Look into a tumbled marble called bottocino.

Disregard the accent pieces in the following backsplash! I'm posting it because it's Bottocino tumbled stone with cream colored cabinets and a dark granite countertop. :-)

My kitchen turned out too white and I have giallo ornamental as the countertop so I feel your pain! The Bottocino looks nice but it is in the tan family. I also looked into it but was nervous because I was told that the pieces can be different and are not as standard as a ceramic tile. Since your counter is black, I think something in the gray tones would be a good transiton. Your idea of green would be nice too!

I wouldn't throw the idea of marble backsplash away just yet. Below are some pics of off white cabinets with whiter shades of marble to give you a visual. I find it hard to piece things together on my own and visuals helped me. I would also recomend buying some marble, glue it to a board, grout it and set it against the wall. I almost did not choose marble as a backsplash until a gal at the tile shop told me to take home a sample board (already grouted). I love different shades of white in a room. I hope this helps!

Here is a pic of my sample boards with black counters.

Below is a link to the same topic as yours!

Here is a link that might be useful: cream cabinets with white marble

Bill, I do like tumbled marble but don't want to get into the beige zone as I already have black, white, gray (wall paint) and green accessories.

ellendi, thanks for the suggestion of gray tones. I will check that out in addition to green.

megpie77, thanks for keeping the marble possibility alive! It helped seeing the visuals as well. I will have to try some sample boards to see if it could work. Since marble usually has gray and the wall paint is gray....could work!

Thanks all for your responses. I love this site.

denise