Well, I bought my counters today. I ended up going with a honed black absolute for the parimeter, and a honed crema marfil marble for both islands. The fabricator told us it will need sealing on the marble every 3-6 months, but has a wipe on sealer he will give us. It was just the perfect color to compliment my cabinets and my marble floor as well. I tested lemon juice, palmolive, and tomato paste on the marble and on the polished side within one hour the lemon juice pitted the marble and the other 2 left a dull spot on the polish. On the backside that was unfinished, but matte (more honed look) the lemon juice left a bleach like spot, but nothing else bothered it, so the fabricator assured us if we are diligent in sealing on the honed it would be ok. I am going to have my husband cook with brown paper on the islands regardless though :) I spent so many months looking for counters and the only thing that was making me happy was marble as far as looks, I could never find the color of calacatta I wanted without any grey, so I just had to take a chance and go for it. It was so reasonable too, which was a deciding factor. I got all 4 slabs (which covers my islands, parimeter, an entertainment center top, and 2 cutting boards) and a 2" mitered straight edge on all edges for 5K including the fabrication and install so it was just too good to pass up. We'll see how it goes.

We have lots of customers that use marble in their kitchens, but it definitely isn't for everybody. Here is a photo of a kitchen after about 1 year of use with the etch/water marks on the surface. And where it has gotten beat up around the sink. For more information, you can read a blog I just posted that features this particular kitchen: Marble Durability

I think I'm following you Pennydesign. You are saying the sheetrock might be bulkier which then the tile would not be able to meet it properly. Is that right? I will have to check the caulk line for the shower door. I haven't even thought of that. We are using a frameless door. If centered I think it would fall just to the left of the center of the curb. I'm assuming you want the door centered on the curb ideally? Don't many people have a grout line there using bullnose? There should only be three places where screws will be used and we have 2x4 support built in for that behind the tile. Could that be a problem?

Only a slightly old post but I'm still here and more than happy to help! Never hurts to ask! :) We LOVE our backsplash and did end up using white grout (I'm afraid I do not remember the exact name!). Here's a pic. It's held up perfectly and we have absolutely no problem keeping it clean. Every once in awhile I'll have a sauce splash behind the stove but it just wipes away. We got our tile at Home Depot - I'm sorry they are sold out. It's an MSI tile - I bet you can find other places! Good luck and let me know if you have more questions.