I'd do the buff grout with the subway tiles. Sometimes the contrasting grout can feel old more quickly than a grout that blends in more seamlessly. Don't think I'd do white grout with your colors, though, too stark.

I have the exact same color thing going on in my kitchen. I am also a person who loves color. My plan is to use the backsplash tile to visually link the kitchen to the LR beyond and the attached dining room. LR is a warm sand color and the dining room will be turquoise. Tile will be a mix of the two, some bend of blue and amber glass. I think your most important decision is whether or not you want the backsplash to stand out as the focal point in the kitchen or if you want it to just be a part of the whole. For me, the splash is what brings my kitchen splash! I need it to be fun and interesting and more than a little blingy. You have to figure out where you are on that spectrum and choose the medium/style accordingly. Similarly, you have to decide how much color you want/need. For me, the stark white is just too sterile. There are some really nice "clear" glass tiles that throw a bit of green or blue or gray. Or, if you're drawn to the ceramic, you could get a soft gray or taupe like you mentioned. Ann Sacks Ceramic Basics has a number of really lovely, soft-but-not-pastel colors in the field tile. Sees like everyone who was still looking for a backsplash over on the kitchens board made a New Year's resolution to get it done, so there are a lot of threads right now. You might take a peek over there and see what people are looking at...whether any of it appeals. I assume you have already looked at the FKB and Inspirational Backsplashes slideshow? Here is a link that might be useful: Ann Sacks Ceramic Basics

Sorry blue, forgot to answer... a keeping room is a small room off the kitchen, usually where guests or the family will sit while the hostess does prep work. When we were looking at the house I called it the "sun room" and was corrected by my realtor because it doesn't have 3 exterior walls, just two. I wanted to keep the floors and just have them refinished but we changed the footprint of the kitchen slightly so we have a few voids that are now filled with plywood. We are replacing the entire floor in the lower level of the house and floating it on top of the wood. Right now we are just doing wood laminate (dh works for one of the laminate companies so we get it dirt cheap). Eventually we will tear all of it up and put real wood down when the kids are a little easier on the floors. Phoggie, thanks for the compliments. We used Kraftmaid maple with a ginger glaze and the granite is called portofino gold. I should post a before pic...we used to have white cabinets and white laminate counter with a wheat paint color. I was so used to having a light and bright kitchen that the wood was a big change for me.

It's actually built up and routed. I did not want any hard corners in my bathrooms. I don't believe the coving was $40-50 per foot upgrade because a couple of my shelves weren't much more expensive than that, total. I will try to look back and see.