You have a beautiful counter top! A suggestion would be, glass tiles as theses would be an elegant light generating addition. You can go with a neutral field tile and accent with a splash of color to tie in your counter top. This can be achieved by using anyone of our 37+ standard formats or 15+ Architectural assemblies, giving you a truly custom experience just for you. Please feel free to have a look at our site for countless ideas. Wishing you a sparkling day.

Did you paint the kitchen cabinets white?

My sister has just redone her backsplash, but brought home a ton of samples...a good place to start so you can see what you are leaning towards. She ended up with a subway tile, but it is rough around the edges and a bit uneven and textured.. looks handmade. No more competition between the multi colored backsplash and counter. She is a designer and had mentioned that if you bring in another color other than what is in your countertop, do so as long as you're ok with having that color as your accent until the next time you retile. Bring blue into the room with window and seat fabrics, accent bowls or a rug at the sink, and pictures, etc. Pictures of rooms that are similar to the look you want help a lot too to narrow down choices. Good luck.

Vitroceram - will check it out thanks
kilderrym: yes we painted them with oil based paint (twice now) love the darker cabinets on the bottom but don't think i can do that now
Reilly: love subway tile, especially the rough-edge/handmade look. might do a narrow strip of glass with that but I agree totally about using the accent color on non-permanent things mainly

vitroceram: do you have any photos of the agates used as a strip with subways or something similar? i didn't see anything online and i like the idea of that

hi Niki...