We opted for pure white cabinets to reflect as much light as we could into the kitchen. That was an easy decision. The pop of turquoise in the two open upper cabinets and the island are a fun addition of color. I don't personally know anyone else who has turquoise cabinets, but if you have the chance to add some color to your kitchen in this way, DO IT! We love the turquoise.
Anyway, I really want white counter tops as well. There are already so many colors and textures in the kitchen (hammered copper sinks, stainless appliances, chrome lighting, oil rubbed bronze hardware, gray floors) that I didn't want the counter tops to add more "busyness" to the room. Plus, the light counters would also reflect light and keep the space bright.
Have you ever shopped for white granite? No? Let me clue you in on something: IT'S FLIPPIN' IMPOSSIBLE to find a true white granite!
I started looking at a local granite place. This particular dealer doesn't have a granite yard with slabs to look through which was a bit disappointing, so I just brought home some samples that looked like they had potential. The saleslady convinced me to try some black and gray samples as well even though I knew I wanted white.
As you can see, there wasn't much white to choose from. The white sample on the right is a
pure white quartz. While I liked how well it matched the white of the cabinetry, it was just too boring.
The gray quartz next to the white was actually very pretty. Cory liked it immediately and I have to admit that it did look really good against the white. But . . . it wasn't white. I had to stay true to my vision. And the black granite samples were an immediate "no".
See how pretty the gray looks? If I wanted gray counter tops, this would definitely have been my choice.
Since I didn't find anything I liked at the local granite joint, I decided to drive south and check out the place I've heard about for a long time: The Granite Guys. They have a huge granite yard with stacks upon stacks of granite slabs. The photo above shows just one section.
I told the sales gal what I was looking for: something as pure white as possible with movement. Think cararra marble. Just not marble. I have no desire to fret over my counters and worry about stains.
So we checked out the options.
This was a definite no. I liked the white, but there is far too much black and the stone is too patterned. The all-over speckled look is not what I was going for at all.
What lovely movement this stone has! I really love the lines of this stone. However, the contrast between the white and black / gray is just a bit too intense. This stone was on my top three list for a while.
Another stone that was on my top three list. I like that it is mostly white and it has small areas of movement. But those areas are quite small and some of the veins are orange in hue. Not really the color I want on my counters. But a strong contender as an overall stone for sure.
This was also a top choice. Again, the white parts are great and it has some nice movement. It's just a bit sporadic and there are too many black spots.
I came home from the granite yard with lots of photos and another handful of quartz samples.
I thought that this quartz was going to be "it" when I saw it in the showroom. It looked pure white and it had subtle movement that wasn't black. Cory saw it and liked it too.
By this point I was feeling quite frustrated. The Granite Guys schooled me on granite and I learned that pure white granite simply doesn't exist. Since it's a natural stone, it's always going to have some veins and marks and usually they will be dark. I certainly didn't want just a plain white granite, but I did want the white to have a blue base (not yellow) so it didn't look yellow or dingy next to the cabinets. And finding such a granite was proving to be very, very difficult.
Out of desperation, Cory and I hit up a third granite / quartz supplier: Lowe's. Yep, the good 'ol big box store. They had one white quartz that had potential so we brought a sample home to see how it looked next to the cabinets. I won't even bother posting what that looked like. (Not good.)
What's a girl to do? Time was ticking by and we had to choose a counter soon. I either had to be less picky or by some miracle find something somewhere else. So I hit the internet and did some research. I soon discovered that there are two stones that designers go to when they want a true white look. I called The Granite Guys and asked if they had either of them, and they did. Unfortunately, one of them doesn't come in slabs large enough for what we need for our island, so it was out. But I arranged to pick up a sample of the other one the next day.
Cory was kind enough to make the trip down to Hagerstown to grab the sample (it's about a 40 minute drive) and when he brought it to the house I was big time bummed. It was the exact same stone as another sample I already had under a different name. WHY???
So we stared at our pile of samples, scoured the internet for photos of counters we liked, and tried to figure out what on earth we were going to do. We tossed around the idea of a wood counter for the island and quartz for the rest of the kitchen. We looked into concrete only to learn it was more expensive than quartz. And ultimately I decided to make one more trip to The Granite Guys. I left determined to come home with a decision. There just HAD to be something there that would speak to me.
And then,
I met Ambrosia, otherwise known as River White. Why, hello there, pretty lady! Where have you been all summer? After walking around the granite yard yet again, looking at all my original selections and a few others and rating them 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice, I happened to glance to my left and see this beautiful white / gray stone.
It isn't pure white, but it has a white base and a soft gray that would complement the kitchen nicely. And that veining and movement? DROOL. I found my stone.
I had to wait a day or two for the sales rep to send me photos of bigger slabs since the one I saw had already been cut. The new slabs they got didn't look exactly like the first one but they were still gorgeous.
One of the two co-owners of the business, Tom, came to the house to make templates for the granite. This is when it started feeling real. We were actually going to have counter tops! Hooray!
Since I hadn't seen the two slabs that would become my counters, I made yet another drive down to the granite yard to check them out in person and give the final word of approval. There is movement, areas of surprising purpley / burgundy tones, and even flecks that sparkle. Most importantly, it is very light in overall color and isn't speckled. Win!
Tom had drawn the template shapes on the stones so I could see exactly which parts of the stones would end up in my kitchen and how they would look. You can see the white lines if you look closely.
While waiting for the counters to be fabricated, I met another granite distributor who told me that the granite I chose is from India. Apparently, the granite quarries in India were shut down for a period of time because the owners were burying boxes of slabs to avoid paying taxes on them. The government discovered what they were doing and shut down the quarries. So River White was very hard to find for a long time. The quarries are open again, thankfully, but the tax evasion and government shut-down caused a supply and demand issue and subsequently granite from India rose in price. Thanks, Indian quarry owners. Interesting tidbits about granite though!
About two weeks later, which was this past Monday, the finished counters arrived. I can't even tell you how excited I was to see that van pull up outside the house! It was like being a kid on Christmas morning. The anticipation was huge and I was chomping at the bit to see gorgeous stone installed.
The guys started with the small pieces. These cabinets will surround the range.
And these cabinets are on either side of the fridge / freezer.
Pretty! I'm pleasantly surprised that I truly love the light gray / white against the pure white cabinets. It's just enough contrast without looking too dark.
Then it was time to install the long counter at the front of the kitchen.
This is the only area that has to have a seam and fortunately, the seam is just a couple inches at the back of the sink where the facet will be. It will be almost completely hidden.
These two guys were awesome. They really know what they are doing and took great care to install the stone perfectly.
Once we were all happy with how the stone was situated, the guys did their thing and secured it to the cabinets. The apron sink is undermounted so they made sure it was sealed tightly to the granite.
Then the "stuff" used to fill in the seam was mixed and applied. The guys used a razor blade to make sure the seam was totally smooth and didn't stop making adjustments until the blade didn't catch on anything at all. Impressive.
While these two fellas were working on the smaller pieces, Tom showed up to help install the big island slab. This sucker is BIG. And big means heavy. So before the slab could be laid they had to install metal support brackets for the overhang on two sides of the island. This will ensure that the stone remains well-supported even at the 12 inch overhang areas where we will have seating.
And then . . . the unthinkable happened.
One of the guys measured the area for the prep sink to make sure he had it positioned correctly, went out to the van where the island slab awaited, and walked back inside with a grimace on his face. I immediately knew something was wrong. He measured again, looked at me, and said, "It's cut wrong." Then he walked back out to measure the stone again. Tom, remember, he's the owner AND he's the one who made the templates, was not a happy camper to say the least. They went back and forth from island to stone, measuring and re-measuring, but there was no denying it. He didn't account for the overhand when he drew in the cut for the sink so the hole for the sink wasn't in the right place.
I could have cried.
After much discussion, Tom said he would get another slab and make a new counter. He called his partner right there on the spot to get the process started. He definitely was upset with himself as it was clearly his mistake and I felt bad for him. But I also felt bad for, well, ME! I didn't want to wait any longer for the main piece!
The counter was made priority and believe it or not, the van pulled up TODAY at lunchtime.
It took five men and a special dolly to get the stone on the island. Granite weighs approximately 20-25 pounds per square foot, so we estimated that this piece weighs between 750-900 pounds. Woah.
Of course, right after I took the above photo my phone died and I had left my camera at home. So I had to wait until I picked the kids up this afternoon to snap photos of the finished product.
Isn't it pretty? Three of the corners are rounded (the corners that overhang for seating) so we don't break our hips if we bump into them. All the counters have a 1/4 radius edge so it has a modern finish that is still comfortable to lean your arms against.
I love the movement and the subtle grays and pops of color.
The hammered copper looks really nice with the stone too.
I really couldn't be happier with this stone. It was well-worth the stress and many trips to Hagerstown and elsewhere to find it. The kitchen is coming together!
