bixa i would say its more on the pink side like ovenbirds looks in the photo above. here is another pic where i think the white balance is better since the green on the walls looks right to me. it does not show a whole lot of the tiles, but what you can see is accurate. i'm linking the tile on sonomas website. to me it looks more pink on this site than in person. Here is a link that might be useful: sonoma stone

Nancy, I think our tile is pretty crumbly, too. There's a fine powder all over whatever surface I put them on, and the back of the tile is really irregular. It makes me wonder how they get the front of the pieces so smooth, without the indentations that the back has. Do they cut the pieces thicker than needed and then somehow grind it down to a smooth surface? Or maybe they fill the front side with something. It's really a remarkable difference between front and back? I really like the look of the marble, but I've tried to find something else that would be easier for DH to work with. However, he says he thinks he will like working with it, I think mostly because he took one tile out in the garage and was happy to find that he could easily polish the sides of the tile pieces so that they would look more finished at the end of the counter run, where the one side is exposed. It sounds like, despite the challenges, you're happy with your choice of backsplash, correct? Anna, Thanks for the link to your kitchen---it's lovely. You really achieved a remarkable transformation, and I do like how your backsplash works with it all. I really like the larger size---what size are they? They look like they're maybe 4x8? We'd like larger, but so far we've only found the subway size at Home Depot that is affordable. Was you tile also a bit crumbly and uneven on the back side? Where did you get yours? Thank you, too, for the information about sealing. It makes sense, now that I think about it, that it would be important to seal before grouting. So you put the tile on the wall, let it dry, then seal, let that dry, then grout, then seal again? Do you use the sealer on the grout, too, not just the marble? We have always sealed our grout, but it would be nice to just use one product that would cover everything. The decision to use the Crema Marfil is not 100% certain, because the granite hasn't been installed yet. We don't want to make the final decision until we have the entire slab installed and we can look at our samples with the installed countertop. However, it was the first thing I found that I liked, remains my favorite, and it's the one DH prefers at this time; so likely we will go ahead with it. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. It's so helpful. Edited to Add: Oops, Anna, I went back and looked at your lovely photos again and noted that in your summary you said that your tiles were 3x6. Guess I didn't read carefully the first time through. This post was edited by sail-away on Wed, Mar 13, 13 at 16:38

hi hungryheart.. So sorry it took me sooooo long to respond...Ha. My tile isn't finished on the side...I just chose to keep it simple...Whether I broke a "rule" or not...I don't know! Maybe someone with knowledge about tiling will set me straight...but just the same, I'm keeping it this way! KA:)

Personally, I'd choose the select. It is right at eye level and you will be looking at it every day. If you choose the lesser grade, there may be many pieces in the boxes that you won't want to use.