I would go with a more plain Caesarstone, Cambria, etc....and let this gorgeous slab take center stage.

I never recommend my customers try to "match" a granite. It would be a very challenging thing to do even if you could compare the slab and whatever in exactly the light you'll have in your kitchen and that's impossible.

The most likely outcome of an attempt to match is a scenario where it's obvious you tried to match and also obvious you didn't quite make it.

I usually suggest to my customers that they select a contrasting color/material or focus on a specific feature of the stone (like the brilliant blue inclusions in Volga Blue) and match that feature.

all that said, it's your kitchen and the only person you really need to please is you. Get what you like!

Plain tan, with a very light pattern, manufactured material, about the same color as the light splotches.

Let the island be the star.

The slab and cherry cabs will be gorgeous together. Definitely choose something simple that harmonizes and doesn't try to steal the spotlight.

Thank you so much for all of your replies. I agree with something simple. All this time, we were looking at granite. That might be the problem. Every granite pattern has its own personality. It's hard to find something that doesn't fight with the island. I will look into different types of stone, including manufacturing materials. I hope we will find it soon. Thanks again!

Check out fouramblues kitchen. Her island slab is Cambria buckingham which has similar colors and she did a granite for her counters but might give you color ideas.
Good luck!

We are still a ways from installing anything, but we have purchased our island slab and selected our perimeter countertops to complement. The island is Bianco Gita granite (will be 9'8" x 6'). We want it to be the focal spot. The other countertops will be Silestone White North. Very uniform, simple quartz pattern. I really wanted the perimeter cabs and counter to sort of fade into the background. Drywall finishing starts tomorrow. Hopefully our cabinets will be installed in 3 weeks. Good luck in your hunt for what works for you!

That is such a beautiful slab! I agree that any other granite will likely be too busy.

How about Cesarstone Dreamy Marfil? I'm biased, because that is what I chose for my countertops, but it looks like it might work beautifully with your granite: a creamy off-white with light, bronze veining.

Sum5463, I would love to see your kitchen when it's done. Or if anyone here have a kitchen with a focal point island, I would really appreciate it if you could share the pictures.

Thanks for all of you input. By opening to engineered quartz, I feel I have so many options now. I like dreamy marfil and buckingham. Will definitely go to showroom to check it out. Now I just need to talk with my contractor. He only quoted me with granite material not to exceed $18. I am not sure how that compares with engineered quartz in pricing.

I think we are granite twins (or very close siblings!) We would have loved to have the island focal point/plain perimeter counter, but since our kitchen is not that wide we decided to do the granite all over. If we had done a plain perimeter, I would have chosen a creamy quartzite, since we don't have a ton of light in the kitchen. We still have to post our reveal photos, but here's an in process of our natural cherry cabs and our Brazilian golden crystal granite. We ended up with an off white backsplash tile and allowed the granite to star- and we LOVE it :-) Can't wait to see what you end up with on perimeters.

Labbie, thanks for sharing. Your kitchen looks so warm and happy. I especially love the cabinets.

This post was edited by cztmj on Sun, Aug 25, 13 at 23:55

Here is the finished kitsch after one year of construction.

More picture!

One more.

Thanks again for all of your suggestions!

Beautiful. The granite (wow), the island, the wood floors, the cherry cabinets. It's all gorgeous!

Gorgeous! Thanks for the follow-up. I know you are loving it. So pretty...