Black countertops are going out of style and will look dated. Consider Quartz or granite in light tones.

Go light. Quartz or ceasarstone. off-white.

Ok, I was just thinking that black/marbled would tie the cupboards/appliances/floor(grey) together

Into a dark situation.

I have dark countertops with light cabinets & I very much dislike the color of the countertop. Hard to see if they are clean w/o running my hands over them. Do you have under cabinet lights? I would think about installing LED lights. Brighten things up.

I think dark counter tops would be a mistake in your kitchen as it would darken an already dark space. Just FYI black counters show every water spot that falls on them, Why not go for a medium toned counter that brings together the dark cupboards and the light backsplash.

This will sound crazy but my mother has the same cabinets and light pale blue counters (laminate) and backsplash - it looks very pretty and bright. If she were to change it out she would go for a quartz with the same light blue running through it.

I agree with the statement that dark counters are challenging to keep clean but quartz has bling and something with movement may not be too bad. http://houzz.com/photos/1975526

Lighting will be key.

Your kitchen is very dark. Keep counters light. With some movement. Are you going granite? There are many to choose from. update cabs with brush nickel hardware long pulls.

There are many wonderful laminates to replace what you have: take a look at the supplier sites to see what is offered. You will not get the value for solid surface in this kitchen unless you totally renovate. What you could try on a door from Habitat for Humanity first, is to add a black glaze to these cabinets for an old world look. Then look at the perlato series or travertine series of laminates.