I am wondering if anyone other than TKO GW members would even think to ask, or even ponder, that this is not "real marble". Yes, this is coming from the woman who thought it was real when she saw it in the showroom, but still -- would your typical kitchen visitor know if it was "live or memorex"? (OK, you may be too young to remember that commercial). There is another thread (or maybe more) in the past few days where people discussed that the carrara and calacatta marble subway tile samples they recieved had varying yellow tones amongst white tiles. I think that unless you can get subways made from the sibling slab of your island, you are going to have a variation in the color of the subs, or in the veining. The ceramic may provide a more consistant color amongst the tiles. Even though it may be whiter than your island slab, it will be white like the slab, and not yellow; like some "real" tiles may be. But then again, unless you've asked a TKO individual over, they might not notice the yellow tones possible in the real marble tiles. I also think that there are enough ohhs and ahhs in your kitchen that the typical visitor won't even begin to notice any possible differences. At least any visitors I have wouldn't.

Thanks Joseph and DCward. Like to see how the tiling is above the corian. I have a similar backsplash situation behind the sink to the last photo, except, it will have to be built out about 3-4 inches for the electrical outlets, but under a sill. It is a brick wall. Not sure what they will come up with. DCward, do you still like your corian, witch hazel isn't it? I had no idea having a cove was so expensive! I go talk to someone tomorrow. Didn't mean to usurp your thread JWS. As to your question, I don't think I would put two marble like materials together either, particularly of such different "feel".

I think it's best to focus on getting a quartz that is either very solid and/or in a contrasting color to your marble (a distinct shape like herringbone also helps). If they are too close in pattern, the faux finish will stick out, imho. Regarding the backsplash behind the stove -- some people have had problems, especially those that fry a lot. I've been diligent with sealing and wiping up after use. (As aside, we have pure white quartz in one kitchen and gloss black granite in another -- both show crumbs and smears, for different reasons. The grey quartz shows the least).

there are a zillion versions of each approach available in the Photos section of this site -- just search for "quartz counter and quartz backsplash" or "quartz counter and tile backsplash" and start bookmarking the ones you like. eventually you'll get a sense of what fits your taste.