Finally!  The day I had been so looking forward to since we started our project.  I get to pick out my kitchen finishes! I have watched enough HGTV to know when you go to the stone yard to pick out the perfect piece of (insert granite, marble here) they ALWAYS find the one that makes their heart sing.  And I was looking forward to having a similar experience.

When the day finally arrived my Hubs and I took off for the land of the beautiful people or Johnson County, to go to four locations given to us by our cabinet maker.  Certainly I will find the swoon worthy piece of marble for the kitchen island and the ‘just right’ stone would steal my heart for the counters along the perimeter of the kitchen.

Well, it was not that easy.  Did we see beautiful specimens of stone . . . yes.  Did we find any granite that was gray and white . . . no.  Of course we did see gray and white with browns, cranberry, you name it, but not a pure gray and white. I will say there are some beautiful colors that out of the earth and are just stunning.  Just not for my kitchen.

After the first location my excitement began to wane.  Also, there was not one slab of honed marble that was not on ‘hold’.  None I tell you!  There were fantastic pieces of Carrera, Statuary, and White Fantasy polished marble, but no honed.  In all of my ‘studies’ while deciding on an island stone, I found a honed marble will wear with time, but will not etch and stain like a polished piece will.  One would think the exact opposite, but I did my research.

I also knew that I wanted to look at Quartzite, as it is a material that looks exactly like a polished marble but does not have the maintenance issues.  And there it was, a White Fantastic piece of Quartzite and it was definitely swoon worthy!  I must have it!  Then, queue the music, – Bum, Bum, Bummmm, the price tag.  OUCH!  My husband tried to quickly steer me away to another area with Grade A granite, not even comparable to a Grade E Quartzite!

On to another two locations, back to the first one and the day was getting exhausting.  Nothing like what I have seen on TV or had envisioned.  What a bummer.  I even offered to sell a kidney if the Quartzite didn’t fit into the budget.  Not really, but I wanted my hubs to know how intent I was on that those three beautiful slabs of White Fantastic!

Pretty, but it did not speak to me!

Another nice piece . . . but definitely not ‘the one’

We were lucky enough to find one stone yard that had one piece of honed marble coming in in the foreseeable future, only one. With thanks to our cabinet/stone guy we have a hold on the marble and I can’t wait to see it.

Within 24 hours of our little adventure, my hubs asked if I really had my heart set on the Quartzite and if I did, we really needed to put a hold on it.  He gave me until the afternoon to make up my mind.  What?!?  I don’t need any time to think about it . . . Hold, Hold, Hold!  All three slabs are MINE, MINE, MINE!

Looking back, I guess it wasn’t so much of a waste of a day after all. I did get exactly what I wanted

This is the swoon worthy Quartzite and it is going in my kitchen. Love, Love, Love!

Ahhh . . . honed Carrera. Be still my heart!

Who knew there were so many shades of white?!  Ballet White, Decorator White, Dove White, Diamond White.  So many choices!  It has become a very important choice, because the Kitchen Cabinets and most of the trim throughout the dream house will be  . . . white.

I did the obligatory painting of panels to take throughout the house, looked at them at different times during the day, and it was amazing how they took on a different look in each room.  Some would take on a harsh, bluish tint, while others turned more ‘creamy’, definitely not what I was looking for in my white kitchen.

In the end, I chose the color that will work with both warm and cool colors.  And the winner is . . .