Now focusing on either completely white marble or pale marble body color with pale streaking. Any suggestions? (All my samples of marble have medium to dark toned streaks.) One idea is pillowed thassos like Mindimoo, but I dont have a picture. Is it my imagination or did my thread about choosing the finish of the Modernaire hood crown disappear?

Cream colors (most off whites fall into cream categories) and white/greys don't usually look good together. They make each other look dirty. Get a few pieces of the white marble tiles and get a door sample in your color. Bring them home to your kitchen, for your lighting, and put them next to each other and see what they look like they. If you see color like most people do, you're not going to think they look good together. Get a back splash that's warmer/beige in hue or a completely different color than white. That's just my opinion. Not written in stone.

I do not like this white spot, either. I do not think you are being unreasonable to want to fix it. I think that we are just trying to help you think about other solutions. My first experience with stone was my 2003 kitchen remodel. tumbled marble. I remember looking at the finished backsplash and thinking why didn't my contractor set aside those dark ones that popped up every once in a while. After all, I had three boxes of tile left over. To me, it seemed a no-brainer. I also had no idea there was this much variation. But my contractor did. He knew what the tile looked like and how much variation was there. To him, the dark tiles were not something undesirable, or even something to ask me about. He had more experience, and I had not looked through the tiles to see what they were all like and pulled out the dark ones. Come to think of it, I helped him do tile on the second day. I put extra mastic on the back of the tiles that needed to be set forward a bit. On that day, I did pull out some tiles that were "too dark" for my taste. My expectations were different from Jim's. Now I am doing a second, different kitchen. I have an island that will be topped with 19" porcelain tiles that look like stone. I know from watching HGTV that some people lay tiles like this with no thought to the direction of the streaks of "grain" in the color. I hate that look. SO I am taking off a few hours on tiling day to give my input on the placement of the tiles and cuts. I would not know to do this if I had not seen other tile jobs I did not like, or see the dark tiles on my old backsplash. Since the sealer wears off in time, and since it is a liquid, I bet it has a solvent that will remove it. You may be able to do a "faux" finish on the white spot, then reseal it. It is possible that taking out that tile could hurt your wall and mean that the whole thing has to come down. Try something else first. After Bill Vincent jumps in and gives advice. There is a thread here somewhere about people hiring painters to faux finish outlet covers and other obstructions so that they cannot be recognized and ruin the flow of the backsplash. I would try that before taking out a tile and risking tearing the paper off the drywall underneath. Here is a link that might be useful: Painted outlets

didn't have time to read all the answers. I have no backsplash and have never regretted it...been over 6 yrs. It is painted with BM matte...which has ceramic in it. It is as beautiful now as it was when first painted. I love the fact that I can showcase other things ...art etc in my kitchen and no competition. Also if I ever want to change it is as quick as a paint brush...expense is minimal..paint only ! All in all I think it is serene as you point out . Here is one pick. Since I have a lot of high heat cooking in my kitchen..built in deep fat fryer as well as gas cook top I can definitely speak to the longevity of paint only. c ( more at this album )