Hi live wire oak, the back splash is gray and white but my lighting in the kitchen makes everythng look more warm or yellow tone for some reason (fluorescent). I really don't like an orangeish tone at all, the laminate counter has no orange in it but beige, black and gray. here's another photo of the back splash and counter.

Bill - can't a tile person do it this way? Can they be set almost touching, grouted WITHOUT filling the pits in the marble?? If the marble is sealed, how would it then be a breeding ground for bacteria? You CAN NOT set tumbled marble that close without culling through alot of stone to get the proper sized ones you want. I'm about to do a wall hanging project where I bought literally three times the entire square footage for just this reason-- to be able to cull through and get the stone I want for it. That's 45 square feet for a 15 square foot project at 7.00 a foot. Tumbled marble varies so much in size that to set it tight like that would end up in misalignment of the tiles pretty quickly, and then the whole thing would end up looking like hell. appears to be mostly contractor types with will intentioned advise but laced with poor opinions of kitchen designers. Actually I'M the one with a poor opinion of MOST kitchen designers. Many of them don't think things through. So long as they can create a piece of eye candy that THEY like, they're happy. Now, NOT ALL of them are like this. I know of several good KD's. But I've also heard more than my share of horror stories about them. I feel that contractors objectives on a backsplash job may be to get in and get out as quickly as possible, and to do at least a good enough to not get called back for rework. If you'd gone through my gallery AT ALL, you'd never make that statement. They may not want to do a project with grouted joints but leaving the aesthetically desirable voids of tumbled travertine/marble unfilled because it would be hard to do and take too long. That's simply ludicrous. If someone's willing to pay for my time, I'm willing to do what they ask, no matter HOW crazy I think it is, so long as it's not detrimental to the installation. There's a project I've posted many times here and at John Bridge's forum of a roman tub, deck, and circular floor that I did years ago-- total about 150 square feet, and it tooke me three work weeks to install because of the way the homeowner wanted it installed. So don't tell me I'm not willing to put in the time. Concerning some earlier questions, the tile are spaced at about 1/16" +/- You've got two courses of the same sized stone together. Try doing an entire backsplash with that small a joint!! and are set in white mastic. This one speaks for itself.

I just got some wood switch plates at Home Depot and picked up some similar colors of the marble at the craft store for about .79 @ and dappled it on the wood to resemble the marble. You can experiment on a piece of cardboard to get the effect you like. I just left mine as is without a clear coat, but once it is dried you could easily brush on a clear. I just wouldn't do too glossy, so it will match the marble better.

I have a few that look like #1 or #3, very few. I am on "vacation" or I would post some more of my picture....do a search and you will see some of our pavers...I posted some pics in a message with the title "pool almost finished in NJ". My travertine or tumbled marble is not quite as bad as yours. I am not sure what the "proper" name for our stone is. The bill said the coping was travertine and the decking material was "tumbled marble/travertine". We did have a few pieces my installer didnt like but we returned them with the extra that we overordered. The holes I think are too big, will be filled with a comperable colored grout....already filled a few but sand was still in some so I am waiting for a few good rain storms and then will mix up more grout and fill a couple more. The coping was grouted and all the holes were filled when they grouted the seams. Are you sure you have the good side up, there is a side that has the saw cuts and I found most of my pits were on the side you dont use. We love the look, its not perfect but its not suppose to be. Our last pallet was the best pallet...too bad. The stone is naturally chalky. We sealed ours with Stone(something) Enhancer Pro...I am not home to check the product name...again, the name is in that NJ post. It reduced the chalkiness (if that is a word). It was very expensive but brought out all the beautiful colors in the stone. (It did not make it slippery either) It was expensive, $200 a gallon. We used over a gallon on our deck which I think is around 1300 sq feet. We plan on sealing it again in the fall. It has to be 100% dry which is hard to achieve in Fl during the summer. It takes a few days for the stone to completely dry out. Our color is the noche or walnut. I will post picks when we return.