I have sought lots of help from these forums already so am very grateful for the help I have received for the items that I have purchased. Cabinets are purchased and will be here in about 4 weeks. They are Kraftmaid Cherry in Kaffe stain, style is a slightly more ornate than regular shaker door with a couple sizes of bow pulls in satin nickel. Granite has been purchased, it is Delicatus. Sink has been purchased, Blanco Silgranit Super Single in Anthrocite. Faucet has been purchased, Hansgrohe Talis S High Arc in SS Optic. Appliances are mostly decided but not purchased (going with SS).

Here is a sample display at Lowes which shows the actual cabinet style in the actual color that I will be getting (not the granite or puls)

Here is a layout. Backsplash will probably just be on the left side and range/hood wall, not under the shelves on the right. I had a thought to extend it all the way up that wall, but think that will look odd with the door frame there, so am now thinking of just going to the bottom of the range hood.

Now moving on to paint and backsplash, and I find that I am a bit lost so here I am asking for more help. I am trying for a transitional style (I tend to like contemporary in kitchens, but my house is more traditional so I want it to blend).

The walls are currently a light gray and I like it quite a bit. If it doesn't fit into our new kitchen, then I'll certainly repaint. The backsplash is what I am really struggling with. The granite is quite lovely, but I feel that it is pretty showy so I want a backsplash that complements it, not fight it. I also opted to not have any cabinets on the smallish wall that the hood will be on, so have the option of doing something more decorative there....but what?

I plan on waiting until the cabinets and granite are installed to decide on backsplash, but am trying to get just a general idea of what I am doing. I have been playing around with ideas, so here are a couple of options with the color of door (not style) and the granite slab.

With this one, I like the fact that it has both grays and browns (just like the granite), but worry that it will be too busy with the Delicatus (plus on my computer the tones look OK, but who knows in real life)

I love love love Daki's kitchen with framed granite slab behind the range and interesting shaped subways for the rest of the room and have thought about doing something similar (husband isn't quite sold on this, but if the price isn't outrageous and it is logistically possible, I think I can convince him). Here is the inspiration

I have also been tossing around the idea of just doing doing some sort of interesting subway tiles all the way around. Either an interesting shape like above, laying them stacked instead of staggered for a more contemporary look, or finding some that have more of a contemporary edge, like the Solistone Mardi Gras series (but none of the colors seems to worrk - boo!)

Any ideas, preferences?