I didn't see a picture of your fourth option. Of the first three, I prefer the Taj Mahal. The first option seemed too gray and the third one might be too much white. Have you chosen backsplash and wall colors? That could also influence your counter selection.

Thanks! That makes sense! Our walls are off white and our backsplash is off white with some grey variations vertically stacked subway tiles .

I’ve attached the 4th option again! Sorry! And thank you!

either taj or frosty.

Taj Majal by a mile

The Taj Mahal goes perfectly with both cabinet colors and ties them together, plus it's a real stone. You'll love it.

Taj Mahal is my favorite by a mile, but will you be able to pick your slab from the stoneyard? Not all Taj Mahal looks like your sample

Pbandjam: we have soft white cabs in our new kitchen, with wood (albeit a bit darker) accents, and we chose Taj Mahal….it looks great! (Our backsplash is Clé Zellige in Wheathered White, and our walls will be fairly white.) If you decide to go with TM, take the time to choose your slabs carefully; look at photos online, pre-select slabs, then visit the stone yards so you can see them in person. This is very important because TM is nearing its end, and there are vast differences from one slab to the next; desired lighter slabs are more costly, the deeper, grayer ones are more abundant, as are greener slabs, slabs with filled splits etc….take the time to find the right stone! (We came across slabs that had lots of pink in them even.) Good luck!

And wait to choose your backsplash until your countertop is in …..my vote is Taj and follow the advice above about seeing the actual slabs!

I think they all look very nice with your cabinet samples, so it's really up to you. The Taj Mahal is the warmest with its beige tones, and is the only natural stone. The Bianco Drift is a darker gray, and would provide a nice contrast to the white cabinets. Frosty Carrina is almost solid white, and you can't go wrong with a simple counter top. The Calacatta Krystal quartz could be a challenge with its very prominent veining--many homeowners have found matching the veining to be problematic.

@coray I am not sure what "nearing its end" means--is it becoming less trendy or is the supply dwindling? Many natural stones vary in appearance so it is very wise to select your actual slab rather than relying on a sample. You could be in for a disappointing surprise if you do not personally select and mark your slabs, so you know exactly what you are getting. Also with any slab that has a definitive pattern, you need to make sure you know how your fabricator is going to place them in your kitchen and whether and where there will be seams.

Taj Mahal Wait until counter is in before deciding on backsplash

bianco drift is a beauty.....the lighter segments within match the perimeter cabinets and thats a big deal. it'll look wonderful.

Yes, Taj.

Why plastic quartz when there are so many beutiful real stones available. Check out white grnites polished almost bullet proof can be used as backsplash behind any range and not fake.

Thank you for all your opinions! Love this community :) does anyone know any practical issues with quartzite (? Is it as impractical as marble with staining etc?)

I vote for Taj but only if you find a creamy slab. Many of them have an olive green undertone now, so do as other have advised - PICK YOUR SLABS. And make sure to see the templates before any cutting happens.

Backsplash choices are after the kitchen is done and your lighting is installed.

re performance: We have had our quartzite counters (madre perla which is similair to Taj I think?) since 2010 and they are bulletproof

I read quartzite needs to be sealed.. much like marble as it is porous.. is this true? :(

Taj Mahal.. beautiful real stone. I have it with creamy white permitter cabinets, stained wood island, and medium tone hardwood. Installed in may 2022

Perimeter that is

You should be looking at these with the cabinets standing vertically and the slab horizontally.

Do they have any smaller samples that you can take outside and look at how the colors work together in natural daylight? Do your cabinets look yellow next to it in natural daylight? Does the stone look too blue white or gray?

Internet pictures are generally a really bad way to look at colors, but from what I am seeing:

1- Bianco drift caesarstone - I like this option. The whites in the stone look to be creamy white and seem to work well with the white cabinet and the wood cabinet.

2- taj mahal quartzite - Again, I like this option. Both cabinets look nice next to the stone.

3-frosty carrina caesarstone - Looks too cool, the white of the stone feels dingy next to the creamy white cabinet.

4- calacatta krystal quartz - too blue white. Makes the creamy cabinet go too yellow.

For me, I would most likely go with Bianco Drift over Taj Mahal, but I am not a lover of greige (the neutral color family between green gray and green beige) and the tones in Bianco Drift would work better with the colors I would be using throughout my home. My sister's main neutral is a greige and she has lots of green beige and green gray in her home. Taj Mahal would be better with her décor.

This is something you would find in my sister's home next to each of the two countertops:

I tend to pick cleaner, brighter colors. This is an area rug I bought last year with each of the two countertops:

What works with the colors you love?

Not all quartzites are the same. Look up the Geology threads by Karin_MT and you will find easy tests that you can do to a slab corner, or a sample, to give you an idea of what type of quartzite you are buying.

In general Taj Mahal is not porous and resistant to etching and staining. I've been reading these forums for a long time and used Taj Mahal myself (2 different houses over 10 years) and I think we have only had one poster that had issues with their TM slabs.

We regularly see staining issues with many of the "white" quartzites. They are either marble mislabeled by slab yards or a stone that is hard, but still porous and needed to be sealed.

@Diana Bier Interiors: TM is close to being done….not in popularity, but availability, hence many of the less pretty ”end of the ham”, ”grizzled” pieces that are dark, heavily fissured, many with fillers.

We’ve been using our new kitchen for about 10 months and have Taj Mahal quartzite. It has been easy to keep clean and I have had no issues with staining. We have the leathered finish which I feel shows like stuff on it than polished. I would use TM again without thinking twice. But follow the advice above and pick your slabs in person! There is a huge variation in color and if u need more than one slab they need to be in sequence or the color can vary a bunch and you could have one slab leaning beige and another one gray. Finding slabs in sequence wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be either. The best thing we did was to go to the stone yards with our tile/countertop designer who saw color well and knew her way around the stone yards. Our fabricator sealed our counters upon install, and we also sealed them. Probably overkill, but that’s ok. It was simple to do.