#1 appears to be best tone from your countertop. However, i think a different shape tile with a lighter gray grout would make a more interesting look. Let me find a example.

Here are some other ideas.

Maria, can you post a photo of the full kitchen? Do you know the name of tile number 1 by chance?

this has a slight wavy movement and the other is named, "Kite"

tilebar.com

very hard to tell without seeing the whole kitchen... at least for me :)

I like 3. With glass you can go a little darker because it's so reflective.

Color on monitors is unreliable so you have to get samples and check out in the space, with the countertops and other elements in the room.

Imperial Danby is very beautiful marble but it varies widely slab to slab. It also has a good bit of tan tones in most slabs. How would you describe yours? More tan? More gray? Mixed with both? Is the background kind of muddy? Those facts will help.

SO VERY TRUE about monitors as Flo mentions and I should have! Please don't go by mock ups. If you like a certain tile then please ask where they were found. These were found at tilebar.com and they are reputable and do offer a nice sample program.

I like #2 the best, it has a nice contrast with your white cabinets and marble. Imperial Danby is a classic, so I wouldn't go with glass, which reads more modern to me. The first one is too light.

BUT and this is a bit BUT. You need to see the actual tile, from current stock, in your room with your lighting, to make the best decision. Samples can age and change color, and selecting ANY material from color on a computer monitor is notoriously unreliable.

Here's a photo of a kitchen with white cabinets, Olympian White Danby marble, and Walker Zanger crackle rectangular tile in "Pipe Smoke" color:

Here are some pics

Both 1 & 2 are from local tile stores, 3 is from online www.rocckypointtile.com.
1 is called dove gray
2 Sierra sands
3 antique

Our imperial Danby has lots of bronze and gray but it’s very clean, very white background

1 or 3.

Is that ceiling a lavender? It looks awesome. Some color on your backsplash would be beautiful with all your other elements. You could do darker grout or patterned layout. A chevron could look amazing!

@flo thank you! It’s not lavender but its wall to wall glass opposite the kitchen and in the evening a lot of colors come through.

Very cool. Are you open to something a bit different. You have looked a lot but no real “that’s it” moment. Try not to settle just because you want to be done. I will look some more.

Yes I am open to other things! Our style is more classic definitely not modern or trendy! I appreciate your help so much!

I saw this at Lowes recently and was immediately attracted to it. Check it out. See if this is something you might like.

Btw. One from Home Depot and this one from Lowes. You have to see these in person because the on line photos are off. Much less color in person.

Opps.

If you want plainer, get subways but do the grout in accent color from your countertop. Glass is trendy. Marbles of any shape are timeless.

You don’t think the marbles would clash?

I feel like if I do subway I need a greige but a very light one, can’t seem to find it anywhere

Here is the trick. Keep amount of action on backsplash either way bigger than countertop or way less. It is all about scale. But you do have to see the product whatever you chose in your space with cabinets and countertops. Some marbles go darker and have more brown which you don’t need. So it is a matter of choosing carefully.

One more thing. Your countertop is viewed on the horizontal plain and the backsplash on the vertical so the countertop will tend to look like the edge color which in your case is white. Keep that in mind.

Here is a look that walks line between today and timeless.

do you like something like this?

this is a crackle glaze 2x6 tile from Encore Ceramics in a silver

@beth I Just saw this too!! I like it

maria, I helped another poster on here a year ago and suggested this tile. she didn't do silver, but went w/another color. she loved it. I'll warn you,,it's not a cheap date. these are hand made, but the finish is stunning. You have a gorgeous kitchen w/beautiful marble. it needs something besides a generic 3x6 gray tile. At the very least, do a longer tile. 2x8,3x9,,

pratt and larson has a crackle finish. shown here in the scallop, but they have other shapes

i like Flo's idea of the chevron or herringbone

encore also has this shape

I had the same issue with my Danby countertops and pale warm gray cabinets. I thought about a Danby slab backsplash, but that felt a little too modern. Finally decided to go with rectangular Danby tiles. I felt like it was a good compromise between keeping the colors cohesive, but breaking things up with a little pattern, and not going too sleek and modern. This is the tile that we bought https://www.artistictile.com/danby-imperial-sdimh18

That's beautiful, Heather. I like the way it is installed in the kitchen on the website. How did you install yours?

Heather - that is beautiful. Did you select the tiles so you didn't get too many with too much color or brown/tans? That is a problem I have run across. You just have to be very picky, which of course, I am! Lucky that way! lol

Thanks! We haven’t installed it yet, but doing a 6x18” tile in a brick pattern. The wall is large with some windows and no upper cabinets, so we went with the larger tiles.

Flo, unfortunately you can’t select the tiles you want when ordering, but I had the same question. I’m just going to look through them when they arrive and figure out where I want each of them in the layout. We considered using our leftover marble from our slabs, but we wouldn’t have had enough. But that is an option - finding remnants or slabs of marble with the colors you like and having your stone person cut it into tiles for you. Also don’t have to worry about unifinished edges with the marble tile, just polish or hone the exposed edges to match.

@heather I love the Danby tile but they are definitely out of our price (we have the whole 2nd gutted as we speak) what do all think about this tile..too modern? Can go either way

I love Heather's selection of Grove Brickworks--they are beautiful and not overdone. Not a big fan of the hexagons but they would work if you really like them.

Those are pretty Maria....

I take it you aren't seeking anything too rustic?

I would combine #1 & #3 and mix together but with a different design.. perhaps herringbone! Good Luck!

I think that the hexagon ones might get a little lost because they're somewhat large and you just have the undercabinet area to tile. A small hexagon might work better. . .also note that a lot of the hexagon tiles can read more modern, so not sure if that's what you're going for. I liked Flo's suggestion of the tiny herringbone tile if you're looking for something more cost-effective. Maybe play around with the grout a bit too - if you have small white or creamy white tile, and you have slightly darker pale warm gray or pale taupe grout, the whole backsplash won't read as "stark white" from a distance. It will read a little less harsh. I just think you don't want to go too dark because then that will be very contrasting and probably too busy.

Pratt and Larson have many colors and styles. I'm sure this is way off in the distance from what you would like, but would be very pretty with the gold lanterns and finishes. They have a style similar to what Flo shows and you can see the different colors. It appears your counters are more taupe/brown with some gray?

Frost, Winter or Ice appear to be a good match. Again, monitors are not our friend when it comes to true colors.

@heather I agree about being too modern! They have the same color in 3 x 6 . I guess I’m a plain Jane and can’t step out out of the box. Definitely not rustic

@porter love this from that website

I think the smaller herringbone would be so pretty and that one you just posted is so pretty. Just be careful of doing too much beige. That is biggest danger here. You can go whiter on the tile and do the slightly darker grout to bring everything together.

I believe they come in all colors as in the color chart posted. You'd have to ask for some samples if you go that direction. The example I posted is a mix of rough and not and the one you posted is smooth which I prefer as well. I could not copy it from the site :) However, if you like it again, believe it is available is so many colors as the chart indicates.

these are the colors I thought may look nice... I believe sky is too cold.

Frost or Winter.... again, as Flo mentions.... you need samples as the monitor is not

our best friend.

@flo are you too much beige not look good? Ideally if I could find a greige I’d be so happy!!

“Greige” on floor with carpet tends to look dirty. To get good look, remember to look at samples on floor or horizontal plane. When you view holding up vertically the look is perceptively different. A more neutral color would leave you with more options with bedding, wall color etc. The new “greige” is off whites!

So true Flo, I just got done painting a huge portion of my downstairs in Aesthetic White by SW after doing of all things some walls in a medical office with it and did accent walls adjacent.

this is my perimeter but I will be doing a white dove island with imperial danby marble on top

oh wow should have looked at the dates of this post