If you can post pictures, it would be easier to decide. Even otherwise, busy or not, is really an individual opinion. If you like it enough, then go ahead and do what you want. The builder is essentially sharing his opinion and his taste with you.

In some situations, the builder's opinion can be valuable. They build houses regularly and therefore know "comparables" in that market. If you are concerned about resale then definitely do give his suggestion some thought but if you are planning to live/enjoy this house for some time, your taste should matter.

Your builder is not a decorator. I have seen some builders make some sorry choices with colors or materials when left to their own devices (but usually, they keep it very very safe in order to appeal to the masses). I would trust his judgment if he told you about structural issues or how to implement your choices.

Since you do not sound sold on it, maybe you both need to go and look at some more slabs until you find one that feels less like a compromise for one or both of you. There has to be one out there that will make you both happy...

If you have an island you can use them both and keep both you and your husband happy (I get the impression you like the white) assuming they would look OK together (they don't have to match but not clash.) If you have to pick one, pick the one you love. I love the contrast of a dark counter with light cabinets, but white/white can be stunning as well. Choose by your preference, not your GC's. Good luck.

It will give different looks -- so it depends upon what look you're after. When I was at the point of choosing cabinet finish and countertop hue, I took all of the kitchen renovation magazines and books I'd been hanging on to forever and I also bought some $5 Sunset, Creative Homeowner, and Better Homes and Gardens, etc. Kitchen Renovation Books at a discount store and "sacrificed" them -- I took sharpies and wrote across the pages what the elements were (e.g. "dark granite", "medium finish cabinets", dark floors, etc.) -- kept it as simple as possible, pretty much either dark, medium or light, for each of the elements. I then ripped the pages out of the ones I liked or liked something about them - and kept them in a folder, then as we considered what combos we were going for, we sorted the pictures into piles, so I could show my husband what medium maple cabinets would look like with a dark countertop, and also a light countertop. That way we both could make a decision before walking in the granite yard what shade of granite we were looking for and when the beauiful but dark granites were calling our name, we passed by them, sticking with our vision that we decided on together on the living room floor. It also helped with choosing style of cabinets, finish on the pulls, too. I marked up nearly everything on the pictures -- in the end we got exactly what we were both happy with without the "oh, I didn't know it was going to look like this" at the end -- we pretty much knew exactly what our combination of choices would pull together to look like.

Hope this helps.

Wow, thanks for all the responses. The reason I was willing to let him choose is I have seen several I like with both light and dark choices. If I had my pick I think I would choose a dark quartz, but they keep telling me you shouldn't put a hot pan directly on it and we want durability, also our water is very hard and I'm afraid we will have white mineral stains with dark. I do have a huge file of photos but the problem is when we go to choose I don't see anything like I was thinking and I get lost. The builder has good taste but leans a little more heavy and traditional/old world than I want to go. But he knows I want a country influence so he thought all light would be good. I think the dark would be a nice contrast with the white.

Oh, also I think the builder is trying not to overwhelm us with choices so they give us a few. The granite is available to us at a lower price but there is less choice, or I would definitely still be looking.