We used black marble on our bathroom floor and came up one tile short. I had a heck of a time trying to get a single tile that would match with the rest of what was already installed. I finally gave in and had to order another carton from the same place and sweat until it arrived to see whether it would match the previous batch. Our original batch was wilder and the stuff I saw elsewhere was more serene. I loved both looks, but did not want 1 single tile to stick out like a sore thumb.
If you have a particular look in mind for a natural stone such as marble, it would pay to either ask for pix or only buy in person to make sure what you are picturing in your mind's eye, is what you get.
I hope you love the new bs and dh is smart enough to be forgetful about the entire episode ;)

Any of the marble and even tumbled stone can vary and you just don't know until you open your box just what your run of tile will look like. Be prepared to order extra boxes to pick through.
I also ripped out my first backsplash. Join the club, there are a few of us here. My tile was a simple white crackle tile. It was installed beautifully. But after it was grouted it had a slight grey cast that looked horrible with the granite.How could I have known this would happen? We ripped it out the next day. But then it took me months to find a replacement. It became an obsession. Finally a sale woman said "At some point you need to make peace with this." And she was right. But, I had to go through the process of getting mutiple opinions so I wouldn't make another error.
Post your choices here. GW's will love to give you our opinion.
Good luck. Your husband sound like mine. If he was agreeable to ripping it out, than he is in your corner.

Choice has been made. Ordered. Its coming in next week. Even at the end, it was between 2, the marble and the subway that is porcelain. Oh well.....we are only human and we make mistakes. My husband though he had fun saying he was right (and he was) is now over his gloating and are working on our master bath and my daughters bath. Hopefully it will be less eventful than these experiences but so far do love the kitchen which in the end is the most important thing!

i really wanted calacatta subway tiles to go with my counters but since i cannot be sure of what i'll get, i'm sticking to slabs. this way (hopefully) no surprises. i'm sorry you had to go through that; i can only imagine the stress. i hope you're loving it now!

That happened to me on the decorative inset for the back splash behind my stove. I worked up a design and template for a diamond pattern with rectangular marble tiles around it. It was nice and simple. I explained as well as I could to the person who was installing the tile who did not speak English that well what I wanted, and then went to work.

When I got home, I was somewhat taken aback. I didn't look at the individual tiles and the veining in some was so strong that you lose the pattern of the tile completely.

Of course my DH commented that he liked the 'modern' twist I put in that space. Arrrrrgh. Solution? I am hanging some stainless cooking utensils and will get a non-grungy stainless frying pan in front of it. We already have a wrought iron pot rail attached to the hood from before the face lift. A few weeks later, I don't even notice it.

Here's another don't make the same mistake...

Don't have a cleaning fit and give away all your left over tile on Freecycle.

Now I live in terror of breaking a tile.

Christine