Knock Out Gorgeous!!!! I love the edge trim.
A perfect pair with those amazing cabinets.

Others can chime in with better ideas
for the backsplash. I am still recovering
from how beautiful those counters are.

Oh Tammi you did great so far! Your kitchen is absolutely beautiful! I'm so glad you went with that edge! I was originally going to go with 4 x 4 on the diagonal but was afraid I might tire of the pattern. I wanted something a little different so I went with a tumbled subway with mosaic accents. I know if I would have gone with the 4 x 4 it would have been easier for me to use the accents. Of course I'm design challenged I hope someone with more expertise will join in. I think either one of your ideas would look great. Simply Stunning so far!

Thanks so much Boxerpups and Marybeth. It means so much to hear your thoughts. Boxerpups, you were one of the first names I remember the first time I found Garden Web so it was so nice to hear from you first. Marybeth thanks for reminding me of your tumbled subway. Your backsplash is perfect. Remember I almost went with the GN but the slabs here had too much blue in it. Everything always seems to work out for a reason. Now somehow the backsplash needs to fall into place. I'm going to go back and look at your pics.

Tammi, this is one of my favorite kitchens on the FKB. Maybe you could do something like this and focus on that beautiful stove area. The granite used is SC which is very similar to yours. Just a thought.

Here is a link that might be useful: backsplash

Your kitchen is rich and beautiful and all your choices reflect the traditional look you hoped to achieve. I think the espresso travertine will look perfect and IMHO the diagonal won't be too busy. Are you planning on the same BS above the pretty cream cabs as well? I was thinking that a whiter tumbled stone light Botticino or Bianco Antico might look great there. My thinking is, you'd be keeping in the same texture and family of stone as the darker travertine but matching the tone of the cream cabs like the travertine matches the tone of the darker cabs on the other run. Mixing it up could add additional interest as well. Here's one example of the tone of stone I was thinking of:
{{!gwi}}
It's just a thought. The travertine would look great too since it picks up the darker glazing color. Just wanted to throw another option out there.

Thanks remodelfla. I had not thought of doing something like that. One decorator thought I needed to bring in something to the stove BS to tie in the white cab (white accents). For some reason the original plans of the kitchen only called for one white cab so that is all we have white. Here is a pic that shows the placement of the white cab in relation to the darker wood cabs so you can also see where the two BS will be (right and left sides of picture where the under cabinet lights are on is BS).

I have a kinda cool idea... since the areas are so visible to each other and in contrasting colors; what if you were to do mirror images in each area but contrasting like a old type photo. Whatever you choose (light with darker accents, darker with light) for which area; do the opposite in the other . Same pattern, same stones, just the negative image. Make sense? That way if you prefer the darker field tile (white accents) the darker cabs, you can do white field/darker accents on the white run ... or just the opposite for contrast. whatever you choose it'll look great, your kitchen is gorgeous.

Wow, What a fun idea. Another question: if I use a focal point like a plaque would you do it on both BSes or just over the stove. I keep going back and forth on what to put there because I know that's something I have to live with for quite a while. I was going with the 12x16 of the grapes below (that is a 4x4 that I have a sample of) but I want to make sure it doesn't date itself. That's also expresso tile in there that I wet for the pic. Someone mentioned they thought that one tile was a bit too gold, the one on top of the plaque.