Your kitchen looks very much like mine (perimeter in cashmere with a glaze, and cherry heirloom for island). My granite is sienna bordeaux and I think picking up one of the colrs in the island for the backsplash is how I am going to go. I had considered subway tiles in vanilla but I think it will be too much of all that color with our cabinets going all the way to ceiling (9ft). I know what you mean about it being too busy, though, which is my worry. Your kitchen is beautiful and I can't wait till mine gets to that stage! I actually think the paint color you have on backsplash right now looks really good, so you could use something in a solid color to pick up a granite color as long as it isn't too dark. By the way, are your island pendants by HInkley? They look like the ones I have been considering!

Constance- If the slabs wouldn't fit in the elevator of your building, why couldn't they be carried up the steps? People that live in apartment buildings don't select their furnishings by the size of the elevator, or the stair well, or the hallways. Have you ever noticed scenes like these? Counter slabs can also be brought in through windows, so you don't have to have a seam. Your fabricator should know this. Your contractor should know this. Someone is asleep at the wheel. Your kitchen designer would have told him this. (Unless they told you this and you were unwilling to pay the surcharge for the hoisting, but that is not what you said above.) Which brings me to the next point. Using quartz, you may not like how it looks where the seam is. There are a multitude of threads on Houzz of people having quartz counters installed and not liking how it looked because of the seaming. And did you look at sample #2 above? It already has a ring stain on it! It seems like you haven't thought of Corian. Take a look at Corian Rain Cloud, it look like marble, and doesn't have stain issues, or the problems with seaming that quartz does. "Corian® Rain Cloud. Corian® Rain Cloud has a neutral off-white base, with tender gray veining and traces of "barely there" large translucent and ultra-fine dark particles that create a soft and entirely natural effect.Rain Cloud | Corian® | DuPont Singapore" With the counter in Rain Cloud you can go with a light, simple back splash that marries the counter and the cabinets. I like a simple tile like a square tile or a subway tile , laid out in either one of these patterns Your kitchen is small, and it is important to decorate with a restrained, refined hand. You want to go in your kitchen and feel it is light and elegant, not overdone and oppressive. It's like getting dressed. You want the right look, not too much. You don't need to worry about there not being enough color in the kitchen. You will have some things on the counter like a coffee pot, a canister of utensils, a vase of flowers, a colored dishtowel,etc to give some life and color to the kitchen It must have stung to have been cheated with your cabinetry. It is my understanding that working with a Certified Kitchen Designer would have prevented this. The KD (in addition to presenting you with the panoply of choices given your needs,budget, layout and tastes) knows the sources from which to obtain the materials and competent labor at a fair price, and resolves any disputes and problems. For a busy working consumer, isn't that invaluable? There are significant and costly choices remaining for you in your remodel, the back splash and counter top, that can easily cost you almost $10,000. And a lot of stress. Sure you can get suggestions from people on Houzz. It can be a fun way to spend some time and get some ideas. Some Houzzers are professionals, some have remodeled, some have good taste, and most are total strangers you know absolutely nothing about. I think that you need to make decisions together. The counter-top piece together with the cabinet together with the handle, and you need another person holding it for you and you stand back to look. And there should be some congruence between the style of the kitchen and the rest of the apartment, which we know nothing about. Granted, it may not be done yet, but you would talk about your style with the designer. It's great that you can ask for help. It's great to bounce things off friends and crowd source, too. Ultimately, isn't it the best to ask the expert in the field, especially when there is so much at stake and much money and time has already been lost?

the cabinet fronts are about the best thing going for the space. Slab/nice stain/no warping chips or broken elements. Clean the cabs, get storage wire dividers, etc for the insides..make use of every inch and hope the time comes for a full remodel. Maybe take off the small knobs and see if you can get some modern handles on there using hole and adding another. Painting these will make the space look worse as the current feel is really fairly pleasant due to the cabinets...you paint those and you have a downgrade. Some issues like the old tile floor in a bad shade, older fridge and dishwasher, odd- altho tolerable microwave setup, lack of cooking vent, no base drawers are things that a paint job won't remedy and are the things which will be compelling before long. It's okay for now...leave it. I like it in sort of a curious way as you can get a lot in those tall uppers, which keeps it tidy looking.... and you can indeed cook.

I just had a light gray glass 3x12 subway tile backsplash installed with my white cabinets. My granite has similar colors to what you picked. You need to wait for your counters to be installed before you pick the tile. I was debating between a lighter and darker gray and ended up going with the lighter. Now that it's in I think the dark would have looked nicer. Too late now. Anyway, here are pics, with and without the under cabinet lights on. The grout is not in yet as it's on backorder.