And the winner is:

Random Quartzite from Lowe's at about $9 a square foot! The grout is Polyblend from Home Depot in Butter Cream. The stone is enhanced as well.

The quartzite ended up being the perfect thing to tie all my colors together and still give me the warm, slightly rustic touch I wanted and it was very budget friendly! I love that I didn't pay any shipping and I can return what I don't use.

I love how the subway tile turned out too. I looked at more expensive ones, but I just didn't find anything that blew me away. I thought it would look okay with the ones I used, but it exceeded my expectations once they were up and I'm so happy with my pick! One thing that I did do was that I had some of those tile samples, and I used them to help me pick my cabinet paint.

I used the tutorial linked below to paint the cabinets. It was a lot of work and I got pretty burnt out doing it. I started in August of last year, and didn't get the doors back on until right before Christmas.

Filling the grain was a pain. I started out with regular wood putty. I did the drawers with that, and it took about 6 or 7 times of filling, sanding, filling, sanding, etc.

I found a different product for the doors. It was elmers wood filler I think...it comes in a bigger tub than the normal putty tubes. I watered it down a little and used that to fill in the grain. It went quicker than the other way.

Doing it again, I would have probably not worried about the grain as much. I didn't mind it much from the beginning, it was dh that pushed for them to be smoother. And I might have used an oil based primer, staying with the water based paint. And I would have definitely used some kind of paint extender (floteral or something like that?) that I just recently learned about.

This is my first time posting. We are in the process of updating our kitchen.

We have natural maple cabinets (with brushed nickel hardware) and super dark (almost black) hard wood floors. Right now we have black appliances, but are considering upgrading to stainless. Our walls are a pea green color. I would say overall our home is decorated Pottery Barn style, with a few modern touches, if that helps at all.

I'm stuck on what color granite to go with. I've considered Venetian Gold, but find it kind of "generic" and standard. I also took a sample of Tan Brown but I'm not sure if it's too much dark with the floors and black appliances. I feel if we went with a super dark counter we would need to for sure go the stainless route for counters.

I would love any suggestions you have for granite that would look good, and pictures would be awesome if you have some.

Thank you so much!