Some of the tiles on the shower head side cracked. The other sides are fine. The standard 4 x 4s fit, but they are off-color and really don't look good. If the subway tiles will look horrible then I'll use the 4 x 4 and maybe try to color match them somehow, but I'd rather retile the whole side (only the shower head side).

Would you consider the 4x4 tile in a contrasting color (for the whole side)? In a color to coordinate with your paint or floor. If you can’t match the whites, perhaps this is an option. It’s hard to tell if this will work without some pix.

Sounds like you might be compromising the waterproofing