I definitely would not do a dark backsplash unless you plan on switching out all of your white appliances. There is nothing in these finishes that relate to the white.

To my eye, the shiny dark counter top you've chosen does not go well with your more earthy floors and cabinets. I might start by looking at a medium gray stone-like counter similar in color to what is in your flooring and an off-white ceramic tile backsplash with lighter grout that will blend more with your appliances?

This is wilsonart silver travertine against white and a bit of wood

Thanks for your comment. We already ordered the dark laminate, replacing a white faux marble, so that cannot be changed.

I would go white or cream or maybe a light grey. There's a lot of dark in those selections, even with white appliances.

You will need to add under cabinet lighting no matter what your choice. But, given the rest of the choices, the wattage will have to be significant to counteract the darkness. And add in additional recessed lights. And maybe even ceiling mount lights and pendants.

Here are pictures of my kitchen when we bought the house. We still have the island/table and added a white over the range microwave. We are just doing a minor update because of where we live and not sure how long we will be here.

You have a lot of natural light in there. We did something similar in our last house (just an 'update' since we weren't staying long either) and went from white multi-fleck counters to dark. I was a little freaked out at first but we had a lot of light also and it wasn't closed in or dark feeling at all like I had feared. I am not a color expert and have backsplash woes of my own - can you find a color in your floor that is still a warm tone but not quite as dark as what you have shown here? Have you thought about waiting for the counters to go in before selecting a backsplash to get a better feel for the space? Oh - I almost missed it! Of the two I prefer the lighter one for sure. We went with something similar with ours too. If it helps at all (either for the good or what not to do) here is a pic of ours and it was a much smaller space. Excuse the white outlets I know they stick out like a sore thumb.

I wouldn't try to use something "close" to the floor. Close is usally actually "off." I also think the gray you have is too dark with the counter, but a lighter neutral would work. Can you find a light gray to link the counter and floor colors?

autumn.4 I love your kitchen. It was actually one of my favorite kitchen pictures when I was planning. :) I have always loved the slate type tile but there is very little available of that material now for some reason, except dark gray

We get a lot of light in the day with the two windows and are going to add two track lighting with several lights to add more light at night

Unfortunately with the samples I have now I don't have a medium gray but we might look some more at the store for lighter gray or lighter beige/taupe

Thank you Donna. Considering what we started with I thought it turned out well even keeping our cabinets. I think the california gold mosaic would look good (that was the other we were deciding between). That is the lighter color but still some gray. I remember it by name and a quick google brought this up: California Gold Mosaic Tile. I hope that is helpful.