I love your island color very nice!!!And your cabinets and flooring look great as well.

Most people suggest that if you have one color cabinets and a different color island you pick a third color scheme and kind of stick with that...So your perimeter counters are one type of granite and the island is another type as well. If you choose to go with some form of marble back splash it should really be something that unifies the counter top choices and pulls everything together. I like your picture (Long Bricks - Statuary Calcutta).

One word of advice, I have done 3 different kitchens for myself in the past 8 years. The first one was traditional cherry cabinets built like furniture very traditional with peacock granite, kind of dark black brown with an hint of blue undertone. Sold that house and went with a medium maple cabinet with a chocolate glaze and granite that was beige, brown, black with LOTs of movement in it. I really liked that energy and movement at first but after a couple of years it really starts to get to you.

We still have that house but that is our winter home and in our summer home I am just now doing the traditional light cream cabinets with Absolute black perimeter counters and a carrara island and carrara subway backsplash because I was sick of all that movement quite quickly in my granite in my Florida home.

So to make a long story long :)you say you don't want to have to redo this kitchen for a long time if ever...You might want to revisit the island granite choice because speaking from experience you can always accessorize and add accents to spice something up that is more traditional, but there is nothing short of a remodel if you decide busy drives you crazy. And I hope you don't get mad at me for saying this but the island granite reminds me of headcheese... sorry :(...I love everything else!

I don't normally care for mosaics but must say that the calcatta tia is, by far, my favorite of the lot. It repeats the greys/black/white in the counter stone and the little touches of reddish/ yellow tie it to the birch cabinets and it looks fabulous with the White Dove. Love the 'hand chopped' wonkiness of the tiles. Don't think it will be too cold at all because of the warmth of the birch.

Wow- I love it when I see things I never would have thought to put together and I find the beauty in that! They are beautiful choices! I personally really like the "diamond" shaped ones. I like it with the yellowy paint color you have there in one of the last pics. I also think that the subway one adds alot of interest to the whole thing too. Truly, I don't see any of these backsplashes being wrong for the space!

I love the Calacutta subway. I also like the octagonal calacutta but maybe too busy with the island countertop. And the mosaic is beautiful, but even busier. I don't know that I would like the mosaic either because it is irregular, maybe more difficult to clean.

I love the calcutta subway--simple and classic. I think it would complement your cabs and soapstone. I also really like the octagon choice but I agree with Fleur that it may be too busy with your grnaite choice.

I like the medium subway. Classic, not busy, blends with everything.

Thanks avidinternet and others for your posts. I spent many hours over the last days staring and thinking. Thanks for the support that most of the options would work. The recommendation to keep to three colors has been very helpful. I was trying paint colors with slight yellow and green tones and feeling that they were not quite right. Now I realize that the real color focus is the birch cabinets (duh..)

So, based on reading this post and many others, I went back to my inspirational photos (so GW :) The backsplashes sometimes introduce a new color, but work when they also pick up on at least one, often two of the main colors of the rest of the kitchen. For example, painted white and natural red birch cabinets with black countertops and a sparkly mosaic backsplash that picks up the cabinet tone, is reflective like the white and brings in a green, which is then used for a wall color. My challenge is with two different counters (though both are gray) I have to careful, especially with the movement of the island (the head cheese comment made me laugh :)

Color wise, I am leaning towards BM Revere Pewter for the walls, more of a light gray/putty with a very slight green undertone but not a "color" like the others. Backsplash wise, it is either some calcatta (mosaic - hand cut or not, mini-brick or 2x4 brick) but need to determine if more white like the Statuary Calcutta, more color (Calcatta Tia) or in between (Calcatta Med brick.) I still have a soft spot for the Sand Chelsea art glass and love the triangle glass mosaic, but (1) I fear is is less "natural" then everything else I have chosen and (2) it is ridiculously priced.

I have included a link to the same backsplash album, but the last two photos show the paint colors and tile colors options I am leaning toward (colorful Calcatta Tia and less colorful Calcatta), not necessarily the format of tile (yes, I think the flat octagons are too much, but I love that tile :) I did not have a sample of the more white calcatta staturario.

Does anyone have thoughts on polishes versus honed on the walls? The Pietra countertops are honed and the Super White island is polished (for now, though we may change.)

Thanks again for the direction, any other input appreciated.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Backsplash Options with Paint colors at end