We have Santa Cecelia and love it.

We are doing Verde Fantastico (kind of olive green with white veins, big veins)granite, we are also doing darker walnut floors, so it is a nice contrast and pop.

We have Giallo Ornamental (quite similar to the Santa Cecelia shown above), and we really like it. Abolutely no fingerprint problems with this one!

Hi Kiwi. In the past I had Tan Brown which was very easy to keep clean and until recently I had something in the Santa Cecelia, Giallo Ornamental family that hid dirt/grime/food so well I had to run my hands over the countertops to FEEL if it was dirty!! I couldn't always tell by looking.
I am now replacing that granite with absolute black, red dragon and black mosaic gold......I'm sure with 3 kids, and 3 dogs the AB will always be a mess BUT hopefully it will look nice when company comes over;) No one in my house seems to notice if it is clean or messy besides me!!!
I think you have to take some of the advice you get on fingerprints etc. with a grain of salt....If you are super anal retentive and will spend all day cleaning countertops I wouldn't get it, But if you are like me, you get what you love and figure it will be finger print free when the kids leave for college!

Not sure you want to go in this direction but I have Santa Rita Venata Soapstone and I love it. Its matte and indestructible. Some have posted problems (water rings) with it , but I have not had any problems. It is beautiful and looks great with my cabinets! There are many posts on Soapstone here and lots of pictures. Good luck!

I agre with the Santa Cecilia suggestions. I used that in my guest bath. In the kitchen I used Blue Pearl and don't have a problem with it. The only problem being sometimes it's hard to see the crumbs!

I have something called angola silver polished black with silver, mica and grey specs - I love it, it looks spectacular to me with the white and it does not show dirt. I think, but don't really know from experience, that any solid black would be less forgiving

Judy

I think lots of different types of granite look great with white cabinets. The only one I would definitely avoid is Absolute Black. Any of the others would be great.

Why is absolute black to be avoided??

We have the New Venetian Gold-very similar to the Santa Cecelia and love it.
Nancy

I put the Black Galaxy in the bathroom with white cabinets and in the kitchen with stained cabinets and love it with both.

In a kitchen i would avoid a really dark granite-- our old house we put in uba tuba boy did i regret that-- we saw every streak when we wiped them down. Also b/c our lighting wasn't perfect the green actually looked black. We were so disappointed. we are now buying a new house and building... i am in the process of selecting granite-- so far it's merry gold b/c it goes best with everything we have.. but i'm still looking at lighter shades b/c of streaks and fingerprints. GOOD LUCK

I have Verde Butterfly (or Peacock--not sure) and I think it looks good with white cabinets. I don't think it shows much b/c of all the different colors and all the stuff going on. I think almost anything goes with white--it just depends on the look you are going for. In my next white kitchen, I will probably go with Costa Esmerelda.

We have had our kitchen for over four years now. We just finished off the "plywood" island with a creamy white bead board island and i am IN LOVE with the contrast of the creamy white and the Juprana Columbo Gold granite DH choose way back then......

{{!gwi}}

I have Shivakashi ( not the pink) which you don't hear of that much. So far it is easy upkeep (only 75% done). My daughter has the black honed and it works for her with two children. Like others have mentioned- it's hard to see the crumbs!!

{{!gwi}}


{{!gwi}}

mdmc, absolutely love your kitchen. The granite and back splash are beautiful and as well as your cabinets. What type of finish do you have on your cabinets? What brand did you use?

mdmc, should have also asked you on the previous post I submitted, could you give me the details on the tile (color and type) for your back splash? Again, great job on your kitchen. Enjoy and use it well.

i think almost anything goes with white. i have yellow river - a medium-tone- and also considered costa esmerelda. my granite doesn't show streaks or dust at all. the mixed blessing is you can't see spills or crumbs either. :)

Absolute Black granite: hardest most dense, coarse-grained igneous rock. (found info on a website)"We have found several instances where Indian Absolute Black Granite products are sensitive to food products, chemicals, ultra-violet rays and cleaning agents. The granite is taking on a lighter hue in the affected areas. The polish is unaffected, however, the stone turns light gray and it takes on cloudy appearance. Not all Indian Absolute Black Granite materials have been found to have this problem; it is only in isolated situations. We have been experiencing at least one problem per month throughout the United States and Canada. It has been reported that some overseas factories are chemically treating the stone to get a deeper, dark black coloration. The deeper and darker the granite surface, the more desirable they become. While there are many very reliable sources for Absolute Black Granite, precautions should be taken to prevent installation of inferior/defective material. After all the damage is done it usually results in the project being torn out."

My personal experience: shows all finger prints, streaks & smugges. On a good note: should never stain & may only need to seal once.

Contrast is always good with white cabinets! Depends on the look you are going for and what will fit your budget.

Friends of mine went with absolute black with a 'brushed' or 'hammered' finish on it.. it is the coolest thing. has a great texture to it, matte, - sort of a roughened texture, but smooth at the same time.. looks sort of like soapstone but without any of the problems soapstone can have. Everyone wants to touch it. they've had no problems whatsoever and the cost was very reasonable.

http://www.marblecityca.com/stones/verde-fantastico

This is what we are installing on Sat. Except we have slabs with single large white veins that are the length of the slab.
Thoughts?

OT post

antirabbit, I also went to marble city and felt it had the best selection of stones compared to any other place I went. I live in danville and we must have seen 10-15 places in Hayward, Fremont and Union City and as a last hope we went MC. Found several choices on our first visit.

Good luc on your install

I actually didnt get it from there, I live in the northern suburbs of Chicago.
I got it from UGM downtown.
I also discovered that Verde Fantastico is also called Golden Musk, that is the name used when it has huge veins.
I will post pics if yall want?

Hello,

I have just painted our cabinets white with a brown glaze. New wood floors in a medium brown. Now I am trying to choose my granite. I'm worried because I only see browns or black granite with white cabinets and wanted to go a different way. Here is the granite that I am looking at. Any help or comments would be great! Thanks so much,

Creama Bordeaux:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/cocomesa/creamabordeaux.jpg

Here is a link that might be useful:

Wow Marisajo,
I love that granite.
Ours is a swirlly granite, but in a field of green with white and olive veins.
GO WITH THAT crema Bordeaux.

Nordic Black Antique. Check out Jen's kitchen: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0709104824486.html

We went with this as well with our creamy/white cabs, not installed yet though.

That Crema Bordeaux is stunning. You should take into consideration though, that granite tested relatively high for radon emissions. Not everyone is concerned about this, but you should be aware of the facts before you decide.

Hi Blondelle,

Thanks for the advice on Radon but I have checked this out. You might want to read this website for your reference:

http://www.radon.com/radon/granite.html

We used both St. Cecelia and Brazilian Black. The black cleans up well and streak free as long as I use a microfiber towel.

Don't get black! It is so hard to keep clean IMHO!

dinobambino

Could you show a closer picture of your backsplash? What color and kind of material is it?

We just moved into a new house, I have glossy white kitchen with kashmir white granite, we also deceded to have kashmir white tiles on the floors. We are near emty nesters with a 15 year old daughter and a shihtzu dog. In my old house I had beautiful Bruce hardwood on all the floors and had to wipe it every day , with the kashmir on counters and floors you do not see any dirt at all, I only use microfiber cloths on the counters and they look like I have just wiped the all the time.

Im sorry for not having a better photo of the floor, but you see the floor where the dog is .
We are in Iceland and the floors are all with geothermo heating in . so they are always warm
the hood is missing in the first photo but it has been installed .

Ice

Dinobambino - I LOVE your kitchen - everything about it.

Yes your kitchen is beautiful! Thank you for showing as well as I must say your dog is just so cute with his binky. HA!

Thanks marisajo and organic.

It's called Noce Travetine tumbled stone. Here's a closer shot of the backsplash.

We have had several different granites in different houses. By far, the worst one was the Absolute Black. Had it installed in a mudroom in one house, had it on a vanity in another house and was installed in the kitchen of current house when we moved in.

I have two modes--my reno mode (where I let everything go--feels like camping--currently in this state right now--laundry needs to be done, house is a complete disaster-stuff everywhere) and my normal mode where I don't like to have appliances on the counter, everything is spotless. (Apparently in my reno mode I must be in denial or I would make myself crazy)...but regardless, when I am in reno mode--anything goes and I don't see the mess. However, the absolute black is a nightmare no matter what mode I'm in. I would strongly advise against it. Also, in this house, I did notice that "cloudy" effect one of the previous poster's mentioned which was in addition to the smears and wipes that were visible all the time, not to mention the dirt!

Similar to what SarahW97 describes above we went with Cambrian Black with a Satin finish but a friend of mine got Absolute Black in an Antiqued finish and we can barely tell them apart. We LOVE ours. I don't have all my pictures up but here is a link to what I have and it shows the counters.http://s397.photobucket.com/albums/pp56/emilysmarathonmom/?action=view&current=101_0003.jpg

My link above didn't work. Sorry. Try #2 http://photobucket.com/cindyskitchen

dinobambino,
Your kitchen is absolutely beautiful! What finish did you use on the door/draw handles and lights? Could you post an upclose picture of the hardware?
Thanks!
camerong