Today, an increasing number of customers are choosing to enhance the beauty of their remodeled kitchen by selecting more high end countertops, particularly Granite and Quartz. When choosing which stone color is right for you, I would caution you to remember one thing. Do not base your decision solely on the small hand samples available in the showroom. To be sure, these can be very helpful in narrowing down the choice of which colors are appealing, and they are useful in eliminating colors that may be too light or too dark, or colors that do not contrast well with the cabinet finish that you have selected. However, these samples are generally too small to display all of the pattern variations and nuances of color and shading that can be seen in larger slabs of the stone.
To ensure your ultimate satisfaction with the product you choose, I strongly suggest that you do two things. First, once you have narrowed down your initial choices, arrange to borrow the samples, take them home and look at them in the conditions of your own home. Variations in lighting can have a subtle effect on color and highlights in the stone that many people do not realize. Many times I have heard customers comment that, when viewed in the natural light of their own kitchen, some samples looked slightly different than they appeared to be in the showroom. In some cases, this has caused customers to change their minds regarding a particular color.
Our countertop selection gallery at our showroom in Mansfield, MA
Once you have gone through this process and made a choice that you are comfortable with, the next thing to do is arrange to travel to the fabricator’s warehouse to view actual slabs of the stone. This provides the opportunity to see a much larger sampling, note the variations that occur, and select the pieces that will be most appealing to you. Some people view traveling to the fabricator as an inconvenience, but I believe it is a necessary one. These countertop materials represent a substantial investment, costing at least several thousand dollars in most cases. Just as you would not purchase an automobile with taking a test drive, do not commit to purchasing any stone countertop without first taking a look at what the fabricator offers.
If you take the time to follow these two relatively simple steps, you can rest assured that your new countertops will be a wonderful and attractive enhancement to your beautiful new kitchen.
Dennis Serge, Showroom Manager
Kitchen Views at National Lumber
71 Maple Street, Mansfield, MA 02048
Tel.: 508-339-8020 Ext. 5617
Fax: 508-261-6426
dserge@kitchenviews.com
Kitchen Views' Blog 
Since stone is a natural product it will vary in color, tone, granularity, pattern, etc. These variations are expected and are one of the sources of its natural beauty. The samples you see on the computer have been scanned and saved with digital software. The color tones may not be absolutely correct due to variations in computer systems, monitors and software compression.