First off, I have to apologize for not having any pictures, which is what you are looking for. I have virtually the same kitchen, but it's cherry pecan from schuler, bought through Lowes. I even have the same edging on my uba tuba :) I have lived with a painted backsplash for 4 years! We have just recently decided to go with polished crema marfil (also from lowes). I fell in love with some of the crackle tiles I've seen on GW, but unfortunately, DH didn't love them. Look up cpartist's kitchen. She used a crackle tile called jeffrey court irish lace in donnegal, I think. It's gorgeous! She has a similar color scheme going. I had seen samples in another color called tipperary, which I loved also. Another backsplash I love on GW is lucretzia's, which is a quartizite slate. (Although her cabs are white, I thought the coloring would go with cherry and uba tuba. If you do a search for her name, you can probably find it. I find the uba tuba goes very well with tumbled travertine stone, but we ended up liking the crema marfil a little better. We are waiting for the contractor to get back to us for the install date, which probably won't be until April. At least I gave you some ideas to search for :)

Hi Jeri, I am in the tail end of a mini remodel of my kitchen. Nothing fancy really, just counters, kept the cabs but rearranged a tiny bit, new appliances and details. Still working on the details. Lighting, molding... Looking at a modernaire hood but worried about the expense. I try to list each photo source next to the photo I post. I use magazine, web sites, blogs... Thanks for asking. Prill, I agree the beadboard and tile are really neat. It would not work in my house but I love the idea. ~boxerpups

Haha, that "pepper mill" one was one of my favorite kitchens for years. But for our house, I wanted the wood floor of the house to continue into the new kitchen, so we went with high gloss white cabs. We painted one wall in super flat charcoal to see if we would like it. And we do. A lot. So no tile as of yet and maybe never, as I really like to see my daily used items on the open shelf pop in front of just paint, vs. seeing tile behind. Any splashes wash off cleanly without any damage to the paint. Good thing that flat latex paints have come a long way since I last used them years ago. As suggested above, paint before buying tile and you'll soon know if matte charcoal will work with the douglas fir cabs. (Make sure you install really good UC lighting!) So I don't have wood fronts, but here is a pic of my kitchen anyway: it's still not quite finished, the steel bs missing behind the cooktop.

There are lots of ways of bringing color into a room and you don’t have to do it with tile. Maybe a white mini star and cross would be the right choice for you, then you can bring color in with accessories. Another option would be a marble backsplash. You don’t have a faux marble counter, your counter appears to be white, so a gorgeous Calacatta gold or (if you want to highlight the greys) Carrara marble would be perfect. Think large format subway tile