I'm slow, but I'm here! Our white venatino marble backsplash was chosen and ordered by using only samples. That means I took my granite sample to tile stores and chose the the tile. A major influence on my decision was that the tile was on closeout for a steal, and my DH really wanted plain white....the marble was as big of a concession as I could get out of him. (I guess it was a good thing, because the jade green marble tile that I loved was $32/sqft and that was NOT in our budget!) When the counters were installed and the tile came in I realized my mistake in using samples to choose the backsplash. It turned out that the granite sample that I had was the whitest part of the slab, and the tile we got was less creamy than the sample in the store. Ok, it wasn't creamy at all. At first, I was really crushed, because I had such a tone issue. It was a near enough miss that they didn't look like they matched, but not different enough for it to look like I did it on purpose. However, there was no way my DH was going to let me not use the $350 of tiles that took twice as long to come in as they were supposed to. So I sucked it up and installed them and learned to love them. I worked hard to sell it to myself as a white-on-white kinda design thing. So before making a final decision, I highly recommend that you do a mockup to see the tiles on your wall. Tape them to something and prop them up so you can see how they look in daylight and your kitchen's light. Here's a few picks of my tile so you can see the near miss in color. Notice that in some light, it's a good match, and in other light, it's very different. The middle picture taken by the ovens is the most true to life depiction of the tile and counter colors. Sorry I't not focused well.

Ugh. That's what the first guy said and I just sent an email with the slab layout to the other fabricator and told them I'd go with them if they could definitely put the seam at the sink. She said it was no problem as long as the slab cut out but I'm not sure she looked at the layout at the time. They all say they can with the qualifier that they can't be sure until they get it into the shop. We'll see if she brings up the problem after seeing the layout. The other guy was in my house so he definitely knew the layout. The slabs I'm looking at are Sienna Bordeaux. I can live with a seam but the problem is that I have very little flexibility it placement with plan A and Sienna Bordeaux has a lot of movement and dark veins that can really make the seam obvious. For this kind of money, I'm not willing to assume they can get a good seam and I haven't been able to see the actual slabs to see if a decent match is possible. I first saw it Mon when they were unloading them and they were all lumped together. I went back the next day and they still hadn't moved them out where you could see them. They said to call Wed afternoon and they'd try to have something then. The only pulled one and it had two corners broken off, which limits me even more. They've got a bunch of slabs but the bundles are less than 12" apart so you can't really see them. I looked through the stacks with a flashlight and found one that seemed OK and asked if they'd pull it and the adjacent one. I went to see them today and they are bookmatched (which I specifically asked about) and that won't work with my layout. Argh!!! I know they aren't going to pull another pair and I'm not buying without seeing them. I've had my old counters rigged up to my new cabinets for 6 mos already. I'm sick to death of looking for granite!

I like the idea of a creamier color. I think you need to brighten things up. Agree that glass tiles would seem too modern for your kitchen; although it does have a bit of a transitional look to it with the counter, floor, and light fixture, the cabinets are a big feature and don't. I would try painting the backsplash area in the gray color first before taking the plunge. It looks very dim and grayed in there, though the lights aren't on! Terribly tough decisions!

Hey 2LittleFishies, I too love marble, but don't much mind the wear patterns it develops. I've been in houses with 60 year old soap stone and find it quite charming. Heck, I've been in houses with 200 year old marble counters - and still find the wear quite charming. My own Victorian has soapstone around the heat registers. They're a little dinged up but quite beautiful in my opinion. I have a large, cutting board, bit of carrara marble that I use to roll out dough - maybe start with that and see where it takes you. Don't know how old your house is but one of the good things about an older home is that nothing is really perfect and if it is perfect it looks rather out of place. So...things look fine when they are a little worn. I remember going to England and staying in a house that was built in the 1400s - wear just means people have come before you and will come after you, it is a good reminder. So get what you like and what you want. If wear patterns and noticeable age on your counters isn't what you want get something else. Remember, even durable things break, pit and fall apart.