Why not take samples of your cupboard finishes and counter material, and go shopping? When I did my kitchen, I was overwhelmed (in a good way) by the choices available in any of the local tile shops available to me. Don't try to confine your options by presuming there is only ONE PERFECT backsplash that will work in your kitchen. There are probably hundreds, or thousands, although you will want to pare down those numbers pretty quickly. So go shopping, and see what's out there. Some will turn you off immediately, while some will stick in your memory, or even "sing" to you.

It may be that the person installing the counters is worried about a good tight fit against all the walls where counters will run. If your walls are not flat and straight, the installers can cover a pretty good sized gap with that thick strip of countertop material laid a few inches up the wall ( the older style installations). But with good modern templating, you should expect a good fit even if your walls are a little bit off, then the tile can come right down to the counter and still meet with a small caulk joint at the change of plane. Perhaps you can ask them if they're worried about uneven walls, or you can take a yardstick to them yourself to see how they look. If it were my kitchen I'd certainly want the newer style installation.

I'm okay with quiet as well, but the misses likes the texture of glass and the colors as well (we inherited Travertine Noche floors, so much more of a yellowish/tan color that we would have selected our selves, which is why I think the accent tiles tiles with the tan glass will fit in and help bring everything together. The tumbled marble tiles are 4x8 and the glass tiles are 1x1, so we are thinking of a runner of either 3 tiles or 2 tiles high around the room (maybe 2 marble tiles up), otherwise we'll figure out some other way to inject the accents. I guess I'm not sure how the runner glass tiles would look around a very neutral setting. I wouldn't want it to stand out too much, but we only have about 12 linear feet or so of backsplash wall space.

It's so hard to really know without pictures. What style are your cabinets? If they are very contemporary I think a black glass backsplash could look great (I'm actually envisioning a glass mosaic with the long skinny tiles in a variety of colors (black, white, gray, etc.). If your cabinets veer more toward traditional or transitional, I think I'd rather see something lighter that matches the cabinets.