Countertops: Dark or Light color (not in teardrop)

[asianflava]

A bit off topic, but we are doing a slight remodel on our kitchen (just appliances and countertops). We bought the house with plans to eventually redo the kitchen, mainly because the current countertops are PINK Corian, which matches the PINK fireplace surround. Uggh!

The dishwasher had different plans and decided to leave early, it wasn't worth fixing so I bought a new one. After I bought the dishwasher, I found out that it was last year's model which meant that matching appliances were no longer available. I had to hunt for old stock and buy them ASAP before the stock ran out. I managed to find everything at around 50%-70% off because they were last years model.

Since we came in considerably under budget for the appliances, we are going to go ahead and finish the job and do the countertops. We looked at the stores and can't decide on going with dark or light countertops. We will most likely go with quartz countertops. Our cabinets are a blonde wood, I guess it looks like maple. I'd like a darker countertop to make them pop, but my wife is afraid that it will make the kitchen look too dark. I'll try to post a pic.

[bobhenry]

Ol' what's her name and I added on a complete 14 x20 kitchen from the ground up. We were saved from this agonizing selection process because we were able to by a complete kitchen display from a cabinet store going out of business. The offer was just way to good to be picky. The cabinets are a honey maple probably a bit darker than yours. The tops are a tiny swirl of specks gold white bark brown and light brown. To give it a name as a color lets use carmel. The top has a slight texture to it so it comes of as a matt finish rather than shiney. The mixture of colors make it bit of a camelion in that it would go with almost any wood tone you placed it on.
A swirl of tan browns and cream will be light enough to brighten the kitchen and still accompany warmer wood tones.

Just my 2 cents

Sorry I don't have a better shot but you can see a bit of it in the background

[starleen2]

Had Dark before and it showed every dust speck and finger print - which is fine for a muder scene - but not for our kitchen

[angib]

Had Dark before and it showed every dust speck and finger print

I went for a medium-to-dark colour with lots of 'bits' in it and have the opposite problem: I have no idea there is anything on the worktop unless a cloth or my hand sticks to it - I have to bend down and see light reflected from the window to find dirt!

Andrew

[S. Heisley]

Dark does tend to show every little mark. Have you ever had or seen a car with a black finish? If it has scratches, a bad polish job or isn't absolutely spotless, everyone can see that. A neighbor had new black marble counter tops installed. The worker set his coke on it and left it there all day. The mark that remained from that was so obvious that the company was obliged to replace the entire counter.

Probabaly a medium to light color that blends with the surrounding rooms and their furnishings. With those light cabinets, I'd go with a medium tone counter top. But, mostly, it depends on what you like. After all, you're probably going to have to live with it for quite a long while. Possibly go with something that blends with many things so that, if you change your mind on the decor, it will still fit in.

I don't know how you lived with those pink countertops as long as you did. Would love to see a picture when you get the new counters installed.

[Dean_A]

Agreed. Dark countertops tend to show every scratch. I'd go with a light to medium with a nice texture.

[martha24]

I think I would go with medium, give some contrast to the cabinets and not have the problems with dark.
I have white tile and one of these days I hope to be rid of it as I have never liked it. But I must admit it is better than pink. Yuck!

[Elumia]

If you are keeping the cabinets, You need the dark for contrast. Dark doesn't have to be black. You can get a honed finish in some materials which is not glossy (no fingerprints). If you are looking at a "stone" finish, slabs look way better than tiles. I would choose something darker than the floors and cabinets. You may be able to get some contrast by changing the backsplash - a darker tile instead of the painted wall, or even a different paint color between the cabinets.

Bring home some samples!

Mark