The tile is so beyond beautiful that I have no words. I think yellow paint would blend with the blues, wood, white, and keep the room colorful and lively - like butter yellow. But I love color and am anti-neutral.

Yay, another blue cabinet person!!!

We are doing blue and white cabinets too although we have ours mixed in throughout the kitchen. To get our blue for the kitchen, we actually took a tiny piece of the granite to Sherwin Williams where they put it into their little color match thing, and came out with the perfect blue. You could take your tile in to do the same maybe, but you'd need a small enough piece to get it to fit in the machine?

We're using a gray paint on the walls that has a tiny hint of blue undertones in our kitchen to go w/ the blue cabinets. Elsewhere in the house, we have combined blue very nicely w/ yellow and also blue cabinets w/ blue paint on the walls.

I think your blue is fine. Especially with so much white. Get a sample and paint some poster board or drywall scrap and see how it does. They can tweak it slightly with some magenta if need be, but I don't think it'll need it. For your counters, a plain white, like a Corian or a white quartz would let all of the color take center stage. You don't want anything too competitive with that tile!

I love the paint color with the tile -- they really look great together and I think it's better that it's not an exact match, but rather fits the feel of the mural. As for the surrounding white tile, I'd vote for white subways vs. the 4x4's -- just like the look of subways so much more, and lately the subways are just as affordable as the 4x4's.

Can't wait to see your finished kitchen, love the bold cabinet color!

Great tile! For the others counters I thought of stainless steel. I don't know how budget that is though.

I've always liked the look of dark painted base cabinets with white wall cabinets against white walls. Imo, a very dark counter would be stunning and offer nice contrast with the light maple. It would also allow your gorgeous tile to really pop.

Have you considered a quiet soapstone or other honed black stone? What is your flooring material and color?

I agree with Paulines about the dark counter being great in your kitchen. Check out Volga Blue granite - the blue in your tile would look fantastic with that. I can't post a picture from work, but you can look in the FKB or Google it. I don't know if something like that is in your budget - perhaps if you only needed one slab, you might find an "orphan" slab (missing the slab on either side) which is always less expensive where I'm from.

Cannot wait to see the end result. Your tiles will steal the show.

Gorgeous tile, Dee! And, also yay, another blue and white kitchen.

I agree with others, including Live Wire Oak, to avoid competition with your feature tile. My initial thought was a plain composite material for the rest of the counter (especially since you have 2 counter materials). This would be an even bigger issue if you plan to display other items.

For a plain background tile, definitely 4x4s rather than subways, which just wouldn't go. Your Turkish tile has square patterns set both horizontally and diagonally and IMO definitely point the way.

Squares set diagonally offer a subtle liveliness I've always really liked, while horizontal are typically more static and modern in effect. When trying out horizontal tile placements, a running bond pattern, the way subways are usually set, probably just wouldn't look right, again because it does not echo the lead of the feature tile. So, set horizontally they'd probably be set above each other, with their 4 corners meeting; however, that is the way the 4 feature tiles are set, so that might look good to you. Looking for that yes! feeling. :)

gorgeous tile! Wow! Love that you got it yourself in Turkey, makes it even more special!

The tile is so pretty. And what a nice way to remember your trip. I would keep other things muted so you show off the tile. One special thing looks great - ten special things starts to looks silly, kwim? Paint you can decide at the end, remember.

On my monitor the Marine blue looks fine with the Turkish tile blue- however- that was a good suggestion to take a sample to the paint store to tweak it if necessary. You have a lot going on with your lovely Turkish tiles - square white ones for the remaining BS would look great! The counters need to be neutral - zinc, pewter or stainless steel would give patina or shine to the counters - yet be neutral; a white quartz or a light grey slate would give yet another "look". Try getting some samples to see how they fit with the other elements in your sunny kitchen. It will look stunning when you are done- looking forward to seeing the final pictures!

What about something like this?

If you are into DIY/cheap maple DIY butcherblock countertop would be way easy and way cheap compared to almost any other surface including stainless. Also, I think it happens to be perfect fit with that Gorgeous tile.

I got a DIY butcherblock in the Black Walnut species and finished it myself. seriously, it isn't hard to do. Takes a few hours of work time and about 3 days of dry time.

Here is a link that might be useful: maple butcher block DIY countertops

For paint I agree you need to paint some poster board and put vertically to mimic cabinets. Your paint choice there may be just fine, but also, what you are saying may be "true and true"--you don't need to match the dark blue in the tile exactly, but you might find that a slightly different "hue" is in order simply because you chose the paint first and then found the tile-- so you might find you need a different grayed/subdued version if your Marine Blue looks off when you try a sample in your lighting. So just be open to tweaking, as noted above.

I'd love a dark walnut counter with your other elements. As to the blues, how large is the Turkish tile area? One consideration in coordinating colors is relative amounts of area the colors will occupy.

How about copper counters? Somehow, it feels right to me with the Turkish tile...evoking a souk. You can DIY them (see Circuspeanut's kitchen). Other good choices IMO include all butcherblock, white quartzite (think superwhite and related stones), some of the blue granites, white corian, quartz or laminate or soapstone (which can be DIY'd) . All would look nice...each would give a different vibe. I can't really see stainless, feels too industrial and sleek for the tile and the cheerful blue and white scheme.

IF you opt for a white countertop, how about using the turquoise blue that's in the tile for wall color, with accents of bright yellow popped around the room (towels, teakettle, bowl, etc.) I'd go more subtle on the walls, probably just sticking with white, if you opt for a blue granite or copper counters. Soapstone could take a paler version of turquoise or perhaps butter yellow.

I LOVE the tile and I love blue. I recently saw a Better Homes and Gardens slide show on colorful cabinets, so here's an idea for you from that:

Wouldn't that look even better in blue with some Turkish tile? The black countertop looks great, and I love how they brought some of the teal cabinets to the ceiling. You could use any number of materials for a dark countertop - honed black granite, soapstone that isn't too busy, Caesarstone Raven, etc.

For wall color I would look at something gray. When you go to the BM website and look at marine blue, it says it goes great with silver marlin, so that's a color I'd consider.

Perhaps Boxerpups will come through with some amazing inspiration pictures for you...

Good luck! It's going to be fantastic.

Ditto the copper.

We painted a wall in DS's room marine blue, it would be too dark for cabinets for my taste. If you want cheery and bright I'd target the turquoise color as above, I have seen what I consider frenchy shades that look good.

Thanks so much for all of this input, I appreciate every comment! I'm glad to see that general consensus is that the basic plan here sounds good. I know what I like when I see it but I'm not so great at envisioning how a room will come together.

To clarify the size and likely placement of the Turkish tile: It's not huge, the whole design is about 2 sq. ft. We're thinking it'll go in the usual over-cooktop/under-hood location.

On the rest of the tile for the remaining backsplash area... Like kris_ma, I usually have a strong preference for subways over 4X4, but my hesitation is exactly what rosie articulated. I have a feeling that square would flow well with the Turkish tile.

Our floor is a medium-brown stained hickory with a bit of a reddish tone. That's staying for sure, and I like the way it looks with just about any dark blue, so we're ok on that front.

I have paint samples for Marine Blue and several others in that kind of dark, bold blue range, but as some of you noted, I need to paint a larger swatch to better compare at the real distances between cabinets and backsplash. Marine Blue is by far our favorite just on its own merit, but next to the Turkish tile I get a not-quite-right vibe. It's a good idea to take a tile to the paint shop, don't know why that hadn't occurred to me. The corner borders are pretty small. At the very least they might be able to point me toward other blues to consider. We are pretty wedded to a darker blue for the base cabinets, although I know that lighter shades can look great, too. My master bedroom is BM's Hale Navy, so we are certain that we can live with a dark blue.

Beagles, although our kitchens will be pretty different in style, I think your blue cabinets were the initial inspiration for me to think in that direction!

I had not considered the white solid surface options before, but I can see how that could work here. Our current counters are white laminate, and although they are awfully damaged, the light surface is nice in a number of ways.

Something about corian rubs me the wrong way, but do any of you have a ballpark idea of price per sq.ft. on quartz? Back when I was still hemming and hawing about keeping my old cabinets, I priced quartz and have a vague memory of being told that the whites were more expensive. I've got around 40 sq ft and am hoping to find something below $2500, so that will be a limitation.

remodelfla & beachpea3, stainless steel had crossed my mind, as well, but I always doubt myself. I think it would normally be out of my price range, but I happen to have a close relative who is a metalworker, so there's a chance I could benefit from his connections and get a discount.

kitchendetective, I'm glad to hear you mention walnut. I've been going back and forth on whether to use maple/other light wood or walnut on the peninsula - walnut's back in the game :) And thanks, sarahhomeremodel, for the Craft Art link (and lovely photo!). If I do go with walnut, it'll most likely be through them. I know several others around here were happy with their blocks.

I am generally really attracted to soapstone and honed black/gray granite (and that volga blue that 3mutts mentioned is lovely), but when I look at images around the web of dark blue cabinets with black counters, they never sit quite right with me. Then again, the BH&G picture mpagmom posted is pretty beautiful.

house_obsessed & marcolo, I never thought of copper as an option here, but this is definitely intriguing. I have admired circuspeanut's famous counters, and I do love the "living finish" idea. What would you do for the sink, faucet, hardware finishes with copper counters here? ORB seems nice with copper but totally wrong with everything else that'll be going on in my space. And do you think copper would clash with the stainless oven?

Wall color should probably wait until the rest is nailed. I hadn't considered yellow, I think due to my memories of my grandmother's 1980's blue with yellow ducks "country" kitchen decor, but I'm probably not in any danger of skewing that way here. One other color at play here may be red as an accent, because I have a red food processor that I use often and would like to keep out. I think that would work well with a white, wood, or black counter, but I'm not sure about copper.

Well, I need to get more samples of countertop material and try to put these elements together. kitschyKitch, I love your comment "One special thing looks great - ten special things starts to look silly." I will try to keep that in mind as I continue!

I too think square vs subway tile is more appropriate with those gorgeous turkish tiles. You don't have to stick with 4x4 - you can do 6x6.

I agree with keeping the cabinets and backsplash the stars of your kitchen.

I'm not sure if this would be too much blue, but DuPont Zodiaq (quartz) has a bluish-black color called Borealis Blue and it's one of the less expensive colors.

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This is Bristol Blue by Cambria (quartz)
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I of course love the white quartz colors. You could also go with something creamy...

Cambria Sanford
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Caesarstone Buttermilk

This one has flecks of blue in it - Hanstone Caribbean Blue

Of course, you can go wild with Icestone Denim Moss
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Sorry the pictures are so big! I wish I had the nerve to go bold like you! :)

I love your tile. It will be stunning. I love your idea of blue base and white uppers. I can't wait to see it. I agree with beach pea... A white quartz would be great. It will let your tile be the star of the show and not compete with it. Certain soapstones may work. good luck and keep us posted on the progress.

bear with me here..

you say you prefer the idea of subways over 4x4's

you say you want the (GORGEOUS) turkish tile over the cooktop area.

What size is your cooktop that you are highlighting? 30" ? 36" ?

I'm not seeing a perfect 24x24 square over either the 30" or the 36" ... I keep trying to come up with a border-like effect to nearly fill the area. - making the focal point more rectangular instead of square.

Is it possible to create an attractive border for your tiles that would make the size/shape of your focal point more subway-friendly? (ie, single row of blue tiles on the top and bottom of focal point, double row of tiles on the sides...)

just an idea, but perhaps one worth grabbing some graph paper and playing around with.

I love your choices for color Marine Blue with that beautiful tile. One thing I have learned about paint color is that if I really love a color "Marine Blue" but feel it might be too dark (readyalready), I buy the smallest size possible and have the store make that exact color at 75%, 50%, etc. Sometimes it makes the paint choice exactly what you want. I can see white counter, copper or stainless as the perfect touch. I( also like the yellow paint suggestrion but then you are kind of locked in to yellow for accents. Good Luck.

Those tiles are so pretty! I like the idea above to paint some large pieces of drywall in various colors and test them out next to your tiles. For the walls (which can wait as mentioned above), a soft yellow would be pretty or maybe even a bright apple green. (Maybe too eye popping? Maybe apple green would be better as an accent: vases, towels, etc., with pale blue or white walls.)

In case it helps, here's mockup of your gorgeous tile with a few different shades of blue.

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Those tiles are superfabulous, and how great that you brought them back from Turkey. I love the idea of the painted cabs with them. Have you considered going with a teal to pick up the other color in the tile? I have a friend with an old house who has old beadboard cabinets she painted Old Village Paints Society Hill Blue (a teal shade) and they look fantastic with her dark countertops (some kind of laminate) and a darker wooden countertop, and also with one cab with an old marble countertop. The teal is a really versatile color.

Here is a link that might be useful: Old Village colors

Chicagoans - major high five on your photo shop skills. that looks so cool. what a neat visual aid!

Wow, Chicagoans, a million thanks for the photoshopping! That is incredibly helpful to me - as I said, I have limited visual imagination ability, and these mock-ups give me a much better feel for things than holding a tile against a paint swatch.

Looking at these, I have to admit that the lighter blue/teal direction looks better than I thought it would. One factor in going dark was that our adjacent dining room has maroon walls and dark wood furniture (it's more fun and less formal than it sounds), and we eat in the dining room every night so there's a lot of back and forth with the kitchen. Thinking about dark blue cabinets, I felt like although the dark blue and maroon would be totally different, they might speak to one another better than say, light teal. I think most, though not all, of the light blue kitchen cabinet pictures I've seen are of rooms with a sort of beachy feel, which doesn't feel right for my house. But I think I'll expand my options a bit on the blue shade and check out a 75% or other version of the dark colors we already like. Cabinets are not yet ordered, so we have time to consider this and be sure.

mabeldingeldine, that Society Hill Blue does look beautiful. Actually, all their colors do - I have a soft spot for the "historic" color palate.

chocolatebunny, thank you for the quartz color suggestions. I think I'd lean away from a blue counter for fear of overdoing that color in the room, but I like the whites/creams. That Hanstone Caribbean blue is especially pretty. We were at one point considering brown granite, but I saw none that looked right. That has a totally different feel, though.

Also thanks for the reminder that there are other sizes of square besides 4x4. Actually, 6x6 might be right on - I'm not 100% certain about upper cabinet height yet, but if I have an 18" space between countertops and uppers, then that would give me 3 rows of full 6x6. That's very appealing.

The above-cooktop space will indeed be more of a rectangle than a square. The cooktop is 30" but we plan to do a 36" hood mounted around 30-32" above cooktop (we are tall, DH is over 6' and wants it on the high side). We don't have the hood yet, so the specifics are yet to be determined. So indeed it might be good to have another border or something like that to bring a more rectangular shape to that area. Worth thinking about.

I love your tile and your cabinet choices. If you were thinking of a brown granite, how about labrador antique? It's brown with blue specks. It's my absolute favorite.

Of course it depends on the "feel" you are going for.
The photos are really fun and in the photos above, the turquoise, as a color, really zings as a combo, kind of the way you might put clothing ensemble together, but a darker blue-grayer blue ( in whatever shade turns out to kinda match w/o being too matchy) to me is more restful for being in the kitchen and a little more furniture-like and probably will let the tiles stand out more. Painting some board or cardboard will be helpful I think because you want to get the effect of the vertical cabinets, not lay them next each other.

Circuspeanut has, I believe, chrome, stainless or nickel sink, faucets, etc. And they look fine with the copper counter. I tend to think of stainless as a neutral, so I don't think it would bother me to have a stainless oven, though if you go for the copper, I might consider switching to white, particularly since your fridge is white and it would be (I think) a money saver.

wow, whatever exact shade of turquoise those four flowers are, that is the one to match

chicago proved it

then maybe, if you are a wimp like me, tone it down by using it more as a wash

but that is the color, imho

I have marine blue cabinets (exact same color) on island cabinets and refridgerator / pantry cabinet. I wish i hadnt got the blue in the pantry cabinet to be honest. Its a bit much. And they had a hard time painting the cabinets and making it even. Marine blue is a layered color - looks different in different light and if not painted perfectly. I think having it on base cabinets is a fine idea. I have dunsmore cream on the other cabinets which looks great. I would suggest you look at sonoma tile tortola crackle tiles for accents with the marine blue. I have those in my backsplash and they look terrific. good luck!

Thanks again for the additional comments and suggestions!

We already have the oven - it's a GE single/double model that my DH fell in love with and grabbed on major floor model sale. To be honest, it would not have been my first choice aesthetically, but he's the primary cook M-F and this was a big thing for him. So whatever we do, that oven has to work.

mtnrdredux, I'm surprised at how much I like the turquoise - definitely going to get samples in that range and try them out!

sophie123, your kitchen sounds beautiful! Dunsmore cream is a lovely shade, I can see that going well with the marine blue. Thanks for the heads-up about the paint. It's funny, I noticed that the marine blue was a little different to work with just when I was painting cardboard samples. I guess I'd call it a little streakier. I'll almost certainly be painting the cabinets myself, and although I have a great deal of experience refinishing and painting furniture, I don't want to make things more difficult for myself than they need to be.

Dee850, I have an antique teal cupboard in my red dining room, and it looks great, don't know your exact color scheme, but you can see the teal cabinet against the red in this photo. It is Ralph Lauren Malyea Red.

Maybe I'm crazy, but that turquoise color and the blue in the tiles are really versatile. HTH

Thanks for posting that photo, mabeldingeldine! Just more proof that I lack visual imagination - those colors do look really good together.

dee850-

Those are beautiful tiles and I think they will be stunning with blue cabs. Below are a couple of pics from our kitchen. IRL the hutch is turquoise and very bright cherry red (both custom mixed by YT), the kitchen cabs are BM Bainbridge Blue, mixed in Aura semi-gloss, I think. The counter tops are southern yellow pine trimmed with walnut. We have found our blue and turquoise cabs to be very versatile, but our house is pretty colorful, so they don't stand out all that much.

Good luck-

sandyponder

sandyponder, I love your kitchen! The blue and red together on the hutch look great. I'm going to have to check out Bainbridge Blue, looks like it's in a good not too dark, not too light zone.