Thanks for the feedback and compliments on the granite everyone. It sounds like all of you are on the same page and think I should wait. I am having a hard time figuring out how to make that happen. Our kitchen project is a remodel and we hired a general contractor to do the work. His crew does most of the work. Our project is scheduled to take six weeks. With the lead time on the tile, I can't wait until the cabinets and granite are installed and still have the backsplash completed as part of the project. Would you all still just wait? The pictures were taken in my current kitchen and the amount of lighting won't be changing. We live in a heavily shaded area and we have very little natural light in our kitchen even with windows along the back of the house. The amount of light wont be a lot different in the new kitchen. I know the piece of granite is just a small part of the slab but with some of the grey and tan tones in the floor tile I thought the smoke would work better overall. I think I am going to drive myself crazy with all of the decisions that have to be made before this project is over...

Had to step away from the computer in mid-post (renovation going on even as I type), and you got a lot of great responses I hadn't seen when I completed my post! All the options Boxerpups posted look great to me, sort of what I had in mind. You could go with the brick pattern tile (like in the 2nd option you listed) or all square, either one. I think we often get caught up in the design process, wanting everything to "pop", when really we need to step back & let some of the design be plainer & highlight other aspects. I am still having to convince my husband we need a plainer backsplash to offset the very busy granite we both like! However, neither of us likes completely plain, solid-color subway tile backsplash....

Herb ~ I thought about using an accent behind the cooktop but I'm not sure I like them! I really like the diamond too. Philo ~ I'll look at the waterjet tile tonight, thanks for the link! The cabinets were custom made by a local shop. I went with a 3" stile and rail and absolutely love the look. The leathered steel grey is even better in person ;) Barncatz ~ The first thing I learned on Houzz... everything looks better with your pet in the pic! Great idea about grouting the sheets... I wonder if they sell small samples? The convex tile was purchased at Arizona Tile and it's priced really well so using that would save me a ton! We put it up horizontally and vertically, I like it horizontal. H202 ~ Do you like the marble subway or the plain tile? Nosoccer ~ I love the look of that light grey grout. Mayflowers ~ Would the white diamond be too much pattern or should I be looking at texture vs color?

I think it looks just fine as is. Are you getting rid of the short granite backsplash? Are you adding the mosaic tile on top of the granite backsplash or with it removed? I think it would look too busy either way. Even with the grout a matching color, which would be best, I really think it would look better if you did nothing. Money saved! If you bought the tile already, just return it. Sorry if this doesn’t help. :-(