came to shove.

Green Designs, those are lovely -- they're both Formica, yes?

I will have to get some more quotes to see if I can get the Jet Mist for less. I believe the current place would charge me $67/s.f. for it. I haven't a clue if that's a good price or not ...

This is the Fantasy Brown, by the way. Isn't she lovely? LOL

Well ... I went to another fabricator this afternoon and their prices are even higher, so that's a no go. They had a sample of the Kashmir White that they gave me and it appears to work pretty well with the cabinets and the flooring we think we will use. I understand it can be porous, so I have reservations about it. But it's fairly "quiet" and DH seems to like the sample, so it could be the one we end up with.

Countertops should be easier than this!

We put our "wow" stone on the island and out more subtle stone on the perimeter. Doing the White Macaubus quartzite on our island even with doing absolute black (though leathered) on the perimeter almost doubled our countertop budget which wasn't the bare minimum to begin with. I totally get what you mean by not being able to do it everywhere.

Which one do you love more? If it's the Jet Mist, I'd stick with that stone and shop around more for a complementary stone to go with it that has more subtle movement. I feel like the close speckles in the Bianco compete with the small speckles in the JM. Don't settle. I visited five stone yards before I found what I wanted.

I hate to say this. I don't like that granite at all. Can you move up to a "B" level? That granite is very speckly and most people pull that granite out to put new granite in. Do they have any other A granites that might work? And, that granite normally takes on a pink tone. Take a sample home to double check. I would even say, go with a B granite for the whole thing in two colors.
Good luck!
Kim

Kim, it's good you say what you think, even if you hate to say it. :-) I am going to visit another stone yard today to see what they might have that we could afford. There really aren't any other Group A stones that we like and/or which would work at all with our cabinets. Adel Medium Brown (the Ikea style/color) is turning out to be not that easy to find something complimentary for ... in our price range. I'm starting to feel like maybe I just don't like granite or something! I go down the aisle ... "No. No. Nope. Uh uhn. No. Nope." There's very little that I like or which will work.

Babs, it's nice to hear that someone else had to deal with the budget/compromise issue by putting the LOVE stone on the island and something complimentary on the perimeter. I wish I could find a subtle granite for the perimeter that wasn't just as costly as the Jet Mist! The subtle ones seems to be pricey. We have so much countertop, we are looking at 3 slabs, which is part of the problem ...

Although we have a signed contract and all our cabinets, I am actually going to go back and consider the layout of the kitchen all over again today, if you can believe it.

I would pay a pretty penny if someone would just come in and make all these decisions for me! I want an HGTV show to come in and surprise me, right now. LOL

Oh I love your second option. Kashmire white would look really nice with the jet mist and do not worry about it being porous. I have a much more porous stone than Kashmire White and it is not a problem. At first I was paranoid but now I never even think about taking any special precautions. It has movement in it and one time I thought I stained it with a spill of spaghetti sauce but no it wasn't a stain, it was just a mark in the granite. I use a cleaner sealer when I wipe down the countertops although not every time. I really don't care for the Sardo with a medium brown cabinet, there is no brown in it and I just don't think it would suit the cabinets at all. I hope you will go with the Kashmire! I love that stone and wish I could have used it in my own kitchen, the color was just a little off for my maple cabinets and the Ivory Silk granite looked better with them. That fantasy brown is gorgeous, too : )

I looked up your cabinets on line since I wanted to see the color. They are very pretty. I must say I love their look with the black granites. Is there another black granite in your price range? Black Impala has some grey flecks in it. I have this on some furniture cabinet tops and love it. I also like Black Galaxy with the bronze flecks that would go with your cabinet color.

Can you post a picture of your kitchen? In some kitchens granite with movement looks good and in some it doesn't. Due to layout it just gets too cut up. In that case its better to go with a less movement stone. Also depending on how busy or simple everything else is movement can be good or bad.

Also don't give up on getting competitive quotes or going to different fabricators. Sometimes you find something unexpected or they will cut you a deal for pieces they have in their yard. I found the prefabricated granite shops had the best prices. They have both prefab islands that they can cut to your size and shape as well as prefab counter tops.

Here is a link that might be useful: To me this is very pretty