BKO-- No need to apologise, that's for SURE!! Everyone has their own tastes, and if that's not something that trips your trigger, you don't owe anyone any apologies! :-) There IS one other floor that I like as a traditional looking floor (even though it really isn't) that went well with a subway tile bathroom I did a couple of years ago. It even has some blue pearl in it! :-) Or here's another variation of the same thing, but instead of honed carrera in the center, it's all polished, and blue pearl dots have been added inside the border stripe:

You mentioned that you thought about tile. I saw this floor in a magazine and knew right away that I wanted it in my newly remodeled 60 year old house. It combines tile and hardwood for a warm feeling but not the same as the rest of the house that has dark hardwoods. It was not difficult to do either. My builder and I did this one. Here is a link that might be useful:

Hi, Bethcw - Thank you so much for letting me know that you love your mascarpone cabinets. This is such a big decision - I think Mascarpone looks beautiful in the sample, it's nice to hear you love it on your cabinets! nutherokie - I agree that approach makes sense, and I may have to do that. That being said, I really love the mascarpone and acadia paints and I don't feel strongly about subway tile. Maybe I haven't seen enough to really notice the difference between tiles . . . artemis78 and LRy511 - Thank you so much for the suggestions! I will definitely look at those tiles. remodelfla - I would like to get as many samples as possible. Unfortunately, I don't live in an area where I can look at many tile samples. I think I'm going to have to order samples, so I'm hoping to narrow it down. Thanks for all of your help, and I will definitely try to figure out how to post pictures as this renovation moves forward!

Light blue tiles, white basketweave floor, oak gray cabinet. Definitely a lot going on in this space.