Pam, thanks for the hardware site recommendations. I took a quick look and will go back and look more closely later. Since we moved to this house I've spent MANY hours trying to track down hardware that could work. I'm always happy to look somewhere new. Hi mama goose! Yeah, we've moved on. About 4 years ago DH was offered an early retirement so we jumped on it and moved to the west coast. I always loved your kitchen. The current house and kitchen are completely different than before. I looked at some marble and glass mosaics in the tile store the other day. There were a couple of glass mini mosaics that I loved thinking they were marble. I think the first one might be too light. The second one has warm tones too, so could possibly be lovely. megs and mama goose, I have thought about carrara tiles, but I'm worried that the tones won't match what I have. I think that would drive me nuts. My slab had large amounts of darker tones (it reminds me of Portland clouds) and that's what I loved about it. eld6161, the tile you ended up with is beautiful. I wandered into clayhaus tile a couple of weeks ago and they had some matte tiles that were a beautiful match for my marble, but I fear the lighter gray would completely wash out. I was more than a little tempted by the darker gray, but I mocked it up with paint and poster board and was overwhelmed by the darkness in daylight. It actually looked wonderful at night with under cabinet lighting. The two lower ones are the ones I'm talking about: I've been looking for mid-tone grays somewhere between the two. I'll also start looking a little at silver tones as eld6161 suggested. I don't regret the counter choice. During the two years that I lived with the black counters, I disliked them every single day (even after the skylights were installed). In the month that I've had the new counters, I make special trips to the kitchen to admire their beauty. I just need to find that one true backsplash tile!! I'll add another marble photo just for kicks: Thanks to all who have commented!!

no. lol. you don't have a huge area to do. it's a beautiful tile and goes perfectly w/your kitchen. you've been waiting 2 years, get the quality splash. A cheaper one, (say $20 a sq foot?) is going to save you about 200 bucks. is it worth it? or do you want something really cheap? Up to you. if you want cheaper, go look at IvyHill online on Wayfair or HomeDepot and see if you like any of those. Learn how to do some of the things yourself and save money on DIY, then you can afford the pricier splash. btw, here's how I styled my walnut shelves (that cost me $45. I bought a piece of wood, cut it to my measurements, stained it, and KregJigged the corners. use lag bolts to set into the studs, drilled holes on the back of the shelves, and slid them on the bolts. The cement tile splash I also did myself. found them on sale at half price, and tiled it in a few hours. used the wood trim around theborder as edging The sconce I found on Etsy Maybe you can pick up some extra savings when it comes time to do your flooring, or change out your lights. I'd seriously do some sconces over your coffee bar. you can find cheaper ones like these. https://www.lampsplus.com/open-box/ Try this link for savings on lights. they're returned, unused lights from LampsPlus. I've ordered a few off of here. Some good savings. for example, if you wanted to do more of a modern light in the kitchen, this would give you lots of light I love, LOVE this light. in fact, I got the smaller one for my own house. This one is a good price. and it's 3 lights, and would work perfectly w/your decor. (LED LIGHTS!) It's $300, but it's normally more expensive. https://www.lampsplus.com/products/bergamot-station-17-inch-wide-black-3-light-ceiling-light__88v66.html or, maybe these 3 or 4 light flush mounts. (remember, get the LED 75W or 100W bulbs in the natural daylight or 4000K temp) these are all half the price of the Bergamot

I have beveled subway in my bathroom, and I won’t use them in my kitchen. They look nice, but there’s just too much going on visually for me to have them in the kitchen. Sometimes when I can’t make a decision, i just go with a neutral one because I clearly don’t LOVE the other options. Also, you don’t have to LOVE everything about the kitchen. The rest of your kitchen is so nice I imagine you won’t regret having a backsplash that’s just fine. Fine is fine! (My vote would be plain white subway, either 3x6 or 3x12. It’ll still look good and untrendy no matter how long you have your kitchen.)

Did the desiger say more specifically what about the style doesn't work? I think of subway as the tile that can go with any style. I'm not sure what rich, European style is -post some inspiration pics if you feel inclined, cause I'd love to know. I don't see why you can't merge rich and rustic into an elevated look. Here are some pics of what I consider to be elegant style kitchens all with subway tile splashes. A few have some rustic elements in the pics as well. (I swear I'm not being paid by the subway tile industry. Just a huge fan!)