I have a friend who has Kashmere White with a white kitchen. But her granite seems to have a greenish undertone. She has a white tile but it seems to have the same under tone as the granite. This is very very tricky.
And personally, I don't have an eye to do this.
Ordinarily the joke on GW is "what about white subway tiles" as many of us have a version of this. But, in the case of your kitchen, I fear it will look too sterile.
I was in the same boat as you. My BM White Dove cabinets read very white in my kitchen. Not realizing this we picked a granite with lots of brown. You don't do brown and white! I tried a white subway and it looked terrible. We immediately replaced it with a cream colored tile. This was a good choice to transition between the stark white and the brown.
What colors do you see in the granite? The pictures are small and it is hard to tell how it reads. I would look for a color that can transition between the white of your cabinets to the color of the granite.

What kind of style are you aiming for? A subway tile would give your kitchen a classic look. If you want something more contemporary you could look for a mosaic tile. There are so many that would go with your countertops and cabinets.

How about a pastel and/or an arabesque? I think pastel because of the paint color and the delicate colors in the granite. We have Kashmir Gold which has a lot of blue-gray, so we picked up on the blue. Yours looks like it might have some green undertones, so maybe a very pale green?

Or here's an arabesque that might be interesting:

I think what might be throwing you off is the orange walls. This might not be the right shadeof paint to work with your granite.

I absolutely love your kitchen and in a heartbeat I would go white on the back splash. White Kashmir is my favorite granite. If you want a contrast with the white, do a row of soft gray or whatever soft color you can pull out of the granite. I just put in granite and wanted to use White Kashmir but was voted down. Now I have St. Cecilla Light, don't particularly like it, and can't find anything to go with it but tumbled marble. To punish the "voters", all I talk about all day is what to use on the back splash.

Thank you everyone for suggestions and comments.

ellendi, I TOTALLY agree that the wall color does not go with the countertop... I had a "color-consultant" when we did the house painting and I showed her the sample of kashmere white and she picked this creamy orange color... I had doubts about it and had asked her if she is sure that the paint will go well with the countertop and she kept assuring that it would be OK... :( As so many people in this forum said many times, one should not get pushed into any decisions since it's not those people who will live in the house..

Well, that said, regardless of the wall color, the only concern I had with white subway was the space looking a bit too sterile as you have pointed out... The countertop has some dark grey, light grey, beige and garnet spots. Any of those colors I tried to have in tile colors and none of them seem to go well with the orange.

suzannesl, I do like the arabesque tiles. One question in using it would be how it will look the small space ( jjdcl, I think I am more comfortable with something more traditional - I am not very design-centric. So I am not sure if I were to go with anything too bold, I can keep it together with other parts of thehouse... I rather go with something that would blend in well with others

lindyd, thank you so much for liking my kitchen. I really do like my countertop. It's one of the things that I keep thinking that i made a good decision for (unlike the paint color...). One of the contender for the backsplash was 2.5x5" white subway till DH asked, "wouldn't it look too white with lighter countertop and white cabinet?" And as you can see, my cabinet is really white - Ikea cabinet.

Sigh... white will go OK even with this paint color but not sure if it will look too white/sterile/hospital looking... I even found some other subway tiles with some other colors as I have said and none of them seem to go well with the wall color...

Thank you again for your input!

Re-paint! :)

Seriously, don't pay good money for tiles you are settling on. Find something that goes with the cabinets and granite then find a paint that ties it all together. Paint is cheap. It's an 'easy' fix. I know it's a pain to re-paint, but it really seems it is the color that's throwing things off.

Thank you everyone for suggestions and comments.

ellendi, I TOTALLY agree that the wall color does not go with the countertop... I had a "color-consultant" when we did the house painting and I showed her the sample of kashmere white and she picked this creamy orange color... I had doubts about it and had asked her if she is sure that the paint will go well with the countertop and she kept assuring that it would be OK... :( As so many people in this forum said many times, one should not get pushed into any decisions since it's not those people who will live in the house..

Well, that said, regardless of the wall color, the only concern I had with white subway was the space looking a bit too sterile as you have pointed out... The countertop has some dark grey, light grey, beige and garnet spots. Any of those colors I tried to have in tile colors and none of them seem to go well with the orange.

suzannesl, I do like the arabesque tiles. One question in using it would be how it will look the small space ( jjdcl, I think I am more comfortable with something more traditional - I am not very design-centric. So I am not sure if I were to go with anything too bold, I can keep it together with other parts of thehouse... I rather go with something that would blend in well with others

lindyd, thank you so much for liking my kitchen. I really do like my countertop. It's one of the things that I keep thinking that i made a good decision for (unlike the paint color...). One of the contender for the backsplash was 2.5x5" white subway till DH asked, "wouldn't it look too white with lighter countertop and white cabinet?" And as you can see, my cabinet is really white - Ikea cabinet.

Sigh... white will go OK even with this paint color but not sure if it will look too white/sterile/hospital looking... I even found some other subway tiles with some other colors as I have said and none of them seem to go well with the wall color...

Thank you again for your input!

Apologize for it. Do not know how to delete own posting... Humph...

I am seriously thinking of re-painting. But it won't be right away - DH will roll his eyes and say no... Especially because we have a mudroom left to the door that you see a tiny bit of on the upper left corner in the picture and that has tow tall cabinets we put in with the kitchen reno and it's sitting in a very tight space. If we were to repaint that part we will have to take that cabinet down and repaint side wall and the back and put it back up...

I can live in a mis-matched space in anticipation to getting in done in the future...

Well, what color would you suggest the repainting should be?

I feel you on DH - my last house had a mustard yellow living room for 4 years until we needed to re-paint for selling. I swore it would be a warm gold and it wasn't and DH did not think we needed to repaint it. But I also lived with it and looked at the other pretty things in the space, instead!

For a new color, I don't think you'd pick that now. You find a BS tile that you love and that looks great with your counters and cabinets. Then you pick a new paint color. You might pull one of the greys from the counter, or maybe a new color will be found in the BS tile. At least that's what I would do (though my mustard yellow choice might mean I'm not the best judge!).

Thank you for sympathizing with me :) I guess there is a god thing that I am not super design-able - I CAN live with something that looks a bit off without having too much pain everyday. :0 I will just look at things that I enjoy looking at till I gather enough reason, courage and strength to get it re-painted :)

Your kitchen is very pretty. The peachy paint takes
away from your granite and perhaps this is what is pushing
you to find a backsplash. Are you in a hurry?
Sometimes waiting until you find your true love is
perfectly fine. There are many on GW who live with
only painted walls rather than a BS they are not happy
with. Repainting your space might give you less pressure
to cover the peach and find a color that sooths the
space rather than fight with it.

If you do not have to sell, time is on your side while
you shop, search and discover a treasure.
~boxer

How about rich taupe-y (that's how your granite looks to me) porcelain 6x6 tiles set on the diagonal? You can throw a few horizontal decorative inserts in if you like, either random or evenly spaced. Hopefully you have a sample of your granite to bring to the tile store to make sure they match nicely. Then paint a neutral shade just slightly lighter or deeper than the tile. I think it would look really classy, but my taste runs very traditional and I prefer more "relaxed" looking backsplashes. Good luck!

I've lived with some paint I hated (dark green bathrooms, hospital green trim in a bedroom etc) and all I can say is if it bugs you you will be so happy when you change it. Even if you have to paint it yourself--painting trim is a pain in the neck, but walls are not such a big deal and it goes pretty fast with a roller. Would take you a weekend.

Choosing colors: I always order a bunch of the little two ounce samples from Benjamin Moore and put them up in different spots around the room. Once you've done that, you are committed to repainting!

Here's a taupe/pinkish color that is much more muted than what you've got--we have it on wall in our dining room and it looks good with burgandy chair cushions so I thought of it looking at the garnet in your granite.

Here is a link that might be useful: Benjamin Moore King Arthur's Court

Originally I was going to suggest white subway tiles, but looking at your photo the first thing that pops out at me is that you don't seem to have a kitchen shrine and this really concerns me more.

hi jyk- do you mind me asking how much did you pay for your counter? We are in the midst of picking ours up and we have similar layout minus the island.

For more interest you could always do subway tiles in a herringbone pattern. I think a cool color on the walls would look nice with the white, black, and gray in the granite. A pale gray with a bit of a blue undertone would look nice.

Thank you for all your comments. :)

Boxer, we had the backsplash included in the contract with our contractor so we sort of have to do it together... If we were more experienced with remodeling, we would not have done it the way we set it up but... oh, well...

Leslie and jdcl, I like your suggestions. I have been actually looking at either taupe tiles and gray tiles. There ARE so may shades of these tiles that actually have been rather confusing for me but your mentioning these olors sort of assures me!

Cinlyklein... now... what is a kitchen shrine? Maybe something that I should do a search for?

pdxkit, We paid $3315 for what came out to be 67 sqft of the area. The island is about 52" x 36" (39" x 24" cabinet and 12" overhang on two sides). I have replied to your email about the price detail on our granite, too. Hope that helps!