Oh My, Your island is so beautiful!!! I would go with marble tile to compliment the island. I'm a little different so I would get squares and put them on the diagonal.

Good Luck!

Heather

Your kitchen is beautiful but your island is stunning! Is that marble or quartzite?

(no bs advice, sorry.)

Our cabs are BM Gardenia, a very warm white. The color scheme in our kitchen is black & white. Hence the backsplash design. For the white tiles we went with Daltile Arctic White. They are whiter than the cabinets, but in our kitchen the cabs still appear warm.

In your application, as others have suggested, I would try to find something to pick up that gorgeous island top.

Thanks so much everyone! I neglected to mention in the post, but marble tiles were my first choice. I couldn't find anything that didn't compete with the island too much. The calcatta gold didn't look good bc the brown veining in tile and gray veins in island. All the marble tiles I found that had gray veining had too much of a gray background also. Hmm maybe I should keep looking...

lisa_a - the island is honed Arabescato Vermont Montclair Danby marble. I love it so much!

Just want to say that your island counter is absolutely gorgeous!

beautiful! maybe do something a little darker to contrast with the cabs so that it doesn't make them look too creamy/yellow.

My cabinets are Crystal White - so, warm-ish, but not super creamy. I went with Sonoma crackle tile in "twine."

Our perimeter cabs are BM White Dove. Counter is Caesarstone Vanilla Noir (dark brow/nblack with swirly white/tans). Island is a creamy/gray/tans marble top and grayish cabinets. After some consultation with GW resident experts, we selected Walker Zanger Gramercy Park 2x6 Pine Smoke.

Goes in Saturday maybe. Will most likely do a white grout. Fingers crossed it will look okay. I will post a photo.

http://www.walkerzanger.com/library/pdf/products/GramercyPark.pdf

What about a grey ceramic? It will complement the island without competing with it, and won't add yet another layer of white to the creamy white cabs and white ceiling. I have white ice granite which is greys/white/creams and soft white cabs and went with Daltile 3X5 is sandstone grey.

My cabinets are a brighter white but my Imperial Danby is warm. I think a crackle tile would look beautiful with your marble. Scoutfinch has a recent backsplash post with quite a few pics of Vermeere crackle tiles. They are a lower price point than Sonoma.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3637504/the-inevitable-beg-for-backsplash-help?n=36

Thank you all so very much, I really appreciate it! For ages I thought for sure a crackle tile, I've seen so many beautiful ones here on GW. The samples I had were all too much crackle, except the Sonoma tile. We tried a darker tile as Suzy mentioned, but all the colors I liked matched the wall color (BM Revere Pewter) and I thought it would look weird. However, rebeccamom's photo is making me reconsider, beautiful kitchen! Nightowl, that gramercy is beautiful and I'm off to see if I can get a sample. Romy thank you so much for the link, I will check it out too.

whew! Backsplash is the worst, and we were trying to rush to get it ordered so can install before house is finished, but I think they are going to have to just come back, I don't want to choose something I'll regret.

By the way, my wall color is revere pewter too. I love my backsplash tile and get lots of compliments on it. I can search the name of it on here since this is where it was recommended. It was something Stingray.

Have you looked at the Fireclay website? They have a large number of color choices and some of their tiles are in the $25-27/sq ft range plus they have an extensive selection of trim and edge pieces that most other companies don't offer. You have a beautiful kitchen. I'd want the backsplash to keep up with -- but not compete with -- the island.

Farmdrmer,

It's hard to tell from your photos, but would you say your cabinets are more cream than white?

I love how they look on my monitor - and we are going with a similar color palette as you are: white cabs, black island, black honed perimeter counter and quartz (one that looks like marble) island

I'm leaning toward White Dove - b/c that's what my cabinet painter said is a nice white - but not stark white (which I don't want).

Did you look at a lot of different whites?

(My walls are more of a cream color - which I like, and the wall color runs into my FR and just works with my furniture and decor.)

As for your tile, definitely subway - 3x6.

Check out this one:

http://www.quintessenzaceramiche.it/prodotto/genesi13-tinte-unite/

I'm doing this in the blue - but I've seen all of the colors. The lighter grays and even the white are gorgeous. What I love about them is that they have an ever so slight amount of color variation - I really don't know how to explain it. (on the monitor they look blotchy, but they aren't) It adds a bit of dimension - rather than just being "flat" They have a nice shine, and feel a little bumpy - not like ice smooth. Anyway, if you can get your hand on a sample, I think you will love it.

Here is a photo of my sample -- I held it two different ways so you can see the shine… It's just so hard looking at something online:

Suzy - thank you, if you find it I will definitely check it out it is beautiful!

stan - we don't have a fire clay distributor locally so I haven't seen them yet but I will check website, thanks for the recommendation! I agree, I want the backsplash to keep up with but not compete - it's proving more difficult than I'd hoped to find that look!

Jpmom - I agree on the photos they look more cream. They are SW alabaster, which is a shade creamier than a bright white but in my opinion not a true cream like Dover white was, which looked yellow in my kitchen. From what I read it is very similar to BM White Dove. At install they were a beautiful white. After my counters went in, I think it is reading more cream due to the island marble being more of a true white. :/ it may also be that my windows are covered in plastic due to painters And the photos were taken at sunset light. I'm hoping once everything else is in they look more like the white at install than cream but who knows. Color is a funny thing. Thanks for the tile rec I'll check it out too!

That photo of nightowl's kitchen looks gorgeous. I must've missed the reveal...off to search!

I'm loving that walker zanger tile, so gorgeous. Thanks for extra pic romy. The closest dealer is two hours away though. But they have a showroom in a city my husband is traveling to next week, may have him get samples. ha, crazy things we do for a kitchen. I'll check later to see if they will ship a sample directly also. I'm also loving their Tuileries collection, oh my lovely!

That is NOT my kitchen. It is the tile that I plan to use. And, plan to use white grout most likely. My counters are Caesarstone Vanilla Noir - which is a very dark brown/black with white/tan swirls. Fingers crossed it looks 1/2 as nice as the photo above!

Night owl please post pics - can't wait to see it! I don't post much in kitchens bc I feel way out of my league, but love following everyone's progress!

Found it...

Mandala Sinu in Stingray. here is a link to my original reveal of the backsplash which gives a great view. a poster named Beekeeperswife had recommended this tile to me as the perfect complement to bianco antico.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2674971/beekeeperswifethe-backsplash-is-in?n=19

Thanks so much Suzy! I would trust beekeeperswife too - if I remember correctly her kitchen was one I drooled over in my research!

Sorry romy, I misunderstood! It's gorgeous none the less.

This is a creamy crackle tile by Sonoma Tilemakers. I believe it is part of their Star-Tribeca line. When I got it over a year ago the color was called Fleece but I think they just call it Creamy Crackle now. They have many different sizes but I didn't see 2x4. Have you thought about 2x8 size. I like that slightly more streamlined look a lot. Thinking about it for our master bath. https://www.sonomatilemakers.com/Palette.aspx?prod-line-id=8&IsColorPalette=True

If you want a better pic I'm happy to oblige.

Bean - what color are you cabinets? Very pretty with that tile.

Bean - I think I looked at a zillion Sonoma samples! I decided against bc the small tiles were too much $, but the standard size were in budget. Perhaps I should revisit. My tile shop gives the Sonoma samples out in a 2x4 tile and it was sooo small to get a good idea, but I love the look in your photo. If you have one that's slightly closer up feel free to post if it isn't too much trouble. Some of the crackles I decided against bc the crackle seemed "too much". But the Sonoma seems very nice in your photo. I second jpmom - it looks great with your cabinets!

Here is a photoshop of what I hope the back splash will look like sort of. Sad attempt at shelves.

jpmom-Thanks. They are Ben Moore White Cloud2159-70. Not to be confused with Ben Moore Cloud White 962.

I wouldn't worry about the crackle being too much. I have to get really close in order to even see the crackle. I just thought it gave it a little interest.

nightowl - the backsplash will be gorgeous but I'm positively drooling over your island with the wood accents, that is incredible!

beanpiele - thank you so very much for the additional photos! you have convinced me it is worthwhile to revisit the Sonoma tiles. Bonus is that they are easily accessible, some of the others I'm looking into from above that are so gorgeous are going to be difficult to locate samples bc there isn't a dealer nearby.

Farmdrmer - thanks. Ours is a more often than not 3 or more adult kitchen. Meeting everyone's wants was a challenge. "I want a soft surface...I want marble...I want easy access to knives...I want a huge sink..."