We are building a new house & need some help with the kitchen counters/backsplash, etc. Our floors will be tigerwood, so...

Granite: We've found a lot of granite that we like (lots of depth and interest without being "busy")-don't like solid colors, or haven't seen any we like. Trying to find something in the lower price range in the SF Bay area is turning out to be hard.

Quartz/Cesarstone, etc: so far ruled it out due to finding the choices rather boring (sorry to those that love their colors). not enough depth and variation. We saw a pic in a kitchen mag with a good color, but none of the showrooms we've been to have seen or heard of anything other than what they have.

Metal: SS is too cold and institutional looking for us. Haven't considered zinc or copper. What are the pros and cons?

Backsplash: Should we just continue the counter? How far up the wall? We're trying to decide tile for the walls & decorative patterns. The only piece for behind our stove we agreed on was a tile grouping of koi that was retailing for about $2800...waaay too much. Would plain painted walls be too stark or okay?

Thanks for input!