Agree that glass mosaic will look dated very soon, so that's probably out unless you sell within 1 year. The cabinets you show above are different from yours. Were you thinking about gel staining yours darker? Can you get a sample of either granite and see what looks better with your cabinets in your light at home? There may be yellow or pinkish undertones, which may be more tricky with brown than black. You could also skip the backsplash, at least for a while. Below tropic brown granite. If you're thinking about staying in your house, I'd get what YOU like; tropic brown is not so unusual that it would be a "deal killer." It looks nice, and I'm usually not a brown person.

yep that's my kitchen. Sorry it's not in your budget, but gpraceman does have a good idea about granite tiles. I have seen these used in place of granite slabs for the counter, when a budget dictated it. "To Me", they did not look that bad. I had to redo the area of the granite where the cook top is, due to a bad choice I made about cooktops, a 36" semi-circle Caldera. It died in about a year and the company went broke, so I had to replace it with a rectangular induction cooktop, Hence the granite rework. Well I could find Granite remnants (Arandis Gold) for next to nothing, (I paid about $75 for a little less than a half slab. So you may be able to do that too, and then have it cut to sizes you want for the tile, myself, the bigger the better, and the less grout lines. Thanks for your kind words about my kitchen, it is pretty unique, and as we tell folks here, Do what makes you happy, after all, it's your kitchen. For those of you that do like tiles and grout, that's great, as long as it's what you want, and you're not following others or doing what you "Think", might help sell the house later. Gary

Thanks y'all. Good ideas! The Corian is only dirty because it doesn't show dirt so it doesn't get cleaned (it was a great countertop aside from being so darned ugly). I think we'd be OK with marble there, but would still want to keep any grouted bits (tile) up high or away from the cooktop. I WILL check with other fabricators before ruling anything out due to a seam. I'm too lazy to clean my kitchen to get a picture of the sink, but here's an old one. If you squint you can sort of see how the stainless 4" backsplash goes along the wall, and you can see the spot under the window over the sink that I'd want to cover with an extra large window apron. Or I could tile the entire sink wall--if I use tile on the cooktop wall I could see doing it on the other side. It's not a big room and the fridge might end up being stainless so I'm not sure I want to put even more stainless on the walls. (If the pictures aren't clear--they aren't--the main counters are stainless steel.)

I'd go with plain subway, since you already have/will have strong character in your kitchen, pairing high contrast colors and having variations in your wood flooring. I think it will be fabulous, having the shelves against the subway background. alternative fun look would be going with something like this as barncatz suggested: http://www.alysedwards.com/collections/41/feel you're taking the geometry further, but keep to the same colors. very bold look..my preference still would be white but showing a bit of a texture cement tile like that one might look cool. big commitment of course, not sure that's what you're looking for. yet in terms of whether can be pulled off-yes another alternative-still white subway but handmade. will give you ever so slight variation yet feel very rich. very possible to find in your price range since white is a popular color. these are pretty gorgeous, simple yet so well made: http://www.annsacks.com/products/tile-stone-mosaic/davenport-field-tile#/davenport-rectangle-field%2Fwhite-crackle yet another alternative-subway, but you introduce another solid color. not something that i feel from your inspiration kitchen though but the last thing I would do in your kitchen is pairing granite with marble tiles(actually wouldn't pair them in any kitchen..not enough difference and not enough similarity. kinda falls between the chairs). also wouldn't go for glass/iridescent. if choosing beveled-love the look but consider more cuts and your future shelving when deciding. technicalities.