I was going to say panels, too. I don't see white being that great with the cream and I think the stainless might fight the wonderful copper...Unless you maybe include some stainless accents in your backsplash, maybe also on your hood, to tie things together. Have you chosen a range? You could go for some color or cream if you went with BlueStar or LaCanche with color choices...Maybe they have copper?

Oh Seg! How funny you should post. I was looking at your kitch (one of my faves, you know) on the FKB and could not for the life of me find out what GROUT you used! And then you chimed in here on this thread. Ahhhhh. I think I am going to go with the Delorean. People's dark grout is making me feel good about it. Seg, our counters are carrara *but* our sink is soapstone. We are going to (hopefully) keep it unoiled. I think the grout will tie in with the sink nicely because it is sort of the inverse coloring of the cararra and all the cabs on that wall and most of the hardware is white. So on that wall there will be our stainless steel fridge, bottom cabinet hardware in sn, sn faucets, gray and white mirror and then the carrara (lots of gray veining) white knobs on uppers and white tile. Thanks so much for your grout input. Here is a link that might be useful: my soapstone sinky-poo!

Like this? From a distance:

This is an entertaining thread. I've read all the way through, and realize that dh and I are extremely fortunate in that our tastes coincide on so many levels, and he's very agreeable after I spend hours researching agonizing over selections. What I have learned though, after we built a home 10 years ago, is that it all needs to be done at the outset. Because after the initial construction is finished he is extremely resistant to more construction mess. I had FREE labor offering to help me finish my sewing studio - no go. And the backsplash that we were going to finish after we moved in and lived with a kitchen for awhile - never happened. We sold the house 7 years later, and it was still ABB. So this house, my studio has been an integral part of the plan, AND I just found my perfect backsplash. I can't join the ABB club, or I will forever be without a backsplash. It's all just knowing your own particular dynamic. I'm agonizing right now over which sink to put into the kitchen. I've asked his opinion - he said "get whatever you want" We've gone over our plans with a fine tooth comb in the last week, and I found a few places where we could change selections or leave off, and he pretty much added everything back in.