rmkitchen is referring to me. I am in the process of building a new home and will be using black minas soapstone on the perimeter counters and white statuario marble on my center island. My perimeter cabinets will be white inset shaker style and my island is dark stained alder to resemble walnut. My floors will be 6" walnut planks. I am still up in the air as to what to do for a backsplash so I can't help you there. I want to live in the house for a little while before I decide what to do for there. I am considering mini-brick soapstone to match the counter, stainless steel mini-brick and/or marble of some sort. The kitchen should mostly be done by the end of the month. Hopefully I'll have some pictures from my contractor since I live in NY right now and my new house is in Colorado! Sorry I'm not much help but I think the backsplash is a place one can make a statement and I'm not yet sure what I want mine to say :)

Thanks all. The stone with the metal hood picture is what my wife was considering. That or just a bit thinner in the "stacking". She basically wanted a 3D effect to break up all the smooth surfaces. The cabinets are flat panel with bead details, so there are a lot of those. We aren't playing up the green in the SS much. We already have some really bold colors in the room (Cherry Le Crueset pots, blue tablecloth, yellow walls, big Pates Baroni poster). And I agree that too much stone would seem too rustic. We were looking for a french / country / whimsical kind of feel. If you've ever been to Circo in New York or Las Vegas -- that kind of thing with a home-cook twist. It's going to be a tough style to pull off, but so far things seem good and coming together. I just don't want to ruin it in the end with the wrong backsplash. Thanks again. Anthony

White, white white!!! You have quite enough going on in this room already!

Thanks @J Inhof and @Pam A. Good question about the tones of the Pure white - I don't have a sample of the Pure White (oops!) but I did look at it with my cabinets in the IKEA store (which obviously has very different lighting). The Pure white, was very very close to the cabinet color. The Frosty Carrina overall read a slightly cream - I do have a sample of Frosty Carrina, and in my kitchen it also reads slightly cream (and the website describes it as ivory). Here is a photo I took at IKEA of 'my' cabinets with Frosty Carrina: