Here is a picture of the counters right after they were installed - the windows were still covered from the painting outside when they took this picture but you get the idea:

First off, love those counters. Those slabs are really nice. In regard to your backsplash, can you give us some more information? What are your floors? What type of look are you going for in your kitchen or adjoining rooms? Those cabinets would look good with a number of styles, so knowing what direction you are going would help. What style hardware are you using on the cabinets?

I think some sort of color would look good, but I prefer a a space that's not white on white on white. Maybe a soft grey or tan glass if you like a modern look. For a more traditional look, a light crackle green subway might look nice. What's your favorite color? Maybe some shade of that.

Good luck with your backsplash.

Thanks all!

I guess more information would be helpful!

Very traditional painted brick georgian style house. I tend towards the simple, rather than the ornate. Dark stained (Coffee Brown) 5" wide white oak floors. Kitchen opens with a large paneled jamb into the den.

I love the concept of color (love blues and greens) but am scared to do it. . . I am a white on white person, so probably will go that direction.

Here are a few more pictures of the house so you can see the style. . .

Exterior:

Rest of kitchen and paneled jamb into den

Gorgeous marble. Can you tell us about your sink? Is it a low divide?

thanks.

Athensmom--are those French doors on the front or window? Just beautiful.

Phorbin--love your kitchen color too.

Yes, it is a low divide sink by Kohler. It is the even divide, but they have one that has one side larger and smaller. I am just used to the even divide and like it so I was glad it came like this. I got it from Faucet Direct - they seemed to have the best price.

We did Ticor sinks in the bar and basement and they are excellent quality, but they didn't have the squared corner raidus ones in the equal divide like I wanted.

And yes, those are french doors, sort of. Two go into a study and the other two are in the dining room (there are two more on the other wall of the dining room). They are actually sidelights mulled together and don't open (we wouldn't open them anyway because of furniture placement and the fact that the study is very small) and it was MUCH cheaper (like almost 20k cheaper) to do them like that since we have 6 of them. They turned out great in person though, so that is one area where our window guy steered us right!

Here it is from the inside - paint color isn't right but you get the idea!

Phorbin - thanks for the subway tile recommendation - yours looks great! And I love your cabinets and hardware ;)

what a beautiful kitchen and house!

not wanting to hijack this thread, but can you email me the details about your fake french doors? (should be available if you click on my name). Do you know if real French doors can be purchased like that also? I just love that look!!

thanks!

scrappy25 - sent you an email!

Absolutely beautiful home. Your kitchen looks beautiful. I love the contrast of the floor and cabinets. Do you have any other pics where you can see more of the floor with the cabinets? I am not sure what this type of subway tile is called but I saw it today at tile showcase, its a crackled white tile, really gave a nice look without going too creamy. BTW, I wish I was told about the double side lights, we just ordered a 3 set of french doors for the family room and it was so expensive! What brand of cabinetry did you use? If you know, what was the price difference to go from 3 1/4 (i guess this is what some builders call standard?) oak to 5 inch?

Athens - Where did you get your Alabama from? I would like to use the same. What was the price range you found for it?

Oh Athens! It is turning out so lovely! You must be beyond excited...your choices look fabulous. We just got regular white ceramic subways from The Tile Shop...so not at all exciting, but I wanted a plain tile so it worked. I would get lots of samples and see which looks best with your absolutely stunning marble!

Hi Athensmom,

I have Vermont Danby Olymipan white, it's really close to Alabama--very white, similar veining.

In one section we did a slab of Danby, in the other section we're going with tile from Somoma Tilemakers. I chose the arched herringbone in a color called Cirrus, which is a barely-there light, light green, but they have several gorgeous white and cream options.

The Website is really beautiful, if you take a minute to scroll through the various collections (Stellar, Star, Artisan, etc.) you'll see all of the options including the arched herringbone and other simple, classic tiles.

Here's my marble for reference. This is the one backsplash we did in marble:

Here is a link that might be useful: Sonoma Tilemakers Page showing a combo of Arched Herringbone and a horizontal small tile

Just checking back on this thread. Madeline your kitchen is beautiful!!! Your danby looks a lot like my Alabama white ;)

gaonmymind - I got my Alabama white at Stone Connection in the suburbs of Atlanta somewhere. I had seen some before in Elberton and really didn't like it - it was very green looking. This was very crisp and white and I loved it. It was very reasonably priced for marble also - more of a carrera pricing but not nearly as gray and muddy looking as all the carrera I looked at.

Will have to check out those sonoma tile makers tiles now - found a possibility at Ann Sacks last week - just very simple handmade subway.