Countertops for kitchen with honey maple cabinets: Tuscan Brown?

[Anonymous]

Gorgeous, OP.

[Anonymous]

Fantasy Brown does etch. Mine did. You can't seal quartzite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is so much misinformation about this quartzite. It is quartzite btw. It's in the same family as Fantasy Brown and others with similar names.

For people who are unfamiliar, quartzite is not quartz.

It DOES etch. Marble etches can be repaired. From what I was told quartzite etches can't be repaired. It is porous like marble and will crack and chip more easily than granite. I installed it in my master bath and had some etching in the 4 years we had it. I would never put it in my kitchen but see lots of people doing that when I look online.

Oh no! I’m bummed to hear this. We are not tidy cooks. I haven’t seen much else that doesn’t have the typical mottled look granite has, includes the gray-and-tans I’m looking for, and goes well with our cabinets. What were the main things that caused etching?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is so much misinformation about this quartzite. It is quartzite btw. It's in the same family as Fantasy Brown and others with similar names.

For people who are unfamiliar, quartzite is not quartz.

It DOES etch. Marble etches can be repaired. From what I was told quartzite etches can't be repaired. It is porous like marble and will crack and chip more easily than granite. I installed it in my master bath and had some etching in the 4 years we had it. I would never put it in my kitchen but see lots of people doing that when I look online.

Oh no! I’m bummed to hear this. We are not tidy cooks. I haven’t seen much else that doesn’t have the typical mottled look granite has, includes the gray-and-tans I’m looking for, and goes well with our cabinets. What were the main things that caused etching?

Np here - we used Antico Cloud quartz, which had a nice mixture of taupe, white, and dark grey (similar to the color scheme you’re looking at) and looks great with our medium brown cabinets. Don’t know if you have any interest in quartz, but wanted to throw that out there as an idea.

[Anonymous]

Pretty, I really like it.

[Anonymous]

The stone is nice, but no matter what you put on those counters, the kitchen will look like garbage with those hideous honey maple cabinets. No way around that. Complete waste of money. It's like putting leather seats in an old Kia Sephia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The stone is nice, but no matter what you put on those counters, the kitchen will look like garbage with those hideous honey maple cabinets. No way around that. Complete waste of money. It's like putting leather seats in an old Kia Sephia.

Let me guess — you only do white cabs ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is so much misinformation about this quartzite. It is quartzite btw. It's in the same family as Fantasy Brown and others with similar names.

For people who are unfamiliar, quartzite is not quartz.

It DOES etch. Marble etches can be repaired. From what I was told quartzite etches can't be repaired. It is porous like marble and will crack and chip more easily than granite. I installed it in my master bath and had some etching in the 4 years we had it. I would never put it in my kitchen but see lots of people doing that when I look online.

Oh no! I’m bummed to hear this. We are not tidy cooks. I haven’t seen much else that doesn’t have the typical mottled look granite has, includes the gray-and-tans I’m looking for, and goes well with our cabinets. What were the main things that caused etching?

My installers gave me a piece from the slab and I put all kinds of stuff on it to see if it would etch. It did. We installed ii in our mb despite this and it did etch but it wasnt very conspicuous. Someone tried to tell me it varies with the slab because it is a mix. I think it is very risky to use it in a kitchen but I see lots of people on houzz using it. I also belong to a nova decorating group on fb and have seen people install it in their kitchens. I'd check out some groups on fb and ask there.

[Anonymous]

I just bought a house and I am going to be redoing my kitchen as well and it has the same color and style cabinets. The floor is a grey tile and I painted the walls a taupe color that is a bit warm, sometimes mauve/pink hue. I am going to get fantasy brown as well. I am going to be picky and select the exact slab I want used so I can pick one that contains the exact amounts of each color in it that I want. I like fantasy brown because it has a good amount of white to lighten the room but also has grey to tie in the floor, dusty pink to tie in walls, and different levels of brown to tie in the cabinets! I was looking into changing the cabinets, but because this isn't my forever and ever home I don't want to spend the money! Hope yours turns out well! Please share photos when your done!

[Anonymous]

What color walls and floors?

Go go with something with some warm tones to match the wood, but dark for some contrast. Do not make everything midtones.

Then a warm light color for walls.

Kitchens should be warm, not gray and drepressing.

https://begranite.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Golden-Marinace.jpg

[Anonymous]

That color is too much of a cool tone for a warmer cabinet color like honey maple. It will feel disjointed. Either pick a warmer tones countertop or paint or stain the cabinets a cooler tone

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fantasy Brown does etch. Mine did. You can't seal quartzite.

2nd. Mine etched from lemon juice. I went with granite the second time around.

[Anonymous]

I have had Fantasy Brown, just like the OP's photo, for 5 years in my kitchen. It has a honed surface and has never etched and looks same as the day it was installed. We cook almost daily. I tested a sample before installing and found that it would etch with prolonged exposure to acid, but that I could buff out the etches with a scotchbrite pad. It is a marble, despite what the stone yard folks tell you. I would stay away from a polished finish in this material.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That color is too much of a cool tone for a warmer cabinet color like honey maple. It will feel disjointed. Either pick a warmer tones countertop or paint or stain the cabinets a cooler tone

This, 100%. I like the countertop but those cool tones are not going to look right with a warm honey. I dealt with this issue in my old house -- I prefer cooler tones but had to work with existing warm tones and it was hard to find things that went with both.

OP have you looked at Cambria quartz? Some of their styles have a pattern similar to the one you posted. You might be able to find something that has some warm tones but still a little gray and avoid the etching issue.

[Anonymous]

Honey maple is not coming back and in the unlikely event that it did, you'd still have orange cabinets!!

I have them in a house we own but rent out. We moved out 12 years ago and while we can easily find renters, when we try to sell it the cabinets are a definite problem. Our countertops are gray but like someone said - if you put lipstick on a pig, you've really just wasted your time.

You don't have to paint them white (even though you should).
Since they are pretty old, pick a color like gray, navy or black. Nothing ever really "comes back" in the same form they were in before so you have more to worry about than honey maple. They style of door will also have to come back at exactly the same time (never) that honey maple comes back.