You chose knotty alder, or that was some bizarre builder choice? It can be very busy, so you'd want everything else to be quite quiet... (Should be fine with slate appliances though)

Here it is with a lighter counter, so you can help visualize. This medium tone feels pretty nice to me. Depends a bit on your floors, which you didn't mention -- you want some clear contrast between cabinet and floor shades.

Here's a gray, which is also interesting, although if you don't trust your design abilities, this might be a bit of a risky direction to go -- it will require care in matching your paint colors, etc.

I think I better change granite color .. i really like the lighter granites. any suggestions (with knotty alder) ? thanks for your help!

I think a dark Granite would look better. We just installed honed jet mist, which I think would look amazing with your cabinets. We have photos of it here: http://www.houzz.com/projects/2026644/ohio-beach-house