I believe the photo shows ceramic crackle tile, and that's an option.

Here's calacatta tile. I love that stuff, but I like warmer tones. Most people here will advise against mixing real marble with faux marble. I've never seen them together so I'll refrain from giving an opinion.

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That is beautiful! We'll have grey walls, so I do wonder if calacatta will be too warm with the gold?

I too have never seen quartz and marble mixed in person! I just know that I don't want plain white subway tiles and have had a hard time coming up with other light colored backsplash options!

Get a larger tile to show off the beauty of the marble.....every time I look at marble I want to just soak up the detail and depth, yet subtle nature....it's art... Chopped into mosaics wouldn't be an enhancement. Get larger sized format, no matter what shape...you can tweak the grout color a bit for interest if you want something going on. Can you get a sample of the largest subway tile they have...that's what I'd lean towards.

With grey walls, bright white cabinets and a whitish quartz you really don't want the warmth of calacatta, even with wood floors. But having written that, you may wish to avoid getting a very similar quartz and real marble --- it will accentuate the differences, like the speckles. Which quartz did you select? And I echo the advice to get larger scale samples --- and know that marble tile, even pricier grades, will vary quite a bit lot to lot (and within the lot).

I wouldn't do quartz marble-look counters with a real marble backsplash, too much opportunity for comparison/off-colors/off-pattern (this goes for anything - I wouldn't put real wood next to pretend wood either). Personally, I like the idea of the crackle tile instead. (I did white quartz counters - Ceasarstone organic white - and Fireclay crackle tiles. Still love it).

Here is one of the only pictures I've been able to find online of our countertop choice: Cosmos Venato (shown here with a Venato Carrara Honed Marble backsplash).

I deleted my previous comment because it was confusing. You've narrowed your choices to marble & a marble and glass mosaic. The kitchen picture you posted, Lake Minnetonka House, is not marble. It is Encore crackle tile in Silver. I used that tile in my kitchen with white countertops, white cabinets, gray walls & darkish wood floors. My installed tile looks very much like the Lake Minnetonka house backsplash. If that is the look you are going for, you might want to consider a crackle tile.

Thanks Romy! I realized after I posted that I had selected the wrong photo, but didn't want to confuse folks by changing it!

I'm also open to other ideas (I've eliminated a herringbone pattern and hex tiles and that only left me with the marble subway tile and the mosaic still in the running of my original choices!).

I like the marble & glass mix. It looks like there is enough color variation that it wouldn't clash with your white countertop. I'm assuming this is a new home under construction & you can't wait until the countertops & cabinets are installed?

Romy--yes that's correct, it is a new home construction. Thanks for weighing in, I do think that you are right about the mosaic not clashing as boldly as the subway marble tiles might!

Your countertop looks almost exactly like mine - I have a quartz that is TCE4005 by TCE Stone. It's really hard to find pictures of it, it's not a popular manufacturer but I really liked it more than the others I had seen. The white background has very little to no speckling at all, the veining looks very natural to me. I'm in love with it. Still looking for backsplash ideas - I have enough boxes of plain white subway tile leftover from a previous reno to do my whole backsplash but I'm currently a little obsessed with the Encore crackle tiles. They look so beautiful! My kitchen has a whole lotta white (with medium toned hardwood floors) and black hardware. I think the crackle tiles would give it some interest while not going too contemporary (I want to keep an almost country-feel).

Yes, it was extremely hard to find any pics of my quartz online as well! I picked up a sample of a light grey crackled tile to consider on Friday. I really liked the look of it! It was too expensive from the tile provider through our builder though. I even went back and looked at white subway tile (just not my favorite for my kitchen), too much white! I ultimately decided to go with a carrara marble subway tile in a herringbone pattern. The carrara is mostly grey, so I'm hoping that it "goes" with the quartz and looks intentional rather than mis-matched!

Would you mind showing me a picture of your TCE 4500 quartz countertops?

I am planning on using a marble-looking quartz called Olympia by Polarstone. I have brought several marble tile samples home and I think they make the quartz look more like marble! They were from the Tile Shop and I think their marble is a bit different--not exactly the gray white of Carrara. Anyway, I very well may end up with marble with a fake marble countertop.

Here is a pic of my tce4005