Pick a different tile first. That doesnt work with the counters or cabinets.

Wait until everything is installed, do a sample board w/a few diff colors. (you may want to change your bulbs to something a bit brighter. say, a 4000K temp bulb)

I'd go w/Mapei Frost or Warm Grey.

Warm Grey. I used this w/my tile

Cloe tile with Avalanche Grout.

Frost

The tile is a perfect match. Just worried about it being too monotonous if I go gray or too busy if I go white.

Choosing a grey that picks up a tone from the counter would be my choice. Accessories for color to your level of comfort or seasonally. Mapei Flexcolor is like a urethane grout.

I think you should keep looking. Beautiful cabinetry and counter. So many gorgeous tiles out there. Please search outside the subway.

With any tile, same color grout gives a more uniform look to the backsplash. Contrasting grout makes the individual tiles stand out more. Go with a matching color. You have movement in your countertop and contrasting grout will make the tiled area too busy.

Doing a tile sample board as @Beth H suggests is the best way to see how each tile/grout combination will look. It’s worth the time to be sure.

Stacey I appreciate your input, I do absolutely love this tile though. I love a classic subway tile, and find other types (textured, mosaic, geometric) to be way too trendy. I think a sample board is a great idea. I do think that’ll be the best way to figure out if white will be too busy or gray too uniform. Appreciate all of your opinions!!

carly, I posted about 5 diff colors. do you like any of those?

Beth, I like the frost, probably because it’s the lightest! A lot of people choose oyster gray with this particular tile and I feel like it looks too much like a cement wall. Frost will definitely be one of the ones I try! I was also thinking custom white snow or bleached wood, but would that be too much contrast? I’m also going with 1/16 spacing so it doesn’t create extra business.

I think you're overthinking this. lol. at 1/16, you won't see much. if you want contrast, go lighter grout. if you want to match it, do a gray in the same tone.

frost is a cooler white. I prob would NOT pick that one.

I did Warm Grey w/all of my tile, even the marble (I have carrara on the floor). I think it's the perfet hue. not too white, too cold or too gray.

Overthinking is what I’m doing with everything at this point!! I definitely don’t want anything with cooler tones since the tile is a warmer taupe-y gray and the overall tone of the kitchen is warm grays and wood accents. Will keep warm gray in mind.

Took everyone’s suggestion of doing a sample board and I do think I personally like the white grout better. Grey is pretty up close but I don’t think I like the solid look from afar.

Me too Carly! Beautiful!

I like the white too! Just harder to clean I think? But both look good I do prefer the white look !

I like the white, too. The sample board was a great move.

I kind of like the gray, if it was a tad lighter.

Carly, can you mix equal parts of the gray and white? or 3/4:1/4? lets see how that looks

It just depends on whether you want to highlight the "pattern" of the brick shapes, or let the backsplash be more uniform in color and let the counter pattern stand alone.

@Beth H. : I don’t think people consider mixing colors often enough. We really wanted to match our backsplash tile color so the granite stayed the star. Ended up mixing off white and gray 75/25 to match. Highly recommend getting enough tile & grout to do sample boards - really helpful if you have trouble visualizing the larger effect like I do and lets you see it in different light throughout the day.

abc, do you have a picture of how it turned out? what colors were used?

I think mixing is a great idea if you can't find the 'right' color. I often mix my paints.

The one thing that you have to do when mixing, is mix enough to use at one time! Grouts will never match up if you split the job in half, even if you use one solid color.

Better to have too much of a mixed combo grout than not enough.

I never would have thought to mix grout to get the right shade you need!

@Beth H. : Here is a picture. We have an area across from the sink that are cabinets set up like a hutch, so we did the back wall there with the same tile. We used Tec Power Grout in Standard White and Dove Gray (75/25). We’re happy about how the backsplash blends into the wall (the paint color is much closer to the tile color than it looks in the photo). We chose not to do the whole wall - I know a lot of people love it, but DH is not a fan and there weren’t many things in the reno he had a strong opinion about.

Omg I love that countertop with the matching window sill! I’m debating doing this in my kitchen for plants and stuff!

abc; that looks beautiful. I think your grout color was perfect.

(will husband go for a few floating shelves between the windows? I think if you did the same wood as your cabs it would look even better.

doesn't have to look cluttered. it just accentuates what you already have.

adding some copper elements would look pretty w/your wood color

same wood tone

I'd stage them w/a few plants, and other accessories.

simple

@Beth H. :Thank you for your nice comments and ideas. Floating shelves are in the plans. DH wants to build them, so they are in line after two tables and some other random items (like slats to fix the vent the squirrels chewed up 😀). Hopefully by spring.

it''s always something. whats the name of your stone?

I’ve seen it called either elegant gray or silver gray.

I thought (and think it's the same) as Argento Gray so pretty

I’m going to play the Devil’s advocate. You don’t like textured, geometric or mosaic tile because they are too trendy, but you are choosing a Gray tile? Hmmmm . . .

She’s already said multiple times that she loves the tile, so that point is already well established.

I love the idea of trying a mix of the grout colors. I think the white might be a little busy with the short tiles.

Update: In a twist of events, the warm gray grout dried much lighter than expected (original pictures taken 2 hours after grouting) and our tile guy insisted on using 1/16 spacers instead of butting tiles against each other. I re-made my sample boards using the spacers and I’m loving the warm gray!! It provides contrast yet a softness which matches my vision perfectly!! Thank you Beth for suggesting this color grout!

Very pretty kitchen. Can you tell me the name of the countertop?

It is called Tremedal brown quartzite.

Thanks for coming back to show the final result - looks great - enjoy!

Hi @Carly Tief! Beautiful kitchen! This might be stated somewhere already- but what is your backsplash called? I am having a hard time choosing a backsplash tile for our renovation. Thanks!

Simply beautiful!

Sorry I cannot figure out how to tag you so I hope you see this Jenna- the tile is actually from Home Depot (I found it cheaper on Wayfair) and it’s MSI Highland Park 3x6 subway tile in Dove Gray.

Your whole kitchen is lovely! The tile works perfectly, and the grout choice came out just as it should. I hope you love your kitchen for many years. Worth all the decisions you had to make.

Thanks Carly!