Wow! The timber in your cabinets is beautiful, not to mention the fabulous granite countertops. Only thing is, with so many dark features and quite a bit to attract our attention, you'll probably need something very unfussy for your backsplash. I know photographs always tend to look darker than the reality but I feel your kitchen needs some lightening up. I'd go for a smooth white glossy tile.

I can see some of your 'choices' for backsplash tiles sitting up against the wall in one of the photos. Although I adore all these tiles on their own, I don't think they're suitable for a kitchen. For one, they're just too busy and everything will be screaming out 'look at me, look at me' whenever you walk in there. All the fabulous features in your kitchen will be screaming out for attention.

Secondly, these little, fragmented tiles with uneven surfaces are not easy to clean and keep grime out of. You would, literally, have to go over each little portion with a toothbrush and cotton bud to be sure that you were not breeding a bacteria farm!

If you still want something more interesting than big, square, glossy white tiles you could look at tiles with interesting shapes (eg honeycomb style hexagons or octagons). You'd have to bear in mind that anything intricate will involve more grout, which leads to more care. Ask yourself- do you really want to increase your workload? (Perhaps if you love cleaning and are a little bit OCD, this might be right up your alley!)

For something other than white- if you really object to this- maybe try out some very pale blue or green tiles. You'll have to bring home samples to see what works in situ.

I can't wait to see what you decide!