• Golden granite goes with a Tuscan kitchen.peppers in a bottle image by MAXFX from Fotolia.com
  
  As you chop fresh garlic and tomatoes for the ribollita on your gleaming granite counters, you can be forgiven a slight smugness. The Tuscan-style kitchen was a great idea; the counters an even better one. The artisanal olive oil sits on an expanse of golden granite--the countertop is as warm and sunny as a Tuscan vineyard. The textures, flavors and colors of Tuscany have turned your once-drab kitchen into the heart of your home.
  
  

Michelangelo's Palette

• Granite is available in a nearly infinite array of colors, but sticking with warm or earth tones will keep the feel of your décor "Tuscan." Gold granites are beautiful and seem drenched in light. They blend right in with Mediterranean terracotta tile floors and pale, distressed cabinets with rust or olive green interiors. The palest platinum at the lighter end of the palette becomes a warm, buttery gold in mid-range and an orangey burnt gold before shading into the reds. Reds heat the warm look up to hot. They add a rich note of color to deeper green cabinets and a pale wooden floor. A peach mottled with gray is a light choice; a strawberry-orange with more pronounced gray swirls is mid-range; a deep geranium red tempered by slate veins is the most vivid red hue. A gray can be wonderful with creamy yellow cabinets and slate floors but gray granite is far from monotone. Some grays have wonderful jade greens or peacock blues in them. And some caramel-speckled granite is mixed with a brighter blue, an invitation to create a whole new color scheme for the rest of the kitchen.
  
  

The Kitchen Sink

• To go with those fabulous granite counters, why not an equally fabulous granite sink? French farmhouse-style sinks come in granite---the big, deep sinks will accommodate large pots and platters---the ones you now use constantly for home-cooked Italian meals. Get an under-mount sink in a granite to match the counter---or try a deeper color for contrast. Under-mount sinks are installed beneath the edge of the granite counter, which makes cleaning a snap and gives the whole sink area an uncluttered line. If granite over granite seems like too much of a good thing, the deep sinks come in porcelain and stainless steel as well. If your granite is honey-toned, consider a brass-finished faucet. If it is a cooler or darker shade---a gray or black---stainless faucets are a good choice.
  
  

Murals and Mosaics

• Granite countertops are natural companions to Tuscany tile backsplashes. The colorful tiles are available in patterns and in murals. Chop those peppers and onions with a backsplash of Medici elegance. Choose from bright swirls to vivid fruits and vegetables to "aged mosaic" murals that capture the Renaissance right in your kitchen. Pick up some of the colors of the granite in the tiles you select for a harmonious, blended mix of eye-catching surfaces. Try a ceiling-high tile faux-fresco behind the stove top. Pick a shade of granite for that area that contrasts with the rest of the counter tops to create a distinctive alcove.