sorry, should have been more clear... the cabinets are dark brown, like a chocolate shade.

Could you post a picture?

It sounds like a beautifully sophisticated combo, and I'd love to see it when finished.

You have to be very, very careful with matching their color tones, of course. Have you brought all materials together on location--in large sizes (no little samples!)--and examined them under all lights? This is the time to find out that one turns yellowish in late afternoon and another's unexpectedly pinkish in the morning.

You rock nosoccermom! Thanks for the pics! That gives me some great visuals to show DH.

Rosie that's excellent advice. I have some samples but they are all small so will get larger ones.

I've attached a pic of my small samples, and the pic isn't the best clarity. I think I like the gray tiles in some of nosoccermom's pics better, so might look for some of those.

I think you need something a bit warmer, and I would look at Daltile Festiva Driftwood, Daltile Architectural Gray --in several of their tile lines and formats--
and at Complete Tile Source NYC at their various offerings (probably at a significantly higher price point than Daltile).

Also check out Ann Sacks Davenport, or Capriccio, to see of those greys work. These are in their basics line, but they have plenty of grays in their Caliper line, which is more expensive. Ann Sacks unfortunately you also have to get through a designer.

I like that second picture that soccermom posted. I think if your gray had more white in it, it would be stunning.

I agree that a warmer grey (or taupe) tile would look good with both your cabinets and counter. We almost got Ivory Coast Silestone for our counters and I remember it being more tan/beige than grey. The tile that you chose seems to have too much blue in it.

On my monitor, your counter sample looks more greige while the tile looks more bluish.

More google images. You can go to google and type in key words, then click on images on top.

You can also try gray/grey subway tile, dark kitchen, etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: gray backsplash --- espresso cabinets