I would love to get White Macaubas (luce de luna), but can't swing it financially. Looked at White Arabesque, which is beautiful, but closer to marble. Other quartzites like White Pearl, Symphony, and Taj Mahal are even more expensive.

I saw something called Antarctica (or Antartide) which seems perfect. Not too pricey, maybe harder than some of the marble-like quartzites. I still need to do the glass test on it since none of the showrooms will give me a sample. Anyone have Antarctica quartzite installed? I haven't been able to find much info about it so I don't know how it holds up in a working kitchen. Would love to hear from others who have it.

Meanwhile, here's a pic of the slab I chose. My daughter assigned herself the job of rating the slabs we looked at. As you can see, she takes her job very seriously and came prepared.

Option 1: not as dramatic a bit more soothing, does not have as much as the orange/brown "rust like" spots, it:

option 2: I love the white dramatic veining on top, but I am not as fond of the orange/brown spots and it seems a bit more dramatic. (not necessarily a bad thing), and not as nuetral.

I have until tomorrow to decide. The original look I wanted was the classic white inset with marble like quartzite. We did find some mcaubus but would need 2 slabs so it was too much money. This is also a quartzite, and more expensive per sq. ft, but the slab is larger and we would only need one, so it comes out cheaper (this is what I told my hubby).

The lighting is a bit different for each photo and the top one does have some of the white veining on top just not as dramatic.

THINGS WE LOVE:
--Our cabinets were so reasonable and they work beautifully. We LOVE Precision Cabinets! Their install was immaculate and perfect. When we had a glitch with the warming drawer, they fixed it perfectly! While I couldn't afford every "bell & whistle" inside the cabinets, I love them.
--White Princess honed. It's gorgeous and I no longer have the OCD urge to constantly wipe my counters (our old granite was polished). I also love my backsplash done in the same material--I am attracted to visual simplicity so couldn't pick a tile :)
--Cheap dishwasher. Paid $500 and we love it.
--Deep cheap sinks. Our main Ebay sink is awesome($500)! Love the 10" big single bowl. The island sink was cheap too, and is the perfect size, $150.
--White everywhere and one big room. Not for everyone, but my DH and I love the big open light-filled room. Far cry from the dark rancher that it was. We tore down two walls and raised the ceiling.
--The soapstone buffet. It was a remnant piece and I love that it doesn't match the rest of the kitchen. Sets it apart and boy does the texture feel nice!
--The papertowel niche. Not important, but I like that the towels are off my counter and totally accessible.
--The two hidden cabinets in the island near the stools. All my Xmas dishes, Thanksgiving platters and everything fit in here!

THINGS WE WOULDN'T DO AGAIN:
--The Vent Hood: Modernaire was a NIGHTMARE to deal with here in the NorCal area. You have to go through a distributor who will upcharge you $2,000 to order a hood. Modernaire won't sell directly to anyone who is in the area of one of their distributors. The rep here was a complete idiot, ripped me off and in the end didn't deliver what I had ordered. I had to then hire someone else to fix the goofs. Not worth it!

--Order our range through AJ Madison. Total pain to get this stove delivered. The rest of our appliances came without a hitch but the delivery of the range was a disaster. They refused to deliver it until we had a concrete pathway, but our city had some issues with solid pathways and the runoff, etc. Had 4 delivery dates and they turned around each time and refused to bring it in the house. In the end I would have purchased this through our local store (there was no discount on this by buying on internet, unlike the other appliances).

THINGS WE STILL NEED TO DO:
--Help me pick kitchen table chairs! Those pictured are folding chairs for holidays. Our old ones were falling apart, so we ditched them in the move. What should I put there?
--Shades ordered and we are waiting for them to come and be hung.
--The stools (CB2 Vapor) are too tall and we need to have the legs cut down. They only come in 30" or 24" and one is too tall and the other is too short. Sigh.

THE DETAILS:
Cabinetry—Precision Cabinets, Brentwood, CA; painted in stock color which matches Simply White
Walls—BM Simply White
Kitchen Counters—White Princess granite, from DaVinci Marble & Stone in San Carlos, CA, with 2.25" mitred square edge
Buffet Counter—Brazilian Black soapstone from Texeira, SF, with no edge finish
Door and Drawer Pulls—Top Knobs, Square Pulls, Polished Chrome; ordered off the internet
Main Sink—Ebay purchase 36" SS Farmhouse w/apron front , single bowl, flushmount
Island Sink—Dawn 19X17 single bowl, undermount
Main Faucet—Blanco Meridien Semi-Professional in Brushed
Island Faucet—Santec Penza pull out in Brushed
Refrigerator—Electrolux WaveTouch; ordered off Homeeverything.com
Dishwasher—Whirlpool Gold Quiet Partner III; ordered from AJ Madison
Microwave Drawer—Sharp 24"; ordered from AJ Madison
Range—Viking Range w/6 burners and griddle; ordered from AJ Madison
Hood— Modernaire custom hood
Trash Compactor—GE Profile in SS; ordered from AJ Madison
Warming Drawer—Kitchenaid Architect Series II; ordered off Homeeverything.com; panel from cabinet co.
Backsplash—White Princess granite
Windows—Semco
Flooring-DuChateau pre-engineered floors in Lugano
Big Slider Door—Custom made 10’ bypass doors by McFarland Doors, w/custom screen
Island Pendants—Hudson Valley Pelham 13" ordered from Butler Lighting
Breakfast Table Pendant—Round 26" linen chandelier by Restoration Hardware
Buffet Sconces—Boston Library Sconces by CircaLighting.com

Before:

Family room:

After:

Drawers hold flatware and napkins etc, cabinets hold trays and have pull-out shelves on bottom for holiday china and linens.

Before pics: we moved the kitchen into the family room, the dining room into the kitchen, and the breakfast area into the dining room. (The living room turned into the family room, and the office will soon turn into the living room ... more to do around here.)So these photos are not exactly classic before/afters. (And it's a snowy day, so bright outside, not the best for pics. Oh well.)

Old kitchen

Corresponding view

Old family room:

Corresponding view

Old dining room (both visible walls are now gone)

Corresponding view

I was previously opposed to knocking out both walls, but I am glad we did. For the way we live, it works much better. Entertaining is a cinch now. Because the kitchen is vaulted but the other ceilings are low, it doesn't feel like a huge empty space (that's what I was worried about). And I liked my "other" house, just not the kitchen. It was awful.

I'll post details here, and more specific photos in a subsequent post.

-Cabinets-
Aspen Leaf Kitchens in Denver/Berthoud, CO; proprietary Primer White, BM Taos Taupe on island and butler's pantry, and custom-stained antique pine on breakfast hutch

-Appliances-
SubZero BI-36U fridge, pro handle
Wolf 48 DF range with 4 burners and double griddle
Viking 54 in. hood liner with heat lamps
Thermador DWHD64EP dishwashers
KitchenAid KBCO24RSBX three-zone beverage center
SubZero 700BCI refrigerator/freezer drawers
Sharp 0.8 cu ft microwave

-Counters-
Minas soapstone on perimeter cabinets and hutch
Calacatta gold marble on island and butler's pantry

-Hardware-
Restoration Hardware Gilmore cup pulls, Aubrey knobs and handle pulls, Clear Glass knobs in antique brass, and Season knobs and Hanson pulls in ORB

-Sinks-
Main: soapstone farm sink crafted by Terra Bella/Denver CO
Prep: Ticor S3650

-Faucets-
Main sink: Kohler HiRise bridge with sidespray
Prep sink: Kohler HiRise bar faucet

-Lighting-
Wilmette Clark pendants in ORB (breakfast nook)
Wilmette LaSalle wall sconces in antique brass (later photos)
Visual Comfort Classic Ring chandelier in AB (dining room)
Visual Comfort Four-Light Siena pendant in AB (butler's)

-Island stools-
Ballard Designs Dorchester counter stools in rubbed black (all other furniture and rugs previously owned)

I love a mix of white and gray. This picture above is
from HGTV. I wish I knew the exact color. Gorgeous.
~boxerpups

Diamond Baratta Designs

Scheeler Kitchen

Weddington Designs

Store Kitchen Designs

Hefner Kitchen Marble honed

Hefner

Blossom Interiors

New cast gray

Apteker

Rutherford

A bit of art to balance the gray and white.

Cabinets: Columbia Cabinets French White Permitter with Slate Island
Countertops: Ceasarstone Concrete Permitter and Nougat Island
Backsplash: Polished Venatino Marble Random Strips with Platinum Grout
Hood Fan: Kitchenaid with 660cfm blower
Double Ovens: Kitchenaid Convention
Dishwasher: Kitchenaid
36" Cooktop: Kitchenaid
Fridge: 36" All refrigerator Subzero
Freezer: Standup Fridrigaire Pro Series
Sink: 36" Kohler Smart Divide Vault Sink
Tap: Delta Addison
Floors: 8" Hickory Wide Plank
Pendants: DVI Lighting Essex Collection

Pantry (We just started moving in)

Freezer in pantry opposite of shelves

Not done:
light fixtures
tile
knobs on uppers
pantry door handle
drywall repair around outlets
paint
stools
kitchen table, banquette, chairs
DR chandy
DR chairs

Excuse any dirt or mess you see in the backgrounds!

Details

Perimeter: Carrara marble, honed 4cm
Island: Black Walnut
Custom Cabinets: Cornerstone Cabinetry, painted BM Simply White
Hardware: Restoration Hardware Aubrey pulls, 4', 6' and 8'
Rangetop: 36' 6 burner Capital Culinarian
Hood: Rangecraft, Viser model
Fridge: KA built-in
MW: Sharp 24' drawer
Sinks: Blanco silgranit in metallic gray
Faucets: Hansgrohe high-arc

From the Dining Room.

Closeup of beverage serving area. (Wow, that's a lot of booze. We're really not alcoholics!) We entertain a lot so I plan to set up beverages, which end up to mostly non-alocholic, here. I rotated this in photobucket, but it shows here the other direction.

I bought these pendants on sale and plan to do a DIY mercury glass technique on them to see if I can cut the glare but not make them look cheap. If they don't work, then I'm not out much and will continue the hunt.

I'll put a link to my photobucket album with more pics. My flickr account was full so the album will only have pics since we moved back in.

Oh, and I said I'd post some pics of the new cats, too. That's next!

Here is a link that might be useful: more pics

so hopefully i can answer all of your questions. the easy one first: my ceilings are 9' tall. the island, FYI is 10'x6'. it's hard to reach the center to clean so i'm wishing i didn't spec it as deep, but c'est la vie. it is what it is and i still believe i needed the size to fill the space. another aside: you can't see it in the layout, but my turbo chef oven is located under counter in the island directly across from dishwasher #2, facing the windows.

note: the walk from the range to the refrigerator is 8-10 steps, depending if i'm standing right or left. it's definitely closer than it appears in the drawing. it's a large space but i the zones makes it work nicely.

this is a general layout of the kitchen. the dimensions are 22' wide x 17.5' (i think) deep. the breakfast room is off to the right and is 14' square, with a porch right outside for outdoor dining. formal dining room across the hall, other side of fridge/freezer wall.

this is the fridge/freezer wall. the center panels open up to reveal toaster oven, microwave (coming soon), coffee maker. also kept here will be cereal, bread, etc, ...your basic breakfast items, plus pop corn, et al. silverware is out and scattered waiting for the cabinet maker to come back and install drawer inserts. fridge is shown open on the left, freezer is on the right. here is it is in the closed, and open positions:

i'm not finished setting this up yet but to get a better idea of my zones, this is the baking cabinet. it houses -or will house my mixers, food processor, etc.; bowels, condiments, baking pans and all things baking will reside in the four drawers below. they're not set up yet so sorry no pics. the baking sheets will live in a base cabinet just to the right.

some of the shots are old, but i will update when i give my reveal -hopefully sometime within the next four years. interesting to note: i was not menopausal when we started this project, september 29, 2009. i guess it finally through me over the edge.

design line kitchens & bath
sea girt, nj

Thanks for asking. The movers arrived on Monday with our stuff. Very exciting to be reunited with my things. What a thrill to have more than one pot to cook in! Got the kitchen unpacked as they were moving our stuff in. So, it was great to get one room "done". Of course, there is some tweaking to do regarding items and their locations.

Builder still has a punch list to complete. But we are so happy to be out of temporary housing. Here are some pictures.....I'll post more later.

It's been a long year, but we moved in a few weeks ago and we're so thrilled!
Again, I'm so thankful to all the gracious forum members here. I get so much great information and inspiration here and your encouragement with Round 2 has been so helpful!

This is a whole house remodel of a 1940's Cape that we purchased last Spring after selling our house. The kitchen is an addition. We still need to paint the window trim and wall above sink, but who knows when....Also, the black front and back door will have better handle hardware soon, just so you know...

I still seem to have giant pics from photobucket, apologies.

Information
Cabs~ Shaker, inset, BM White Dove, custom (same cabinetmaker)
Counters~ Danby Marble on perimeter and walnut on island
Backsplash~Walker Zanger Gramercy Park in Heirloom White
Sink~Shaw's 30 inch
Faucet~Perrin and Rowe, polished nickel
Pendants~ Circa Lighting Small Yoke, polished nickel
Hardware~All PN. Schaub (thanks kateskouros) for appliances, RH Gilmore pulls, RH Glass knobs, Rejuvenation utility latches, Cliffside Brass icebox latches
Stools~Cottage Maine
Fridge~Liebherr
Range~Viking (mistake, me thinks)
Pot filler~Rohl Swing Arm
DW~ Miele (I think Inspira?)
Fridge Drawers~Kitchen Aid (Love, love,love)
Microwave Drawer~Sharp 24 inch

Thanks for looking !!

Love the Liebherr fridge, thanks Marthavila.

Banquette. Will eventually have cushions, etc.

View from kitchen to front door