You can look to what traditional homes in your area utilize for inspiration. You can also look on Houzz for inspiration, the filters let you hone in on home style, room, etc...

My home is in Maine, our rugged climate definitely factors into traditional home design. My house is less traditional, more contemporary, but I still wanted it to feel in tune with the environment. My main floor has wood floors, natural ash, 5" wide. My entry runs into the powder room, and laundry room. These areas in a traditional Maine home would very often be Maine/Vermont slate due to its durability. I went with a more contemporary porcelain slate tile, in a larger size. I also thought about running the tile in a stacked layout, but ultimately the tile felt right staggered. A diamond layout felt very wrong, in a more traditional home diamond would probably have worked best.

For another example, I am redoing my masterbath currently. I am very drawn to traditional bath tile layouts, using square tiles on the walls. I love a base molding of 6x6 squares followed by a trim, then 3x3 squares. This does not work in my house and letting that go really delayed my project. The tile I ultimately went with is in now and is perfectly in keeping with the style of my home, but getting there was a journey.

As a backsplash, solid surface can't be beat. Hundreds of colors, particulate or movement or none, no grout lines, incredibly sanitary and easy to clean.

We're doing a slab marble backsplash.