Your island counter isn’t a huge consideration, but it’d be great to see a picture. If you feel you are in a situation where you are trying to accomodate unlike things (grey and tan) you really have two options. Try to find a tile that uses a mix of both (like you are trying to do by looking at tiles with a lot of glaze color variation), or just swerve into the skid by chosing a tile that matches your tan counter very well. The eye focuses on the counter and backsplash as a single color and reduces the busy-ness of the mix.

White, warm or not, would be a no. It’ll stick out like a sore thumb.

Thank you for the advice. I’ve attached photos of our kitchen.. we are refinishing floors to be a mid-tone neutral color. We are painting (color tbd). we are getting a custom hood so everything above stove will be ripped out. Tile will go up to ceiling above window.

Oh those are lovely perimeter counters

You already have a 4” backsplash in the same material. Do you not like it?

Nope.. we are ripping it out so we can have backsplash up the wall.

Here are the two tile options with some color variation.. the Luna White has variation in each tile. It looks weathered or dirty (in a good way?) The Celine has variation from tile to tile.. but the samples I received are all gray

You have the advantage of seeing this in your space and your light, so if you think white is what you want, go for it. The color variation in the Celine tile is beautiful, but it might look too busy, and you have much less space to view it in than your inspiration image. I would go for something like Fireclay Tile’s Gardenia, possibly in a beautiful shape.

Bedrosians Clara is nice. I need a warm white too for my kitchen backsplash and liked it better than the Chloe. https://www.bedrosians.com/en/product/detail/clara-tile/?itemNo=100000800&queryid=24810f79235c97329a18b37d36faa6d7. There is a white and an ivory in glossy or matte.

This is something that needs o be done in person; if you can, remove the smaller backsplash section and take it to a good tile shop in your area. There's plenty of options out there.

I just ordered and sent back a pallet of Kingston White because it looked pink when we unboxed it. It was weird because the samples did not seem pink at all. I almost went with Emser’s Raku white, but it was just a little off from the color I needed. Such a beautiful, soft color. It’s white without being stark (or pink!). Emser will send you a sample if you don’t have a nearby showroom. I believe Home Depot carries it as well.

https://www.emser.com/products/raku

Thank you everyone for taking time to give me advice and suggestions. i really appreciate it. 💙