Gray, NOT white--and quartz is a good suggestion

Do you mean a backsplash? I'm not sure what you mean by perimeter.

no not the backsplash - the perimeter counters of the kitchen. i don't love grey quartz.. will pure white look terrible?

Wood countertops would add some warmth to the room. Quartz does not hold up too well, I've learned.

I will be making these same decisions soon, so have been researching countertops.

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Honed black absolute or jet mist granite would be a low maintenance and nice contrast to the Calacatta marble. And I agree that quartz isn't as carefree as the claims make it out to be. Caesarstone chips and gets water marks, and it can't be refinished.

i don't love the idea of dark counters - floors are dark reclaimed wide planks. i think doing wood would be too "woody". any other suggestions?

When I said gray and NOT white, I meant you could use light gray, especially if you don't like dark counters--however I still think a bright white will make the vained marble look "dirty"

The pure white will make your white in the calacutta either look yellow or gray.

You might want to consider stainless. It is very easy to clean, low maintenance, and does not compete with the stone.

Caesarstone Raven or Pebble are great combinations.

I have calcutta on my island and choose a caesarstone lagos blue for the countertops where I cook. It is beautiful and goes really well with the calcutta.

I think the veining in the soapstone will fight with the marble. IMO, it would look better to do something more solid. Several suggestions have already been made on more solid colors that might work well.

I did honed virginia mist perimeter with a marble island. I like them together- they look like negatives of each other!

Consider a quartz with little gray sparkle for the perimeter. The above gray glass tiles would look beautiful.

Honed leaves water marks on my counters . Example if you set a cold water glass on it goes away but I hate that it does it Also I would never do black unless you like to clean all the time and dust I have made that mistake Twice I like the idea of a light grey Quartz Not a lot of choice that would really make your marble stand out Have you looked at Quartz LG Rococo Looks just like marble and you can do all counters with this Beautiful ! No upkeep like the marble

Ceasarstone would be the easiest, low maintenance option.

Hi, Sara!

A grey quartz would coordinate beautifully with your calacatta island.

This is Carrick, by Cambria Quartz:

Or here is a little bit different tone of grey. This one is called Greystone:

You can see how beautifully these greys complement Neolith's Calacatta design, seen below:

Hello Sara, the products of Sintered Stone like Neolith, will give you a durable solution and with less need of supervision than the quartz or natural stones. The sintering process eliminates almost 100% porosity, as in the case of Neolith, this brings benefits such as non-staining, non-scratch, abrasion resistant surfaces. You can see in the following link our designs of marbles and specifically the calacatta. Neolith Calacatta

What did you end up doing?