I have had polished granite counters and matching granite backsplash for at least ten years, including a big slab over the double 30” ranges...with no problems anywhere. I would not hesitate to do it again.

felizlady - You had this specific granite or another kind?

My floor and my cabinets are pretty busy so my original direction was a something a bit more quiet like a black or gray soapstone.

But then I saw pics that cpartist posted of her condo kitchen and came across this Ivory Cascade slab and thought maybe a busy granite would work. I just don't want to turn the kitchen into a 3 Ring Circus where the floor, cabinets and counters are all vying for attention.

Apparently there are about 3 grades of granite, with 1 the worst and 3 the best. All granite is porous and many professionals suggest sealing it; we always sealed the granite in our houses.

I found a couple of references but none so far mentioned which "grade" Ivory Cascade is. This reference says it comes from Africa (Namibia), whereas another reference said it comes from Brazil.

https://www.cosmosgranite.com/washington/granite/washington-455-ivory-cascade-3cm

Brazil... https://bedrockgranite.biz/ivory-cascade/

Here's another reference... https://www.3cmstone.com/product/ivory-cascade-3cm-lot-8779/

You may just want to keep checking around on the Internet? It doesn't seem too common but you could contact any of the above sellers and see if they know more about the grade and quality of the Ivory Cascade? It certainly looks nice but be careful of really busy granite patterns.

@Colorado Troutguy - Thanks for the legwork and the links. The fabricator's stock I saw it in didn't have much information on it.

I hear you about busy granite patterns. Introducing one into what's already pretty busy between the floor and the cherry cabinets is my concern. The floor is new and finished in place. It would not have been my first choice but it matches the hardwood throughout my home built in 1935.

I would do Virginia Mist. It is granite that looks somewhat like soapstone but better. It would look great. That granite looks lower grade type to me. Granite is great! I have had it in many homes and it is great. I give mine a coat of Turtle Paste Wax around every 10 months. Yes, car wax! Great stuff. Hassle free.

Love Beth’s other ideas too especially the black window treatment. SW Tricorn Black is a fav of mine.

Here is Virginia Mist. It is available in “honed” finish too.

Flo, Do you find the honed Virginia Mist to be softer than the honed Absolute Black? Does it cast green?

@Beth H.

WOW! Thanks so much! I'm really excited with your ideas and suggestions.

I've been looking for counters for a long time - well over a year. I first started counter shopping even before I'd settled on a cabinet finish (painted vs. stained). But the bulk of the delay is that it took 11 months from initial delivery to get the cabinets straightened out. This included multiple reorders. Both the dealer and the cabinet company were embarassed. As frustrating as the situation was, I remained calm and patient and they made it worth my while.

Here's what I started with:

And here's where things are now (NOTE: THE WHITE STOVE IS TEMPORARY. IT WILL BE REPLACED WITH STAINLESS):

You've given me lots of inspiration. I hadn't thought about painting the window black (it's solid wood so I can paint no problem). I think that will look stunning.

The articulating arm fixtures are awesome. Sadly, wall mounted fixtures won't work. There's a massive 12" high header that spans well beyond the window width. It's supporting two microlams that carry the the joists for the 2nd floor. But the pendant suggestions are just are awesome too.

I really like that black hardware you suggested. Do you know who makes it?

@Flo Mangan - Thanks for your input. I think you're right, a black granite, like Virginia Mist that mimics soapstone would be more classic and high end than the Ivory Cascade. Fortunately, my kitchen window is 5ft wide and faces South. My kitchen is light and bright during the day and I have plenty of light for the night including undercabinet.

@Flo Mangan & @Beth H. I've also considered man-made quartz. If I did quartz, I would do a something light. But I'm having trouble finding one. I have trouble coming up with wall colors Here are two I looked at.

This one is Vadara Sereno Gold.

This one is LG Clarino.

Any suggestions for a quartz if I wanted to go for light counters?

I like the 2nd one. But I still like that black and white granite you posted on the other post

That black and white granite keeps catching my eye too. The warm dots of golden brown really work well with the cabinets. I've not seen a stone with that coloration before. I'm in a smaller market so our choices are limited unlike metro-LA.

The soapstone slab I was looking at has some beautiful brown veining too.

Here's a pic of the Vadara Sereno Gold from their website:

This is a slab I found of it locally (the protective plastic is still on it:

Here's my cabinet next to the LG Clarino:

For some reason, I feel like the quartz is more limiting in wall color choices than either the Ivory Cascade or soapstone or soapstone like granite.

I agree. I like the real stone choices w/your cabs. I don't think the quartz that's trying to look like marble works with your cabinets/kitchen design.

the Cascade or that soapstone one is beautiful! BTW, I've looked around for that Ivory Cascade and don't find much of it online. (golden cascade, yes, but not the white like yours).

If it's a good price, I'd snag it.

The soapstone is nice too, but it is softer than granite, so keep that in mind.

my friend did a soapstone like that, only it had a vein of green crystal in it. she did a light green glass tile splash. (hers was oiled)

and if you oil the soapstone, the color will deepen and look richer. and if you pick the soapstone, then pick a dark sink do go with it. don't do a SS sink. do a copper, or one of those Silgranit sinks in a dark color. or get the soapstone sink too

This Alpine would look nice too

there's so many tile options you could do w/either one. Seneca tiles has some grit looking metallic glaze options.

But for sure I'd do the black window, get either the black or the other metallic hardware, bring in one of those pendants I posted earlier, and then find a nice wall color or some cool art for that one blank wall. oh, and a cool runner.

Do what Beth says. I too much prefer natural stone over quartz. Quartz has been marketed to death. It has it’s place, but real stone is such a great value right now. Good luck!!

I love your kitchen to date! I'd also suggest something like Alaska White (be careful about the slab), or Snowfall granite.

@Beth H.- Thanks again for some great feedback and insights. You're right, the quartz that's trying to look like marble is mis-match for my cabinets/kitchen design. Other styles of quartz don't seem to fit either. Or at least none that I've come across.

Up to now, I've always had laminate. The thing that made me give quartz a close look is that I do a lot of baking. It's not unusual for me to oil the counter to knead, shape or roll. I know quartz can stain, but I figured it would be impervious to oil.

I know granite should be sealed (most anyway) but I still have my concerns about using oil deliberately on the surface. Ideally I'd test a sample but It's tough getting samples to test.

Today I put a request into the fabricator to price out the Ivory Cascade. But the more I look at inspiration photos, I think a granite that mimics soapstone or actual soapstone is the way to go. A soapstone or soapstone like granite is a nice fit for the era of my house - a modest (1350sqft Dutch Colonial built in 1935).

Here's are some pics of the adjacent dining room. Someday I'll hang a more appropriate light in there but it works for now. By the way, that corner hutch is from a Sears Roebuck kit that the original owner installed in the early 1940s. Restoring it from the ravages of multiple poor paint jobs took FOREVER.

@julieboulangerie - Thanks! With respect to Alaska White, you said to be careful about the slab. How so?

following

beautiful job miss!

as for staining, most of the granite will hold up fine. the sealing buys you time to wipe up anything. I suspect w/some of the very white granites, you could have some staining. but again, as long as you don't leave a stain to sit overnight, you should be fine.

I believe that your original thought of soapstone or perhaps a honed black jet mist granite that gives you the look of soapstone is the way to go. On this island is honed black jet mist. It's in a vacation rental home and the owner says it doesn't show fingerprints and has been happy with it. Not the same cabinet wood as yours but at least it gives you an idea what the honed looks like.

With knife block · More Info

you can always do a white soapstone.

they had this at my stone yard. it was stunning

Duetto quartzite

quartz,,Eternal Charcoal

Negresco,,leather finish. also a good choice

as for the Alaska White, as julie mentioned, it does come in creamier tones

this one is leathered, and has those beautiful warm brown veins that would look great w/your cabs

the name was 'philadelphia splendor gold'

or something like this

Re: Alaska White: they have varying colors... some are warm, some have a lot of blue, some with a lot of variation, and others with not. It depends on what you like!

I love that Alaska white that Beth just shared. I also like the second quartz LG Clarino you shared. I think your cabinets and floors would look beautiful with it and it's a neutral so I think there would be a lot of paint colors you could do with it.

Personally, I think black granite can make a room dark and cold, but obviously lots of people love it.

I mostly commented to say I would caution against repeated oil directly on granite. There is a big difference between an occasional spill and oiling the granite repeatedly as a baking surface. You may think you are wiping it all up, when you may not be and are actually kneading over it forcing it more into the stone. Be careful.

Hi miss enigma,

I went from Formica counters (had them 25 years) to soapstone. I love my soapstone but was surprised to find it a bit “grippy” as a rolling surface. Others on soapstone threads had said it was wonderful for baking and I suspect it really is for breads and more kneaded doughs but I found it disconcerting for delicate pie doughs. It felt like driving with the emergency brakes on :). Pie dough on Formica just sort of glides out into a smooth circle. I finally bought a $30.00 white marble pastry board at Pier One or Cost Plus. Problem solved. I wasn’t oiling my soapstone so perhaps that was the issue. It certainly is fabulous for all the other parts of baking. Put a piping hot cookie sheet down on soapstone? No problem:). And it is completely stain proof. Oil will sit on the surface (people use mineral oil etc to darken their counters) but the oil doesn’t actually sink in. As a material I will say that soapstone would be completely appropriate (and lovely) in your kitchen, given the age of the house. I chose it because of its many virtues, but also I too have an older home. I think quartz is great for modern kitchens, no so sure it’s a good fit for a Dutch Colonial. I think Dutch Colonials are utterly charming btw.

P.s. I went from almond colored Formica to charcoal gray soapstone and worried that it would make my kitchen dark.. Turned out fine, even at night with low lighting.

I've been seriously considering the sereno gold for my kitchen counter tops as well. I haven't been able to make the long drive to see a slab yet. Is the veining gold, light brown and grey? The slab you posted looks like there is more warmth than the sample I looked at. Is it nice in person? I love the few photos I've found online. Thanks.

@Kori Thompson - Vadara describes it as "Grey and white base with taupe veins". It's very nice in person. I don't pick up gold as much as I do light brown. Here's a picture of a sample next to white paper, you can see the base color is a warm, greyed white.

@Kat & @jad2design - Good points regarding using oil directly on the counter. I'll change my ways and invest in some sort of slab as suggested to work on.

@Kat - I have so much warmth radiating from the both the cabinets and flooring that I don't think the black will feel cold. Plus I have a 5' foot window that faces south. It's the sunniest room in the house and is flooded with light all day.

I appreciate your response, thank you! Your description is really helpful to me, along with the photos you posted. I will likely choose sereno gold and post photos when project is complete. Hope all is well on your end! Thanks again!

I found one more photo I had of a different Sereno Gold sample . . . it shows some of the brown taupe . . . .

Over the past 10 days I've seen some new options and revisited some previous contenders. In my area, there aren't a lot of options. There's really only 2 independent stone yards (Stonemart & Cosentino Granite and Quartz showroom). There are about 4 or so fabricators that have their own limited inventory. I envy all the options that @Beth H. : has access to.

I'll summarize what I looked at over several messages (Houzz seems to crash if you include too many pics in one message).

VIA LACTEA

Lots of folks on here rave about this stone but I'm not sold. Something about it looks off to me with my cabinets.

Although I think it looks fine (but doesn't wow me) in this picture.

VIRGINIA MIST both Honed and Polished

This is another one that people rave about and I've seen lots of beautiful photos on here with cherry cabinets. But in person, it seems too misty and busy for my taste. It could just be the slabs I saw.

Polished . . .

Honed . . .

LEATHERED NEGRESSCO / LEATHERED BLACK MIST / VIRGINIA BLACK HONED

I think both of these mimic black soapstone well and look great with my cabinets. They all look pretty similar. Unfortunately, the Negressco slab had some major resin fills that show up as pitch black and shiny. I managed to get a small sample of the Leathered Black Mist to test for etching and staining. First I tested it as is (i.e., no sealer). It sucked up olive oil immediately. Today I brought the sample back to the fabricator and they sealed with a solvent based sealer for me to repeat the test. I still need to do that.

Negressco . . .

Leathered Black Mist

Virginia Black Honed

STEEL GREY GRANITE

This is really popular in my area with lots of slabs available in polished, honed, and leathered. It may not show in the picture, but the gray in every slab I've seen has a violet undertone which doesn't look good with my cabinets.

GOLDEN BEACH (?)

I found this one slab and I really, like it. It looks great with my cabinets. I think I might even prefer it to the one in my original post - The Ivory Cascade. This slab is in a fabricator's inventory. Since much Golden Beach has a peachy/gold tone they think this may have been misnamed. It's really lovely. The big BUT is that it's a bit on the pricey side and more than I wanted to spend. But it's still a top contender.

IVORY WAVE GRANITE

This was a really interesting slab. It also looks great with the cabinets and has unusual brownish rust spots. But I think it would bring an entirely different feel to the kitchen than what I'm looking for which is casual traditional.

I recently came across ivory cascade as well. And I am excited to say that it is being installed tomorrow. I think it is beautiful and that you should stick by your original plans. You have good taste. I have cherry cabinets and I know it will look amazing. We had Uba tuba, but I am going for a much richer look with this new granite. I will forward photos once it’s installed, but for now here are pictures of my slabs.

meklar,,are those 3 slabs you got? wow.

have they talked about how they're going to match up the veining if two pieces happen to get a seam?

Beth H, Yes. 3 slabs. I helped them template and everything will look great with the seams. Cannot wait!!

nice. love to see it after it's installed. There is another name for your stone. I can't remember what it is though! I want to say another poster had some issues w/staining, so make sure a good sealer is applied and be careful w/certain products.

I'm back after a long hiatus. On March 1st, sadly, I was diagnosed with cancer and 2 weeks later everything shutdown due to Covid. The best initial treatment option for me was surgery. After 2 1/2 months of testing and worried waiting, I had my surgery on May 14th. I was one of the first patients operated on when things reopened in my area. I've been slowly recovering and getting back to some reasonable sense of normalcy. Things look very promising but I have a lifetime of testing and vigilance to make sure it doesn't reoccur (statistically they estimate I have an 80% chance of being fully cured). Overall I'm in a good place and feel fortunate.

Needless to say, kitchen counters haven't been a top priority. No house projects have been for that matter. I just restarted thinking about counters again this week. Inventory I'd looked at back in February/March of this year is gone. But I've seen a few things that look similar. I just need to get some pricing.

I definitely ruled out using any quartz.

@meklar How did your counters come out? I'd love to see pictures. Please post them if you can. Thanks!

@Beth H. Did you settle on a backsplash tile for your kitchen yet?

misse,,,oh my. I'm so so sorry about your health! I hope they didn't make you postpone the surgery and make it worse. ( I think of all the poor people who were sidelined because of this virus w/a 99.8 survival rate! just irks me to no end).

I'm glad you're feeling better now.

and no, I still have not picked one.

I was delayed but fortunately the delay didn't make things worse (except for my worrying - LOL). I can sort of laugh now.

I'm taking some comfort in the fact you haven't picked a backsplash yet - it makes me feel better about not choosing a countertop yet. :-)

lol, well, it would appear you had a much better excuse than I ! every time I think I decide, I wonder, "will i get tired of it? i went to the tile store the other days and looked at tons of things. I'm still considering the 2x8 marble tile w/the vertical gold joint inlays.