Black or white? That is the question.

Progress continues to be made in the kitchen, as I mentioned this week, the island is finished and all we have to do is narrow down our choice for the perimeter counters. That is proving to be easier said than done, for two reasons: one my husband  and I are having a little trouble deciding what we want, and two because there is definitely going to be an issue  with the part of the counters where the book shelf is.

The granite color will be the easy part. Originally Susan Serra suggested grey, I am not opposed to that but my husband is, he thinks the color is too light and not really conducive to our lifestyle. We entertain a lot and several people have mentioned to us that light granite does stain more easily and that could be a problem even though we are fastidious about maintenance on finishes.

The problem with the book case is that it is already installed on top of the counter obviously, and the bookcase and all of the other molding of the kitchen is connected. As this is a small remodel and not a gut job we have to work with what we have and this part is a challenge. Of the 3 people we have had  come over to bid  the project, one man said he did not want the job, one said he was going to carve out the counter that is currently there and push the granite underneath it, and another said that the entire cabinet will have to be taken apart and rebuilt! I did not anticipate this would be any easy job but it really is turning out to be more than I ever thought. I do not think I want to be home when they do the install, I think I will leave that to my husband. I do not have the patience for that sort of mess.

As for the color, we really did narrow it down to a black granite and a white. The granite yard in our neck of the woods is like a stone museum, there are so, so many different stones and slabs here it is a little overwhelming. In our case, we just walked through the first time and wrote down everything we liked on our clip board, as this is a stone wholesale company they only indication of price is L, M, H, E( low, medium, high, exotic).  Unfortunately, we ended up with almost all H’s and E’s!!!! Then we went through the second time and narrowed down the choices to two favorites and three runners up, which I might add are an H and an E. I think E stands for EEK and H for Holy Cow!!!

 

My choice was Princess white and my husbands was Cambrian Black leather finish. It is funny because even though my husband was against the grey color that Susan originally suggested he absolutely loved the Princess White. The slabs our yard has are pure white, in fact, we thought that it was marble upon first glance and has a little movement and a little bit of the stationary crystals.

Cambrian Black granite (The photos are terrible, you cannot get a sense of the texture)

The Cambrian Black with a leather finish is very black and has great depth and texture, and is a dull finish, so that you get a feeling of honed granite but without the issues people talk about.

And the winner is…both! After a little debate we decided to get the Cambrian Black and the Princess White! We will put the black into the kitchen and the white in the Master Bath (which is a story for another day).

Next..tile back splash, sink, faucet, and granite install.