We are using soapstone with natural cherry cabinets. For our backsplash we're going with a fairly intense green tile ("Bright Yellow" from Heath Ceramics). It's almost a chartreuse. We wanted something bright to bring out the green in the soapstone. Hopefully it will work!

I used a seaglass colored 4x12 glass tile in a random installation with my ss and natural QS oak

I'm worried about the same thing with my new kitchen. White cabinets,stainless appliances, and absolute black granite. I'm considering a mosaic with clear and frosted glass, stainless steel and marble. I've also seen a beautiful grey glass subway here on gw that I really love. Between the two you mentioned I like the 'up in smoke' better. It's a really pretty tile.

I have very similar colors (BM Chantilly Lace shaker cabs, SS appliances and hood, dark brown floors), except I used super white quartzite on perimeter and island. We used soapstone for our beverage/wine bar and that was the stone that was harder to match a colored tile with. Ended up going with blue-grey ceramic tile... complements well with both the SW and the soapstone, which has a blue-green streak thru it. Here are photos of my soapstone, the beverage counter and the whole kitchen.

I used a fairly bold green and I love the combo. (Finished pictures to come in a day or two!) But, we had painted the room a blue/gray first (SW Krypton). I was really loving that color with the black counters and cream cabinets too.

HTH!

Oh jeez, Dragonfly, could your soapstone be any more gorgeous? I love the blue-green and how the streak runs right through your sink.

Dragonlfy - that's very much the look that we are going for - a nice colour that compliments the soapstone but still leaves it the star while reducing the white/black/white syndrome.
Ultimately the arabesque is probably too bold/fancy for our kitchen/house and glass tile a touch modern.
ayerg73 - looking forward to the pics.
thanks for the suggestions/pics.
caspian

Dragonfly, it's all stunning? Mind sharing your tile source?

We have the same problem. This is a picture of our SS slab. We will have a 6'x10' island and fortunately our kitchen is huge and can handle all the movement in the stone. I am making our tiles and cannot figure out if they should be closer to the color of the SS, or a lighter more neutral color. Our cabinets are cherry (natural without stain) and the other countertops will be a dark sage green cement.

I love all this soapstone!!