Pretty colors. Seems good to me. But I like color!

It could work, but maybe not. slabs of TM vary so much. I would personally wait till you have the counter installed to finalize. TM is so beautiful that you don’t want to take away from that or clash with it. Fireclay & Encore both have great tiles & lots of colors to choose from.

Also when you look at tile and stone, look at them how you'll actually view them. So the tile needs to be vertical and the stone horizontal.

Thanks everyone! I will definitely look at them once the slab is in. I guess my more general question is if taj and colored tile can go together. I like the warmth that the color brings.

I also used Taj Mahal and I'm going through the back splash selection right now. Actually this is version 2.0 as I ripped out version 1.0. Have lots of photos ... be right back!

Kim, I love that one. We weren't planning on gold accents but boy is that wonderful. I do go back and visit it. Chispa, I can't wait to see. What didn't work for you?

These are the ones in my ideabook that had a bit of a green tint to them..

Next, Walker Zanger. Field Tile. Brownstone.

Next, Fireclay tile in Rosemary

It will really depend on the TM slab as they can vary quite a bit. I am slo having a problem mentioned in another post, that one side of my TM slab, that is in the corner, turns a bit pinkish in the late afternoon sun. My tile samples look perfect in one spot and terrible in another, depending on the time of day.

Close up of the Fireclay Rosemary

Pretty close to your sample to give you an idea.

My suggestion is to go ahead with the Taj Mahal installation as this is the main focal point. There are hundreds of options you can choose from once the counter is installed in your kitchen and with the proper lighting, Unless the small sample you have came from the slabs you chose then i would wait on making a final decision. Once you see the overall effect with the cabinets, paint, counters, and lighting already installed then you can borrow samples from tile stores, take them home, live with them a couple of days then make your decision.

Joanna, I have a dark stained kitchen and did a rustic brass hood, so I want a light backsplash. My first try was a very white marble mosaic in a larger scale waterjet cut pattern. It looked good, but was damaged during installation. Had it removed and realized that although it was pretty, it was just too stark with my dark cabinets, so I started the search again.

I am now looking for something a bit more cream/beige, but everything seems to turn very yellow in my space. I am considering Encore tile and have tried nearly every one of their lighter colors and haven't found the right one yet ... waiting for tile shop to get the last 2 samples I haven't tried. Call me Goldilocks!

I'm telling you, my next kitchen will be white cabinets with white counters ... I can then use any color backsplash! Oh, and it will be in a cave so it has no influence from weird natural light variations throughout the day! ;-)

Thanks all, went slab shopping again today. Boy is this hard. I actually really like the Rosemary with the Taj Mahal. The problem is I love fireclay but it has a 6 week ordering timeline. My contractor typically finishes one job and then moves on to the next, one at a time. Because of this if I wait too long I think I will have to rule out the longer time frame tiles.

You can always find a good tile person to install your backsplash later ... don't settle to meet someone else's timeline ... you'll be looking at the backsplash every single day for years to come.

Have you looked at Encore? They have so many options I bet you could find one that has the beiges of Taj Mahal with some greens too. Not sure their lead time though.

look at www.winchestertiles.com their residence collections. I used a color called "Tern" in the 1st picture and there are others as well. best part is they are stocked in Boston and very reasonably priced. second pic below is the color "Mere". my counter is Madre perla which is similar.

BTW They do have rectangle tiles as well.

For Encore tile you are also looking at 6 weeks lead time. I just ordered some samples from them and it was 2 weeks to get a specific deco tile in a specific color, not something they have in stock.

The Silver Haze looks too yellow on my screen. The rosemary looks like it blends better.

Thanks all. I think I will likely end up with a warm taupe or something similar. I will decide once the slab is installed. Chispa, can't wait to see what you decide.

Joanna, I am reading along here with the same dilemma! Fell in love with the Taj after seeing it in a kitchen our contractor recently finished in Roseville. I think it's your yours! With the beautiful crackle backsplash? I was thinking I'm in the same situation of not wanting to wait until the counters are in to decide since Gary will be moving on to his next job! Your kitchen is my inspiration! Beautiful!

Kathy, that sounds like our kitchen. We love what we ended up with. It is Otter from sonoma tilemakers. It looks great. Gary is wonderful to work with. Final result for our backsplash with Taj Mahal.