thank you very much to everyone who responded! I'll look into espresso and charcoal grays. As well as the steel backplash. Emmarenes, I'm living abroad in India, and the only granites in my budget are the local ones. I was advised against the gray and white local ones because i was told that they would not hold up well in the kitchen. I could have gone with a black galaxy as well but i have that granite now and despise it because of the way it hides ants and bugs so well. we live in a tropical area and there are always critters here and there. My first choice was a Brazilian white granite but it was triple the price. This granite is called Shiva pink, so it has a pink salmon and gray look to it. Im really hoping I don't hate it once it's installed. The stoneyard was a 9 hour trip up and down and i was just pressured to make a choice after several undecided trips. And I'm getting new cabinets put in. but I think I can wait for them to put the slab before staining the wood. Thanks for that idea :)

add some pictures of your space for better suggestions

Hi, Don't you think your query is very open ended. There are thousands of color options available. Ideally you should look at few pics that suits your choice and then get a feedback on those for final color palette selection. Thanks, Nitin Cornerstone Designs, Bangalore

Grey is trending big time now. And don't worry about it being too dark. You can offset that with a white counter top, white dado and steel accessories and of course interesting lights