There are things to consider when using a counter with stripes. My preference would be the first.

The counters clash with the uppers and lowers. I can see these grey counters with either the white or the wood cabinets, but the three of them together are not a good combination.

(Do you really love a two toned cabinet look or are you chasing a trend that has already died? Why are you against doing all one color cabinet?)

Speaking strictly on the slabs - The third one is very attractive. the first one looks like a bad photocopy of stone. The second one seems like you will have to do a lot of work to position the largest swath of grey on the right part of your cabinets.

Floor finishes? Surrounding rooms (especially if open concept)? Natural light? Appliance color? Anticipated wall colors? Ceiling height? Direction of the cabinets in relationship to the anticipated direction of the graining? All wall cabinets, peninsula, or island? None of those stones truly go with the cabinets, and I do not care for that contract between the uppers and lowers.

I like the top slab but agree that flooring plays a big part - I think all the two tone kitchens will date quickly but just my opinion

None work with the brown cabinet color and IMO you either do a start counter or 2 toned cabinets and I agree the whoe two toned cabinet thing will scream dated . In this case we do not have enogh info either , these choices have to be working with the floor your lighting many thhings to be considered

Thank you all for your comments! We really like the two toned white and wood look. Floors will be Braly Prescott LVP. There is lots of natural light coming into our kitchen. Appliances are stainless steel. We looked at Quartz and it all looked too fake and granite seemed too busy for us. We looked at Taj Mahal but it is out of our price range.

"We really like the two toned white and wood look."

While I'm not a fan of two toned, you can see how objectively these wood and white cabinets work together in the pic below: Everything from below the counter is one color field and everything above the counter flows into one color field. The whole kitchen is two toned.

You might end up with a 4 or 5 toned kitchen, which sounds pretty chaotic - a floor tone, a different wood lower, a different counter, a different upper. What are you imaging for your wall and ceiling color and your splash?

I agree with you that quartzite is a nice choice. It is just that I'm not seeing these all make sense together in one kitchen.

I love the image you sent. Agree that we don't want it to be too busy. We haven't decided on wall color, but we are leaning towards white, and we haven't decided on black splash yet either. We may decide to find a quartz that is less busy, possibly this Zeus Quartzite.

Appreciate your comments!.

I'm surprised that Cristallo was cheaper than Taj Mahal?

You need extensive testing of nearly every quartzite for staining. There are at minimum 25 quartzite horror threads on this board. A blot on the industry.

What Joseph said. The slabs you show are beautiful, but we'd hate to see you back here broken hearted about staining. See if you can get samples of each slab to test at home. If not, there are a few things you can do at the stone yard. Here's a good article: How To Be Your Own Stone Sleuth.

More reading: Countertop Geology threads (this is part 6 of 6, with links to the first 5.)

Thank you all for your comments! This thread has been very helpful.

I am working closely with our designer on best choices and practices with stone. I will see if we can get samples.

We are still planning to go with Quartzite but better to be more educated on the topic.

Yes be careful as a lot of the white quartzites are actually marble. Or at the very least stain and etch like marble.