Kodiak - I guess it was just meant to be...

I decided on the Amarillo Gold granite, but I was concerned because the slabs I had on hold were the last two slabs in the lot (i.e., no room for mistakes by the fabricators). I called Arizona Tile to see if Amarillo Gold is easy to source, and I was quite pleased to hear they had gotten a brand new lot. I scheduled an appointment for today, eager to select my new slabs.

When I arrived, I was amazed at how different the new lot of Amarillo Gold was from the previous lot; it looked like a completely different granite. It was much too dark, and there was quite a bit of orange. I actually like the orange/rust areas, but it's not the right look for this kitchen (and not to much that I could hear Rachele in my head saying that the granite looked "pee-stained", lol).

All was not lost, however. Coincidentally, they had pulled three slabs of Kodiak right next to the Amarillo Gold for another client. I mentioned to the salesperson helping me that I really liked those slabs, and they looked better than the Kodiak slabs I had on hold. He said the client was a no-show, so I was welcome to them. They're actually slabs from the same lot as mine, but they have a little less peach in them. My previous slabs were slabs 1 & 2, and the new slabs were 4, 5, and 6. I selected 4 & 6 as the ones I wanted hold. You generally want to pick adjacent slabs as they're mirrors of each other and theoretically are the closest match within a lot. However, slabs 4 & 6 were the lightest of the three slabs. You can't tell from the picture below, but you can tell a difference in person. The salesperson confirmed this, so I wasn't just being my crazy/OCD self. He said for these particular slabs and for my installation, it wouldn't be problematic for me to skip a slab in a series.

I feel pretty good about my selection. I think they match beautifully with the tile, and it gives me some peace of mind knowing that there are 14 slabs left in the same lot in case there's a problem during fabrication. One more decision down!

New samples of Amarillo Gold - see how different they are from the last lot I saw?

New slabs of Kodiak (click on picture for larger view)
Slab #6 (I chose #4 and #6)

Closeup with tile