I chose Silestone Pulsar and I like the the little crystal bits look in it. Is snowy ibiza the one they have at home depot? I really liked that one too, it's similar to pulsar minus the gold.

Saying all that, I realize I don't know what yo mean by a grained quartz? I thought you meant how you can see these teeny tiny crystal rock type pieces in the quartz? I think ibiza is a very pretty quartz, considered that one as well.

If the chunks get too big (if that's what you're calling grained), then it starts to look like the older corian to me and I'm not for that look. That's when I think it looks dated.

The grained quartz is a dated look. It was the original quartz countertop and it goes back to the mid 90s. For the past two or three years on GW, it seems the only quartz being used is the marble-look type. I still see the ones with sand-like speckles being used in contemporary kitchens, but a solid color is usually the most common choice there.

Thank you! Briana, by "grained" I mean the quartz with the tiny little crystals. The other style, "veined" I mean the ones that have more flow including the marble-looking quartzes (Snowy Ibiza has veining and is a Home Depot exclusive Silestone). A third style would be the more solid looking ones that Mayflowers mentioned. I'm sorry I'm not sure what the correct terminology is for these 3 very different styles. How will I choose? My husband won the cabinet battle, so maybe I will get the marble-looking quartz I like. I do have concerns that these marble-looking quartzes are trendy.

wysel, how long do you plan to live in the house?

I wouldn't worry much about "current trend" - in a few years, anything that is trendy today will be dated. A counter that coordinates well with the rest of the kitchen will stand the test of time.

I think you should concentrate more on what makes you happy while you use it, rather than worry about what a future potential buyer may or may not consider trendy.

AnnKH, its hard to say how long we will stay. My husband wants to stay forever, but I would like to move to a different neighborhood (an on-going fight in our marriage). I figure it makes sense to remodel, because if we stay forever then I want to like my house, and if we move it will be easier to sell if the kitchen is updated. I'm trying to be mindful of keeping a low budget and neutral finishes.

Mayflowers I think you have perfectly described my husband! It doesn't help that we live in the mountains and our house is like glorified camping. I let him have his medium stained wood cabinets (he said no to white), but wondering if I should have just designed everything without asking him. I actually think he would like the more modern and fresh white look more than he realizes, but like you said he's has never seen a modern kitchen in any of our neighbor's or friends' houses to compare.

It is so difficult to select finishes for the long term especially since there are so many options. I think choosing what you like and looks good in your home are the foremost considerations. Crystals and veining in quartz and granite will probably never be out of style not like gold and green appliances which were so color specific. Mayflowers described my husband's current taste in a nutshell. Thus DH convinced me to order stained cabinets which I have come to see as best for my house anyway, but I drew the line on stone backsplashes.

I actually think the wood stained cabinets are going to fit well in our house. I think I'm going to do the marble-looking quartz because I saw it in a friend's house and fell in love with it. I'm going to put my foot down and not allow my husband to get the busy backsplashes he likes! I'd rather have no backsplash than the busy little stone mosaic tiles he likes, seriously. But anything is going to be an improvement over the cathedral oak cabinets with yellow laminate countertops from the early 90's that we have now!

I was thinking of those little stone mosaics when I wrote my post! How funny!

I too have stained cabinets. It fits my home in the Pacific Northwest. I have a marble-like quartz, but it is in a beige tone, not the white and gray that's so popular with white cabinets. I still love my counter after five years. We first picked out a speckled quartz and I'm glad we decided against it. The quartz companies have all come out with flowing patterns since then. I don't think any of them have done new speckled patterns.

Mayflowers, whats the name of your beige tone quartz? I'm a little worried the Snowy Ibiza will be too grey for our medium brown cabinets, though I read that its kind of a chameleon quartz that can look warm or cool depending on what its put with.

It's Pentalquartz Botticino. You can just barely see the fine squiggly veins.

It's the same color as Caesarstone Buttermilk, which is easier to find. Buttermilk has circular spots.

Caesarstone Buttermilk · More Info

Caesarstone Bianco Drift would be a good choice for a warmer gray for stained cabinets. It's got a lot of white to soften the gray, along with some darker brown lines to pick up the wood cabinetry, but they're very subtle. This kitchen has several photos and it looks a little different in every photo, but I have a sample home. I was going to use it for a stained vanity. Houzz has a few other kitchens with it too.

Orinda Kitchen Remodel · More Info

Orinda Kitchen Remodel · More Info

Since you have wood cabinets, I will show you mine:

https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~57088087

https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~58831076

https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~88667617

I think either speckled or marbled can work, neither is "dated". I chose speckled/grained in my build. I have wood stained cabs. (My house is also log, so wood stained cabs make extra sense for the look.) In my case I went with speckled because 1) I got the color I wanted, and 2) one of my surfaces is created out of partially recycled materials. Silestone Eco Luna. I haven't seen marbled recycled.

Ps, I really don't want a busy back splash with lots of grout to clean. This is still in decision mode.

I strongly dislike the term "dated" - especially when applied to expensive surfaces. Eventually dated becomes vintage and retro and then antique - and suddenly a desired feature - like the beautiful woodwork or a well preserved claw foot tub in a victorian home.

The small mosaic backsplash have declined in popularity - I think they are hard on the eyes. What looks pretty in a 12 by 12 square can be overwhelming over an entire backsplash. I've seen more than one of those splashes ripped out on the forum because the person did not visualize what the whole backsplash would look like when completed. The ones I have liked had very subtle variation between the colors rather than the usual mix of varied colors of tiles.

I think design is changing faster than it ever has and it's hard to keep up with it. Just because I bought something only a few years ago doesn't mean that it's not already dated. My house was built in 1999 and the finishes that were used caught the tail end of the 90s trends so it was already dated when it was built. When we remodeled our guest bath four years ago, we bought Giallo Ornamamental Light granite for the small vanity because it was the only cream-colored remnant we could find and we had guests coming. Shortly afterwards, someone here referred to speckled granites as "dog vomit granite". I thought to myself "Yep, that's my GO." I can try to convince myself that it's a popular granite but the truth is, it's not used much anymore. I wish I'd had more choices at the time but I did not.

I just took a peek at Cambria and they call their speckled quartz the Classic collection and they have not added new colors since I looked at kitchen countertops six years ago.

That bianco drift is pretty, I had not seen that one.

We were trying to avoid the look of the quartz on the counters at some local fast food restaurants and doctor's offices. I think that's what some here are calling "grain" or "speckled".

I would recommend looking at full slabs even if means you have to drive a few hours. Some of the older quartz products do look repetitious or pixelated to my eye. The manufacturers seem to introduce new patterns rather than updating the old ones to look "better".

We used Caesarstone "Taj Royale" and are very happy with it.

Stan Z, I would love to see pics of your "Taj Royale" if you would not mind posting. Thanks.