We can't decide between the two granites shown below. The color schemes are a little different, as are the styles. We are looking to preserve the Victorian style (to a degree). The granite must also go with bright white cabinets, dark chocolate/black wood floors and stainless steel appliances.
Do we go with a browner style with lots of movement? Or a more muted, uniform silvery granite?
Granite A:
A cream base with hints of bright white, veins of brown/black and flecks of silver. This granite has a lot of movement with defined veins of darker color.
Granite B:
A white base with flecks of gray, brown and black. The granite is uniform and not too busy. It is a medium tone. 
What do you think? A or B? And, what back splash would you choose to go with it?
Hi Kati! Choices....choices! So hard to know for sure unless something just immediately grabs you in your gut as being a color you can't live without. I think you need to know what overall final feel you are going for. Do you want bright,clean, shiny, crisp, contemporary feel or do you prefer a warmer, soft, golden, traditional look....or somewhere in between? I know you want to preserve the Victorian feel to a degree but you have also chosen to paint the wood trim white, white cabinets and stainless appliances with dark floors which tend towards the brighter more contemporary look.
ReplyDeleteI think that Granite B would certainly follow through with that brighter more contrasty scheme. It would be a lovely combination and coordination with your current cabinet and floor colors.
At the same time I could envision Granite A as introducing warmth and a color palette that might help dictate your color choices for walls, decorative and window treatments which could result in a very pleasant compromise between the traditional Victorian and bright, contrasty contemporary.
I really don't think you can go wrong with either one. The movement in Granite A is very nice and lends its own unique interest as long as you feel the color palette doesn't limit your choices or push you in a direction you prefer not to go.
Granite B may be a little more uniform but it also appears to have enough character of its own that I would not consider it too uniform.
As hard as it is, the more you can envision your final components of cabinets, counters, floors, backsplash and appliances together you will get a better feel for what really works for you. Get as many samples together as you can and lay them all up next to each other, in daylight and artificial lighting. You'd be surprised how many items look perfect in the store or on a web page until you actually lay a sample next to your other components.
I think your backsplash choice will of course depend on which granite you ultimately go with. I could see a continuation of the warmer tones if you go with Granite A.
Granite B would still give you a variety of choices by pulling out either the lighter or darker tones of the granite.
Besides there is no reason you could not use the backsplash as a means to introduce a new color palette also if you liked. You can go subtle and blending colors, or all out attention grabbing colors and unique materials in a backsplash.
I think both your granites are beautiful! Don't know if I helped much or not :)
BTW: If you haven't checked it out already, the GardenWeb site was a fantastic resource for me when we did our remodel. You get immediate responses from very active posters on the forums, plus tons of pics and resource links to help visualize what you are looking for.
Check out the Kitchens forum at: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/kitchbath/
Also the Finished Kitchen blog offers a gallery of pics which will provide you with tons of new ideas: http://finishedkitchens.blogspot.com/