Have you looked at the Kitchen forum and/or the Finished Kitchens Blog? You can do a search there for AB granite, see what others are using for backsplashes and maybe something will strike your fancy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Finished Kitchens Blog

Bestyears . . . thanks, great idea and that should have dawned on me, but having to change the granite at the eleventh hour has really thrown me off balance. Thanks so much for the suggestion.

I have cherry cabinets and black granite (black impala, not AB) and wanted to tie the colors into the backsplash. I also wanted to tie in the colors of the floor, which is multicolored slate. I don't have stainless steel appliances, but I love metal and also wanted to incorporate metal into the backsplash in some way. Here's what I ended up with:

Around the raised bar on the island:

And a strip above the other counter:

It's mostly tumbled slate, with stainless steel and black glass inserts. I realize you don't want a polka dot look, but to me, this looks more random than polka dotted.

If you don't like the dark gray of the slate, you could use a lighter slate or a variegated marble or other stone (granite?).

Nice look and so glad to see your cabinet hardware, because I also decided to go with black knobs & pulls. My house is a mixture of antiques (including the owners) and a fit formal. I am trying to stay with the period of the house and that's part of my problem in warming up to a backsplash.