white granite ("fantastic white")

With the limited selections that IP design center has for granites, the best we liked was a white granite with shades of gray lines (they call it "MAR fantastic white").. doesn;t make a lot of difference to me but wife is a little skeptical with white granite considering all white cabinets in the kitchen...anyone have experience using fantastic white granite for countertops and pls share how is the look and feel of the stone & if there are any maintenance issues for white granite etc

We used www.houzz.com a lot when decorating our house.  You can search for "white counter tops and white cabinet" and get a bunch of photos.  Yes, these are not pictures of Irvine Pacific homes, but they do give you an idea of how something would look and gives good inspiration on design/decoration.

Free app as well, very handy on ur phone when you get a design epiphany
http://appshopper.com/lifestyle/houzz-interior-design-ideas

i agree with your wife, i would not go with white cabinets and white/whitish granite. i think you need contrast, we went with the dark kona/espresso cabinets and this granite:
http://www.arizonatile.com/BIANCO-ANTICO-P800.aspx

so our cabinets/granite color scheme will look something like this - the pic below uses the Bianco Antico but our cabinets will be a bit darker



home depot also has their visualizer you can use to pick your color for your cabinets, countertops and flooring to get an idea for the color scheme
https://virtualkitchenshowroom.homedepot.com/VS/UIConfig/VS_Search/VS_StartPage.htm?

white on white on espresso... agree with qwerty, need something to contrast or else nothing will jump out at you... assume you got one of those ginormous IP kitchens?  Those granite islands must cost a fortune.

We decided with a white/greyish granite called Bianco Romano...  we're going with a darker floor, Provenza African Plains Black River.  I think it goes well with all the stainless appliances.

fantastic white on while cabinets would look great if you're going for a minimalist design.  I was at the slab yard recently and really liked that granite, but felt it just didn't have enough brown to complement the chocolate glaze cabinets we picked out. Now were trying to decide between the giallo cream (the granite in the big kitchen space of the IP design center) or a ceasarstone quartz surface for a more traditional/warmer look. 

If you do go with the fantastic white, I'd avoid the full backsplash though...instead I would use that space for a cool but still bold glass or ceramic tile, perhaps slate blue or even jade/grey-green mosaic or subway pattern.  both would complement the greys in the granite and add a focal point/belt line to the room but keep with the modern aesthetic

here is a picture of fantastic white I took from the design center.  This is a Group 4 Stone.

Thanks folks- We picked  "fantastic white" slabs from the ard today...they do look pretty good. For those thinking of going forward with this granite, i definitly recommend taking a trip to the yard and picking the slabs first hand of your choice. There could be a variety in this type...we found some slabs of fantastic white that had a different pattern (with huge gray spots) and couldn't imagine picking those...We saw some Bianco Romano while there and it looked pretty good as well.

for the backsplash, we went with gray tiles (some glassy look) & white grout between tiles to go along with the white of the granite.

Pic attached