I feel your pain. I WISH I had a spectacular suggestion for you but I am right where you are. I don't even know which direction to go - tile, beadboard, etc etc. I will be watching your thread to see if I can borrow any of the suggestions. Good luck and hang in there. This too shall pass.

I think you have a wonderful space to work with. You have nice textures, with the shiny lighting, rough brick, smooth steel and the wood in your cabinets. Most of this is rather dull in it's sheen level (that's not an insult...i'm talking about a tone). And you worry about being surrounded with the hues of gray and rust.

If that were my room...I'd bring more of the one shiny surface you just barely hint at in the photo, the steel. I'd use a stainless backsplash tile in a subway pattern. I'd use the diamond tech stainless steel in the small subway (first row, in the middle). The pattern is classic, so it won't conflict with your classic cabinet choice, but the texture is modern, so it pulls in the stainless in the lighting and the appliances.

It's gray, yes, but in a great way :) Pulling out the bling in the pulls on your cabinets as well. I think it would look fabulous.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stainless subway

Oops, I think I left out a key detail igloochic; that photo of the cabinets is not my actual kitchen. Rather, it's a photo from the cabinet maker's website but it's the correct door style and finish :) I'm afraid my space won't be quite so grand, and there won't be any brick, LOL. Thanks for the link though. I'll take a look at it but I'm afraid adding more stainless will be a tough sell with DH. He thinks there's too much of it as it is.

LOL well it's perfect for THAT kitchen :oP (I did wonder why you didn't give us any backsplash area to look at).

How about pics of your kitchen then??? When it's ready for backsplash. It's so much easier to pick when you have something to use to judge what you're doing against.

I'm not standing by my pick if it's not in that space (posted) :oP I design for specific spaces, not just general maybe spaces!

Yeah, I feel like a big dummy for leaving out that crucial piece of information; my brain is just fried at the moment and I'm having a hard time being coherent. Despite being an engineer I have the hardest time visualizing anything so I've been pretty useless when it comes to coming up with ideas for a backsplash. Good thing I don't have to do much of it in my daily job :)

OK, so I know the rules, but my husband and I own a company called Valley Tin Works. We do hand-painted tin backsplashes in a huge assortment of base colors and your choice of silver, gold, or copper highlights.
This would give you the option to go a bit lighter on the color, so it doesn't look heavy, and still tie it in with your stainless.
We do a lot of kitchens with soapstone countertops and it is a good look. Not trying to advertise...just an idea to check out.
Good luck~

Here is a link that might be useful: Valley Tin Works

I know that it feels so much better to get decisions finalized, but this may be one that you want to put off till more of the kitchen is done. I had about 10 backsplash "finalists" and then about 3 by the time the cabinets were going in. Once the room started to take shape, it became obvious which tile was the best, and it was NOT the one I would have purchased ahead of time if I had had to make a commitment earlier. It was so much easier to choose with other elements in place.

Straw...honey I know all about being frazled and forgetting details :oP I'm there today!

But dear heart...you're an engineer...that explains it all! Engineers can never see the big picture...they're stuck in some silly calculation and since there are no calculations for backsplashes currently...well you're sunk trying to apply your engineer brain to the problem!

(And I am totally kidding! I'm married to an engineer) :oP

Honestly, quit taxing your brain on this and give it a few weeks for the kitchen to go in. You can operate without it, so it's a decision to put in the back pocket for a bit if you're lost now. :) Take a break and drink some good wine. Don't do any math for 24 hours :oP

I like plain subway tiles, but I don't get excited about tiles generally and besides I realized after about 3 days on this forum that igloochic and some others have LOTS better taste than I do. For an engineer, maybe tiny glass tile mosaic that reminds you of graph paper? :)

Have you considered glass tiles. Take a look at www.Vitroceram.com. Number GS202 in the Gold Dust series would match your floor beautifully and bring it all together. Just an thought.

I personally am a fan of slate - and you can get some slate in lighter shades. However, without a pic of your space, its really hard to recommend anything. I would wait til everything else is in then post some pics and go from there

I think muscat hit the nail on the head with this one. You need to wait until your cabinets are in at the very least and possibly until EVERYTHING is in. Wait and see how undercabinet lighting looks, check how cabinets and appliances cast shadows, any new light fixtures, etc. It can really change how your backsplash tiles look. I love the slate, I have that same 1" slate mosaic for my backsplash but my kitchen does feel dark overall. I have dark counters, slate floors and a dark color on the walls (but my cabinets are a light maple) and I do sometimes wonder how it all would have looked with a lighter backsplash.

Just my two cents (and muscats...LOL)
Robin

Hi Straw, I agree that you should wait until your cabinets, appliances and floor are installed before you make a backsplash decision. We did that and it was the best thing, because as muscat and igloochic pointed out, the combination of choices you've already made may point toward something completely different and not be obvious until later.

I also have a BlueStar with the island backsplash against a wall and soapstone counters. My original idea was to tile about 1 foot below the soapstone with generic tile to provide the firestop insulation BlueStar requires with the island trim. My DH, the engineer-who-always-overdesigns, felt we needed something beefier, so we used a piece of scrap soapstone behind the range. Our "backsplash" for the first couple of months was Reynolds Heavy-Duty aluminum foil. This took the pressure off from making a final decision until we (really just me) were sure of what would look good.

We used a 7/8" glass mosaic with inset stainless tiles from costco.com. While not an engineer, I'm just as geeky, and positively obsessed with symmetry, precision, and plumb. I made a paper template of the entire backsplash area and placed the tile so we would not have to cut any. This also gave me a chance to rearrange some of the stainless and other tiles so it would look more random with no visible repeats. You can see the BlueStar backsplash at the link below. The rest of my backsplash is still painted as I haven't finalized my decision. Warning--I chose this particular backsplash because I wanted a dramatic focal point. Drama is not for everyone.

I understand the temptation to go with a dark gray stone with the soapstone because that was my first instinct also. Do wait. Do a search on this site for soapstone and backsplashes to get ideas also.

Here is a link that might be useful: My kitchen

Good ideas, and also an option: Don't do a backsplash now at all. It's a handsome serviceable look and stands ready to be built on when and if the muse dictates.

Thanks to everyone for getting me to realize the world isn't going to end if I don't order the tile just yet :) And I did get a good chuckle out of the glass tile reminding me of graph paper comment, that's probably why I connected with it so much, LOL Not just any graph paper mind you, but the special engineering graph paper. It totally looks like what I thought the glass mosaic tile I ordered would look like. Gosh, I'm such a dork and I didn't even realize it :)

Waiting for the kitchen to go in before I make a tile decision sounds like the best plan. I'll have to improvise and get a temporary backsplash behind the range so I can start using it, but it'll work out.

How about back-painted glass? Sheet, not tile. You already have ALOT of texture in the kitchen, and the reflective quality of the glass would be a nice contrast to the countertops.

Plus, you can play with different colors until you get that perfect shade of quadrule pad green.
;-)

rob_p, I already looked into Glaskote (sp?) and I was under the impression it wasn't in my budget. But I did love the idea of it. Do anyone have any idea what that stuff costs?

As for the perfect shade of graph paper, someone at the office once made the mistake of restocking the supply closet with the wrong color, off-brand engineering paper and we almost had a mutiny, LOL. No one would touch the stuff so we finally got rid of it. A stray pad still surfaces every now and again :)

Maybe some accents from the "Modern Surfaces" series in the concept board section of this link? Check out the tiles that are in the 2003 series. Also, check out the glass tiles this company offers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dunis

Definitely wait on the backsplash. There's no rush. It can be added at any time. You could try painting one area a light colour and another dark to at least give you a starting point.

Live in the space for a while. You don't want to make a choice out of haste or desperation that you will regret. I always think of a backsplash as a finishing touch and those touches come when you've had a chance to use and enjoy the space and can see more clearly what will be the cherry on top of the sundae. :-)

Since you like slate, what about a lighter porcelain slate? We have somewhat similar colors, and I think we will be going with the Daltile continental slate series behind our bluestar - decorative accent cs70 bordering brazilian green 4x4 tiles, but you could use a lighter main tile. Funny, I bought glass tile (on craigslist), but think I'll now use that in a bathroom.

Here is a link that might be useful: Daltile Continental Slate

Frankly, I kinda like the pic in the first post. Lots of colour and it fits with everything. I'd use an "enhancing sealer" with it, though...to give it a "wet" look.