Help me decide on my kitchen countertops!

last year

I'm driving myself crazy trying to make a decision on the countertops for my kitchen. Here are some of the factors I'm trying to weigh as I decide between Mykonos Quartzite and Taj Mahal Quartzite:

This is for a house we are building in the mountains - very heavily skewed towards entertaining in the kitchen.
I love the look of marble, especially busier, more dramatic ones, but I don't want the upkeep of marble. I want a natural stone so have landed on quartzite.
The cabinets are black stain around the perimeter with a white oak island and hood. I am going for drama and personality.
There is quite a bit of stone in the kitchen - we are doing full height backsplash behind the stove and taking the stone to the bottom of the cabinets on the window wall. The island is 10ft x 5ft.
Concerns: is the Mykonos too busy with that amount of stone and is the Taj Mahal too tame? Will Taj Mahal be very "of the moment" in 5-10 years - like past its prime because it's so trendy now? Is the Mykonos too cool for the warm tones of the wood?

Here is my kitchen layout:

Here's a rendering of the cabinet colors (our real window is black casing and mullions, not white):

Here are some inspiration pictures. I really love a dramatic slab backsplash but I think with the amount of stone in the kitchen it will be too busy:

And here are the slabs I am deciding between (all pics are looking a little green because of the warehouse lighting).
Mykonos (leathered finish, which I prefer):

And here is the Taj Mahal (polished finish because it brings out more of the colors and veining in the Taj):

Thanks for any advice or thoughts!

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Comments (7)

eam44
last year
Concerns:

is the Mykonos too busy with that amount of stone? No

is the Taj Mahal too tame? No

Will Taj Mahal be past its prime because it's so trendy now? No

Is the Mykonos too cool for the warm tones of the wood? Possibly. It certainly won’t have the rich look your final inspiration image has.

You are asking a lot of questions about appearances, you really need to consider more information of functionality before moving forward. There is no perfect counter material, and not all quartzites are the same. Here’s a Mykonos thread for you to read, and there are countless Taj threads for you to read here as well, just use the search bar above.
Julie Halloran
Original Author
last year
Thanks for the response and I apologize for posting twice. Neither post looked like it actually went through - the button to submit was just greyed out and spinning like it was trying to upload. If there’s a way to delete this post I will but I don’t see anything.
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dani_m08
last year
Julie - I've been having issues with my comments looking like they haven't posted (the submit button is grayed out and then my comment is gone) - so, I re-type my comment and hit "submit" again - and sometimes it goes through.

Later, I will come back to the thread - and find multiples of the same comment. I am able to go back and delete my comments - not sure if you can delete a duplicate post.

FYI - I've seen several posts about issues re: different whitish quartzite slabs either (i) turning green, or (ii) dark stains along the edges (looks like oil stains or water stains on an unsealed porous natural stone). I haven't ever read a post about an issue with a Taj slab. While Taj has become very popular, it is a pretty timeless look.
Julie Halloran
Original Author
last year
Thanks Dani - I have read through a lot of those posts and it definitely is cause for concern. I haven't seen the same issues with Taj.
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
last modified: last year
IMO you need a dramatic counter with thta kitchen so go big and go black and white granite with a lot of movement . BTW real stone is making a huge comeback and polished granite is close to bullet proof I think in thta kitchen to tame acounter will be just boring.
PRO
Celery. Visualization, Rendering images
last year
I like both. Get one with less veining. And go with the same for backsplash.
PRO
Diana Bier Interiors, LLC
last year
They both are nice and would work, but I would prefer the leathered finish. Polished is more formal, leathered more casual, and I like more of a casual look. But it's your choice.