A pedestal tub and cherry cabinets can be either traditional or contemporary - which direction are you going? If you were going traditional, riffing off Bill's idea, what about one of the larger hexes, 2" (Daltile Keystone Shapes) or even 4" (can't remember who makes it but I know someone here in the last two years used it)? American Olean "Chloe" mosaic with the white or silver-gray centers would also be pretty. If money's very tight, the white-on-white version of Daltile Octagon-and-Dot, which is quite inexpensive, would provide plenty of visual texture and, with a silvery gray grout, enough pattern to keep it from being a dull white floor. However, I think the carrara counter might get lost against a white or white-and-gray floor. If you're leaning toward something more contemporary, I think a slate-look porcelain with a gray-blue base and brown accents in it, like American Olean "Earthscapes" in Rainforest, would look really smashing. Blue is a wonderful complement to cherry and the gray would tie back to the gray in the marble. Green tones are also wonderful with cherry - maybe Daltile "Continental Slate" in Brazilian Green (this has a matching mosaic for a shower floor) has enough gray to pick up the marble veining as well as green and brown to complement the cherry. Or something slicker would be a sort of concrete-ish look, like Daltile's "City View" in "Downtown Nite" which is sort of a medium gray. Daltile's "Donegal" in Grigio would be a subtle but not dull floor, in a silvery gray to pick up the marble veining; it would allow many other things to star and keep the feel of the room lighter. How much maintenance are you willing to deal with? A large-format charcoal gray (like Daltile "Era" in Olos) on the floors would make the cherry glow and both the carrara marble and the white tub "pop" as the "stars of the show", but a really dark color does show every trace of lint and hair and soap scum. I could see it as well for the shower - a colorbody porcelain tile could be cut down to the appropriate size by your tile setter, since you need smaller tiles for traction - with a decorative band or two of carrara tiles horizontally around the shower and as a border on the floor to get the maximum impact from a minimum amount of the more expensive stone. Since your room is so big, you could get away with a big tile - the "Era" tile comes in a 12x24 that could be laid in a common brick or a herringbone pattern which would look amazing. Daltile "Veranda" is a pretty reliable tile, in Gunmetal or Patina for the darker look, or Steel for the lighter look to blend with the countertop. It comes in a 6x20" which could be used to create some really great patterns. There are a lot of great tiles on the market, BTW, I'm just most familiar with Dal and AO's lines, they're very easy to find and for the most part reasonably priced. (If you're interested in something from Daltile, watch Home Depot for their 20% off all special order flooring sales, as this includes all tile. Their prices beat the living ahem out of any of the tile stores when I ordered my Daltile tile there. It's exactly the same tile as you would get in a tile store, don't let anyone tell you it's inferior.) Did you have any plans for the main bathroom's walls? Tiled wainscot, just paint, special finishes like Venetian plaster?

I don't normally like this look, only because I think in ten years it's going to be really easy to date a kitchen from about 2003 to 2010 by the colored island contrasting the cabs.....but in a period home I feel totally different about it, especially for islands because they didn't exist when the home was built. In a local home here (about 1870) they have done three different paint colors on their cabs in milk paint, and it has a very unfitted look for a basically fitted kitchen because they have used multiple cabinet styles. The main style is a simple shaker but mixed in are a couple of hutch looking areas done in fancier cabs so they look like they migrated to the kitchen over time (both are different) then there is their fabulous island which they did in quarter sawn oak, built in a mission style like a large bureau. It workls perfectly to enhance the feel of their period home, which they are restoring very true to it's original feel. The hutch cabs have reclaimed marble tops from other pieces long gone and they are about an inch below the main counter. The other counters are wood aside from the zinc in the butlers pantry and the island is soapstone. I love the way they were inspired by a period look but made it functional and expect to be doing something similar in my 1889 home. I'm expecting to paint one island and do the other in wood to resemble an old store counter (likely in oak) but will be doing the sink in a different style with distressed paint (to look like a dry sink) and the hutch will be in antique pine. It sounds busy if you think of your kitchen in a 2000 way, but in a turn of the previous century way that's exactly what a kitchen looked like. So my vote is...yes to the painted island, but if you really want to enhance the period feel consider changing a few more things and maybe add another color in as well. :).

There really is no substitute for seeing the potential choices in the actual space because the way the light plays in your kitchen won't be just the same as someone else's. Ex: we thought the blue-gray we used in our north facing LR would also be good in our north facing MBR. Nope, it was terrible even though the LR is our favorite color choice in the house. You don't have to stick paint chips on your new walls, though. Our local BM paint store carries "paint chip" boards that are meant to be painted with your test colors and leaned up against the wall. I think you could do the same thing by going to Michael's and buying a sheet of foamboard and cutting it up. Bound to be a lot less expensive. A bonus is that you could prepare these boards now using a variety of colors. They can be placed in the kitchen with samples of your floor, cabs, and counter for decision making. In the end, money spent on paint samples is well worth the cost.

I will post pictures when it's all said and done. I still can't decide! I asked the builder if he knew of any model homes with any of the colors on the walls so I can see it in person. It's too hard to choose from just a swatch in a binder! I've attached a link of the approximate granite and cabinet colors if that would help anyone with their opinion! :) Here is a link that might be useful: