Help me choose kitchen worktop please!

[LaughToSeeAPuddingCrawl]

We are having an extension and new kitchen and I'm completely torn as to which worktop to choose. The units are in-frame shaker style painted in Little Greene French Grey www.littlegreene.com/french-grey and the island will have a raised breakfast bar attached in oak. The interior of the plate rack and larder are also oak. I have narrowed the worktop choices down to Compac Carrara www.quartz-surfaces.co.uk/compac/quartz-compac/ or Silestone Quasar www.silestoneusa.com/colors/samples/quasar.html . We want to keep things light as the room is quite dark, but are a bit worried the Carrara will be a bit bland with the units. On the other hand I wonder if the silestone is a bit "busy".

Would really welcome some opinions as dh just says "either's fine..."

I would go with the Carrara personally. I don't think it would be bland just elegant and understated.

Where are you getting your kitchen from? It sounds just like what we are after but I can't find it!

I would go with the carrara too - simple and stylish - there will be enough going on with your pots/plants/kettle and everything else on there at some point! I know what you mean about the other being a bit warmer, but as long as you get warmer lights then that won't be an issue. I am looking at kitchens too at the moment and saw one lit with LED lights which were great for brightness but they did make it a bit flat. Apparently you can get warmer toned light bulbs, so I'd go with those :)
Kitchen sounds lovely and is exactly what I am going for as well! Snap!

I agree with Carrara as it looks timeless. Your kitchen sounds exactly what we are planning for our extension this year. Can you let us know where it's from (and pricing if I can be cheeky!).

Ooh thank you! I got caught up with house stuff, school run, ballet run etc. so only just sat back down again.

I was leaning towards the cararra myself so thank you for reinforcing what I thought!

We are having our kitchen made bespoke by a small local company who have been fantastic. I am so excited as everything has been planned down to the smallest detail so should work fantastically well. It's not cheap, but we've done the MFI/Howdens etc kitchens in the past and now we are in what is hopefully going to be our forever home, we (well I ) wanted a forever kitchen as well, so decided to push the boat out a bit. It should last as long as we live here as it is a timeless design and we can just get it repainted if it starts to look tired.

Actually, they are talking about starting up an internet business with off the shelf kitchens to complement the bespoke side, which will obviously be cheaper, so might be worth contacting them - www.greenheartkitchens.co.uk