Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately I've already come across these 3 options. The Sonoma Stellar was quoted at $75/sf for 1x2 mesh mounted. Ann Sacks Savoy is exactly what our friends have that started us on this hunt, but in 1x2 it only comes in 3 colors that won't work and their in house line of 1x2 was $100/sf. I was hoping for something a little more hand-made looking than the Daltile, but for the price different I guess I can live with it.

think it depends on size of your kitchen - but 6 x6 sounds really large. can you show us pics?

mcmd - thanks for your response. It's beautiful! organic_nettie - no other photos worth posting right now -- we're very much in a state flux! I would have chosen the same look even if we were staying. I'm enjoying the fairly neutral background. I think that I, or the next owners, will enjoy making occasional changes to accent pieces to change the look from time to time. The colors that are in this granite are cream, black, gold and several shades of brown, with lesser amounts of orange/rust and taupe. The "jewels" in it are some iridescent specks of white that remind me of mother-of-pearl, some grey-green shiny spots, and some burgundy garnets. Sounds like a lot of colors, but the overall look is a warm light cream-brown. Gold would certainly work as a wall color. I'm pretty sure that when we move, we'll do something similar to this. (What we have: white raised-panel cabinets; ORB cabinet knobs and matching hinges (to come); black conduction cooktop & appliances; black Silgranit sink; Price Pfister tuscan bronze Marielle faucet & black reverse osmosis faucet; refinished white oak hardwoods (StreetShoe water-based finish, to come). So far, we're liking it. perqqderqq - you're right, in this photo it looks as though the grain points directly at the backsplash, but there is really an overall diagonal flow. I do like the color variation for the backsplash, so I'm not considering any inserts. I'm hoping that we'll be able to work with the tile installer and end up with a pretty good color distribution.

Thanks all. The main thing I had to decide on was size (not color) so made a 2x6 & 2x4 basic wireframe pattern in Microsoft Excel, printed lifesize and taped together a few to get a sample poster to put on wall. This let me get to 2x6 as choice - it didn't seem too skinny-- if anything 2x4 seemed too small for a kitchen (personal choice). 2x6 might also make things less busy if you have multi-color and that's a concern. (Noted that layout detail such as near kitchen window and grout color are very important.)