What color are your cabinets? Flooring? Appliances? And other colors to consider?

Cabinets are a white shaker style, stainless steel appliances (range picture below). Floors are wood look porcelain tile in brown/gray tone (Florim Pier in Navy). Walls are BM Arctic Gray but won't touch tile directly (closest wall is about 5 feet away)

Heres a picture of the counter material with cabinet and paint sample.

It is all really pretty, but a lot of grey. Do you prefer the monochromatic look or would you like to consider a different pale color for the tile?

I agree with a lot of gray, and, I am personally not loving that gray with your counter. At least in this one shot. If it were me, I would do a white tile and let your very beautiful counter really pop against the whites. Pretty! Might do the variation you have pictured with the horizontal border just to add a little dimension. I would probably do all flat if it were me. But that's just me.

Thanks for your input. I also had my concerns about too much gray - though it looks a bit more brownish in person than the photos convey. I have found myself drawn to white subway backsplash pictures and was just trying to add some interest since adding the pattern behind the range is no longer an option. And I am not really a fan of the beveled tiles - though this picture intrigued me. Crl_ I've looked at other colors and just can't seem to find anything else that speaks to me ... I'm thinking flat white with the vertical bottom row and pencil border may be the winner... So now what kind/color of pencil trim?

I would either do the whole backsplash, including pencil liner if you do one, white. Or I would pick a pale color for the whole backsplash. I think the pencil liners can get sort of lost on a backsplash where a lot of other things block them. Since you don't really have any other colors going on, I think you would kind of need to go with grey for the pencil liner if you don't want to go with white.

Have you looked at the fireclay crackle tiles? They are pricey but they have the most beautiful colors.

What about slate maybe?

What is your favorite color? I think a pencil tile in a subdued version of your favorite or accent colors would work beautifully.

i agree with everyone its too much gray.....
i'm not sure, but your counter looks like it has touches of green/beige...how about pulling one of those colors out from counter and use that for your BS...also u could pull a color from your floor, which is gorgeous btw, and use that...
i would probably use a beige tile, no liner, no vertical positioning, no white...you can also use 6x6 instead of subway....

I have similar colors in our redone kitchen (white cabs, carrara, stainless with very white gray walls) absent backsplash. A visit to NYC Complete Tile Collection suggested a blue (like arctic blue), either in tile or glass. Since your walls are 5' away, and I think I see a little blue in your beautiful slab, such might be a consideration for modern look.

I like may_flower's suggestion.

Vabeachgirl2. I love your quartzite counter. Could you tell me the name? We are looking for those colors in a quartzite at my boyfriends. It's beautiful. I love the white subway tile with that also.

Jancy - The granite fabricator calls it "perfect storm" - but I've seen it referred to elsewhere as sea pearl quartzite. It was love at first site. I really wanted a marble - but it was pricier than the quartzite and I was concerned about its use in a messy kitchen (DH has been known to spill and not clean up :-) but when I found the quartzite, that made it all better!

Thanks all for the suggestions, though I am not really a fan of dark grout with white tile - just not my preference. :)

The quartzite has a blue-green undertone - but I have had trouble finding a tile a shade that works with it. I have checked out the Complete Tile site before, but tile samples are very pricey and I am in Virginia and the quartzite slab is in FL - so wasn't really able to see what worked anyway. I now have 'a piece of the rock' so may give in and get a couple of samples. I also have ordered a couple of samples for colors of pencil trim from Tilebar.com (stardust polished, Adriatic mist, sea foam) - and I am also getting a sample of another color subway from that site - Lancaster Dove. (I'd post pics - but the site won't allow you to save images, so the best I can do is the link. http://tilebar.com)

Love your Sea Pearl and other choices! I'll be following this thread, as we just had sueded (honed) Sea Pearl quartzite installed last week. I'm also hunting for a backsplash. I was fairly sure I wanted white subway tiles, but now it seems like too much white & too much contrast (we have cherry cabinets), plus too many grout lines. But still a contender. I'm off to hunt for samples this week and am going to consider bead board & white tin tiles in addition to different colors of tiles. I love the tiles with the Sea Pearl in this photo from Houzz:

I actually think that blue-green paint sample is a wonderful match for the counter. You should do your back splash in that color and paint the walls white.

Thanks Jillius - but the kitchen is completely open to the great room - and really the only walls near the kitchen area are about 5 feet away - to the left or right. I will see if I can make an image with the layout that I can attach here

I'll throw a wrench into the works and say that I have looked at your tile above on two monitors. On my tiny laptop one, it and your quartzite have a gray look, but when I look at both on a larger monitor, I see gorgeous taupe-y color tiles picking up the same color in the stone. It's neutral and fabulous and would allow you to accent with about any color you'd like.

Do you describe the backsplash tiles as gray, or having more of a light brown hue?

They are really more of a taupe. They can read grey - but have an overall beige tone. They are a very good match to the stone - which is why I was excited to find them. However there are definitely blue-green undertones to the stone as well. In low light, the stone appears much darker (I have some other Houzz pics that I found and will share which demonstrate this - but can't figure out how to do this from the mobile app right now.)

I really do think that the overall look of the gray tile with the counter may just be too dark and do like the clean look of white subway with white cabinets - so am leaning that way right now.

I have also looked online for pictures of subway with a pencil liner and am thinking the only way I would like this is if the liner were also white as crl_ has already suggested.

Let me switch interfaces and see if I can post the Houzz pics or links.

First, here is a close up (from Houzz) of the sea pearl that shows the blue-green tint better

And one that shows how dark the sea pearl looks in low light.

An example with the gray on gray and white cabinets

This one shows an alternate tile color (I am not a fan of the pattern work they did - too busy for me - I just like the blue-grey tile they used. I submitted a question about the brand/color)

And finally one with simple white tile pattern with a slightly different - though similar quartzite (Madera Perla)

Just figured out how to pull the images straight from Houzz. Here they are in the same order

Thank you vabeachgirl2. Your slab is beautiful.

Fireclay will mail you five free samples. The tile itself is pricey though. They have a big range of really beautiful colors. Crater lake is a gorgeous pale blue. Atlantic looks like a green that might work.

I love #3, the Transitional Colonial Craftsman, for a traditional or cottage home. I think the row of square tiles lets you get away with a colored tile that isn't an exact match. The soft gray green is very pretty with Sea Pearl. When I've seen taupey gray tile in the past, it reads a little purple. Your paint might read a little green or blue. The best way to see the undertones is to put it against a true gray background, not white.

Is the stone coming up to VA so you can see it installed before you select tile? A few years ago there was a member who sampled dozens of colors for her Sea Pearl, so this is not an easy task.

May I ask who makes the gray crackle tile in your first pic? I also have sea pearl going in my kitchen. It's very different from your slab, but no more beautiful. Sea Pearl is stunning. I have my bs selected. My problem is the company does not offer a picture frame molding for behind the range. I want to do a herringbone pattern within a molded frame with a thin metallic beaded or twisted inner molding. My slab is mostly whites with dramatic streaks of black. I chose Tile Daily's gray crackle 3x6. I would love to see your post pics.

i just went back and reread your original post to see we have the same vision originally.

The pic I have of the back of that tile has the following info:

Atlantic Stone and Tile (showroom)

Material: Porcelain

Series: Park

Color: Gray

Size: 3x6

Price: $11.99/sf

Other sizes available: Rail/crown, Linear brick

Hope this helps!

And thanks for the reminder - I will try to post some pics today of the finished kitchen.

UPDATE: Pics of installed backsplash

Very nice! That is one gorgeous piece of rock.

(got a giggle out of the wine's name!)

Thank you for the tile info. Your kitchen looks beautiful! Are you loving the sea pearl? How durable is it? I put a similar quartzite called Taj Mahal in my current kitchen last year. It's nearly bullet proof. My stone yard told me to expect the Sea Pearl to be similar in durability. I hope to have the same experience in my new home with the Sea Pearl as I do with the Taj Mahal. Thanks again for the tile info!

Looks great! I really like your countertops! :)

vabeachgirl2, your counters are gorgeous and the backsplash looks great!

julierharrell, I believe I have the same backsplash tile you are getting. I used a marble pencil liner above my cooktop to frame the tile. It's such a bummer they don't have make the pencil liner!

Beautiful! Love that Sea Pearl. Thanks for coming back & sharing pics.

lcskaisgir, The supplier I plan to get my tile from in Los Angeles sent me a pic that describes your backsplash exactly. I'm going to look into that option as well. Do you have a pic by any chance?

Here is a link to my reveal. It shows a few pics of the backsplash. Good luck!

I'm laughing at our small world. Vannie from Tile Daily sent me pics of your kitchen the other day. You did a fantastic job. I'm going to spend some time going through all of your pics this afternoon. Thank you for the link!