This is what I would do. Have your countertops installed & then repost a pic of your cabinets, countertops & several pieces of the taupe tile. You could even make a sample board of grouted taupe tile (and a sample board or samples of the white HD tile). See how it looks in your kitchen lighting.
If you don't like it, you can resell it.
It's difficult to make a backsplash choice when you have a small sample of your countertops & one or two sample tiles. Also, tile colors change, depending on the lighting.

Wait until the actual granite is installed, then tape tile to the wall and take a picture.

the darker color might look stunning, or like crap. If it blends in with the lightish and medium tones, it could recede quietly into the background and let the granite be the star.

Thanks, I'll do that! I guess I was anxious because I had everything all picked out and going through the granite selection process was so drawn out and stressful, I just didn't want another 2 weeks of indecision. How do I tape tile up?

I'm guessing you could use double stick heavy duty tape. This is what Oldbat2be recommends: take a piece of plywood that fits vertically (not angled, but straight up & down) between your upper cabinets & your countertop. Attach the tiles with double stick tape. She goes a step further & mixes up some grout & grouts the tile sample. The grout can be knocked/washed off & the tile can be reused. My tiler made me 3 samples like this to help me choose a grout color. Tile lying horizontally on your counter versus vertically on your wall can look totally different (tortured myself for weeks when a simple grout board would have solved my indecisiveness). One color of grout versus another can also change the look.

This post was edited by romy718 on Wed, Aug 13, 14 at 18:17

i really like the matte tan/taupe tile myself. i have something close in feel to antico and white looks awful. i have an off white tile sample which is better but lowes has a tanish tile that i really like. plus once it is up, as long as you don't hate it, it will totally blend into the background which is the point of subway tile, right? i have arabesque love too:)

So, the tan tiles did NOT work once the granite was installed. There is a bit of pink in the Bianco antico and the "ivory" tiles took on a very pink cast when they were next to the full granite. I went with an off white subway tile instead and love it. Now I'm having issues with the wall colour, I normally hum and haw over paint forever with samples folate red all over the wall but I had guests come sooner than expected and I really didn't want the walls looking all splotchy and shredded. So, I went and picked out a nice light griege and slapped it on. Problem is....it looks like a greyed lavender. And very single person I have asked says that it looks lavender. So, now my counters look lavender. Ugh! I've got all my samples now but because of that stupid mistake, I'm second guessing myself. Does anyone have suggestion for wall colour? Just for reference, my kitchen is open to my hallway and you can see my livingroom from it. It is painted a soft aqua (grey green blue), which I really don't care for next to the lavender! It looks like a pastel house now. And I have 5 boys. I would rally like a. Neutral colour that would compliment the soft aqua, which is why I was leaning towards taupe or griege. I need it to be light though.

{{!gwi}}

Your pic isn't showing. Would love to see how the tile turned out, and then I'd recommend posting in Home Dec. There are several over there who really know color.

Please repost your pic & posting in the Home Decorating forum too is a great idea.

Hmmmm, strange. I'll try again, and then I'll try to take a better picture of the colour and backsplash, etc.

Close up of backsplash. The paint looks a bit more grey in is picture but the rest of the room looks more lavender. I really need to change my outlets. Bleh.

You can see the lavender better here and how it's not so great next to my soft aqua colour. On a side note, I painted my girls room this colour and it's great. Just not what I wanted for my kitchen.

I've not heard of the home decorating forum. I'm always just lead to this forum via google. I'm excited to look!