I had black stone bench tops at our old house. My kids would sit up at the bench whenever I was in the kitchen, so I was constantly cleaning off the little hand prints they left behind which seemed to be more obvious when light would hit the bench top, but it was easy to clean overall. Just moved into a house with a white corian bench top around the kitchen sink and stove area and it shows everything, every splash, bit of dust, tiny speck of whatever, everything. Makes me miss the black stone!

Oh excellent, thank you, it looks lovely! I have been to many of the suppliers but QQ is too far away for me with a screaming baby in the car and they won't mail me samples! Once I choose a stone mason I will view them in person because I hear even with Quartz each slab can be a little different. I was thinking maybe Lexicon quarter...warmed up a bit...but I'm not sure. Thanks for the warning, I do have time on my side so I might go get some sample pots and see what actually looks ok with our lighting.

The Colour palette that I have attached is only a ruff guide line... Are you painting the cupboards in a Dulux colour? What do the cupboards look like, for example the grain? I personally would look at a shade of green colour or blue. My examples might not be perfect as my monitor does not display colours well. What are you thinking for flooring and backsplash?

I wouldn't go those dark laminate kitchen cupboards. I have the exact same and I absolutely loathe them now. I use to love the darker colours but now I wish I had just done them white, light gray or even the dark blue (although dark blue worries me a little too!). That dark laminate brown is such an absolute pain to keep clean. They show up every mark. I like your stone bench tops though but would look at other options to create the look you're hoping for with the joins and waterfall benches etc. Goodluck with it all!