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Calacatta marble subway tile grout color?!

theresse
13 years ago

I'd love some 11th-hour color advice here! (Who am I kidding...i do most things at the 11th hour!)

FINALLY my stainless countertop is being delivered this Wednesday - yaaaay! That means that immediately after - hahaha - (I'm sure this will get postponed SOMEHOW), my contractor IN THEORY could begin installing my 2x6" honed calacatta marble subway tile! And THEN the outlets/light switch plates can go in which means the disposal will finally get to be hooked up to power, and the under-cab lights can finally go in too! I.e. the kitchen will be done except painting, and pendant lights. FYI, the link to my kitchen has older pics, for now. My dishwasher's in and new lower cabinets framing is in and painted that Fieldstone gray color already (cabs are painted but not yet installed) and the faucet's installed in the wall. I'm getting hardware in the next few days and then the cabinet doors etc. will go on.

So as some of you know, calacatta has more of a white background and has light tan and gray veining. Cararra (sp?) is I think a light gray background with darker gray veining and no tan veining - and I could be wrong here but I think it tends to have a bit more movement in it. I like calacatta with brown colors in the kitchen such as wood floors or butcher block because the tan goes with that, and also cause it offers up warmth and contrast when you have as much stainless around as I will (but the gray veins do match the stainless, which is also nice).

So we're talking about having a stainless counter in a somewhat period kitchen (white Shaws farm sink, tall gooseneck wall-mounted faucet, subway tile, wood floors, original tall cabinets from 1913, etc.)

I have no idea whether I should have the tile fit tightly with very little noticeable grout, or if I should show a bit more grout...and I have no idea whether I should do a white color, a tan color or a grey color (?).

I'll put 3 links here. The main link below will be to my flickr acct. which shows a large glossy piece of this same tile before it was cut (many of my pieces have even less veining than that, in fact), and also the same link will have photos of our kitchen to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. There will also be two cut-and-paste links, if you don't mind, to a different set of Flickr pics that shows Sally Wheat's kitchen which is my inspiration for wall/trim colors that I'm doing the kitchen in...and to my countertop material inspiration kitchen (stainless in period kitchen) - although her backsplash isn't done in subway - nor is it the same kind of marble.

Thank you!!

(I hope I didn't just scare y'all off by writing too much! Yeah, I'll bet I did. But hey - it makes up for all the many weeks I haven't been writing lately! ;)

Here's the Sally Wheat kitchen which has the wall and cabinet/trim colors I'm using:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49559819@N00/4852476240/in/set-72157624634222930/

Here's the countertop inspiration kitchen (found originally here on gardenweb quite a while ago now!):

http://picasaweb.google.com/quapaw/Our1890HomeAndKitchenRemodelRestoration?feat=embedwebsite#5252785662917982594

Here is a link that might be useful: Pics of my calacatta marble and kitchen

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