Do you have time to do a sample board? This will give you the assurance you need. I think your choice will tie everything together nicely but only you can decide if the darker grout is the way to go .
Good luck!

Do you have time to do a sample board? This will give you the assurance you need. I think your choice will tie everything together nicely but only you can decide if the darker grout is the way to go .
Good luck!

If you can find the time to do some sample boards over the weekend, I would highly recommend it. Give the grout at least a day to dry as the color can change quite a bit. We used Crema Marfil marble tile (creamy beige). I was planning on using a grout just slightly lighter than the tile. DH is doing this, so I had plenty of time to look at it. After the tile was up, but before he could grout it, we decided we kind of liked seeing the pattern with the shadows of the gaps in the tile. We ended up doing 5 sample boards of grout. Very light looked like cheap caulk. Grout both slightly lighter and the same color as the tile made it look sort of homogenous, but as the stone tiles are not all the exact same color, it had some random variation to it that, and since you couldn't really determine the tile pattern easily from a distance, we didn't really care for the look. Since you are using ceramic tile, this won't be an issue for you. We also tried a grout slightly darker, and one quite a bit darker. The darkest grout was way too dark. We ended up going with the grout that was slightly darker.

I'll try to post a picture later (can't now from work). I'm sure we would have liked the backsplash if we had used the original grout as planned, but I really do like what we ended up with. Sample boards would really be worth your while, and you would be more certain that you made the right choice.

I'm picking up the tile tomorrow (Sat.) so I actually would have nearly 48 hours to do some sample boards. I had to buy nearly 10 sq. ft. more tile than I need (sold only by the box), so I ought to have enough to play with.

Is there any way to buy small quantities of grout? My tile store just sells it by the bag/box at $16. I suppose an investment to get it right is worth it, but I don't want to spend more than $32 figuring this out.

Also, wondering about brands. Do they generally have the same colors?

We used a darker grout to tie in with the soapstone. I really like how it turned out:

I used sample boards. One sample of grout was actually caulk, cause that was the white that I had at the time. Someone could tell there was something off with the caulked one, when I posted my help wanted picture. Here is my sample board and my finished project. Grout will lighten when dry so if you go dark don't let it freak you out at first, wait for at least 24 hours to see the color.
Sample board:

1/2 wet grout:

I have sonoma krazy krackle in my kitchen 2x6. I went with antique white by laticrete. I liked how it came out, I might have even gone a smidge darker.
This is my backsplash

This is Blakey's creamy sonoma tile, I like her grout but don't know the name.

I have to make a decision for my bathroom floor grout by Monday, so I am in the same boat.
Honed marble hex floor, delorean gray or mist(Tec grout). Uggh!!

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: question about grout with creamy tile

Thanks so much everybody! I don't want a busy backsplash, but I do want some definition.

enduring, your backsplash is one of my very favorites. I would have the exact same thing in a heartbeat. Next time. :) Even when your grout was scary dark, it looked good.

positano, Krazy Krackle was one of the colors I looked at, until GW told me to back away from the yellower tiles. I do love Sonoma tiles. Yours look really good still with definition. I have the Star (square) line so there's less pillowing. Good luck with your floor grout decision!

leela, your grout is perfect with your soapstone. Very pretty.

ellendi, I couldn't find Katydid's post. Will search again later.

Now off to pick up my tile! Haven't seen 3x6 in the flesh yet.

Linelle, thanks for the complement. Best of luck to you with your project. I look forward to seeing what you've chosen.

enduring- what color grout did you use on your backsplash? Amazing how much it lightens after a day. Kind of looks like delorean gray, which I'm thinking of using on my carrerra hex floor.

I did by accident, but it was a happy accident. I was on the phone and not paying attention to what I was doing and picked up linen grout. I was thinking linen would probably be off-white. Uh, no. It was tan. I like that it makes the subway tile pop and tie in with the tan in the granite.