It's not the walls, it's the backsplash -- and it's because it's a cool grey and is fighting with the warm tones of your counter, cabinets, and floor. Best bet is to rip out the splash and choose a better color -- changing the paint on the walls isn't going to make the splash suddenly "go" with all the warm tones you've got going on. A warm off-white or soft cream splash would be a far better choice.

That is what I was afraid of. The worst part is that the tile truly did not look like a cool color when I selected it.

painting the walls isn't going to do much.

You could try bringing in lower temp light bulbs, like 3000K. It might cast more of a yellow tone. I don't know if it's going to be enough though. Try switching out the recessed bulbs and see if it helps.

Is the tile white or a gray? I can't tell.

If it's white, change your lighting and disregard what I've written below.

If it's gray, keep reading.

You've chosen a tile with a slight hint of blue, and put it against a warm golden tone granite, and a warm peachy/taupe color tile floor. The two are fighting

The odd man out is the tile splash. And to make matters worse, youve chosen a very large subway (4x12?) for that very small backsplash area.

If you wanted gray, you should have chosen a darker charcoal color like this (in a smaller size)

You have Giallo Ornamental granite? (or is it Santa Cecelia Light?)

see how much nicer the tone is w/your warm elements? the other is a matte white elongated hex tile

instead of spending time and money trying to work around the one thing that will never work, bite the bullet and remove it.

This is santa cecelia light paired w/a similar silver gray tile. it works here because the cabs are a bright, crisp white, and the floors are a dark reddish/brown wood.

Giallo Ornamental granite. a tumbled travertine is prob the number one tile used w/this granite. and it would work w/your tile floors.

a sand color or off white glass tile would also work

This is what you need. And consider removing the panels in a few of those uppers and doing a seeded glass like shown here.

I will try changing the lights first and then go from there. The backsplash likely has to go and you have given me some really good ideas. The tile looked more beige when I selected it and I think it was a matter of not having more than one tile to sample before ordering. Thank you!

I agree, the tile has to go, unfortunately. Of all the pictures above, I think the Giallo Ornamental tile looks the very best with both your floors and your countertops. The tile you chose isnt good with the countertops, but, its even worse with the floors.

I just changed all the lights to more yellow bulbs that we already had. It’s still bad and honestly makes all the brown more brown and brings out the yellow in the cabinets.

The yellow bulbs affect the whole kitchen, so best to put the whiter ones back in. Changing out that backsplash, is about the only thing you can do.

Make sure, before your new tile goes up, that the tile Pro "floats" the wall to ensure a good outcome.

What do you mean by floating the wall? Because it does not appear to be level in the pic or is this just general advice? I don’t think we will use the same installer for the redo anyway. We aren’t happy with the install (regardless of the fact that we chose the wrong color).

(no glass. people who push that don't have busy cabinets crowded with stuff!)

It looks fine on my screen. If you get stuck with it, I suspect actual in-person visitors will not be horrified. :)

I don't think it's horrible ... you could decorate the counters to take some off the "eye" off of the backsplash.

You are not the first here to install a backsplash that clashes.

You need a creamy white that will match the lightest color in the granite.

Do you know what the granite is?

Love Beth's black hex tile backsplash!

I was watching a show on HGTV today called Unsellable Houses and they showed a redo of a fireplace and they used a matte black tile on the cladding, and it was gorgeous!

I do not know exactly what the granite is. It looks lighter than Santa Cecilia but not as light as some images of Santa Cecilia light. I am picking up tile samples based on the ideas here and I hope I can find something that works!

there are two diff types of santa cecelia. one is light, the other is more golden

I think that the only ” dated ” element is the floor. Have you considered changing it to wood or wood-look vinyl, or which ever works with adjoining flooring? Otherwise you have a very nice kitchen.

Here s some visual with warm back splash

why not paint the backsplash ( with Rustoleum Tub & Tile) in a color more suitable with your countertop & cabinets? worth a try, I‘ve seen it done …. & dont worry about ”dated”.

If you want to try to save the backsplash before changing it, you could try painting the walls the same white as the cabinets. If possible, paint the ceiling also. Paint would eliminate one if not two warm tones that the tile is currently competing with.

From there you could also try changing out your hardware (fairly easy and inexpensive). If you have stainless appliances, go with a silver color, which will provide another gray tone; or else brushed brass/gold, which would work well if you can't change the ceiling color. Mixed metals in the kitchen are in right now so you don't have to worry about the sink faucet :)

white walls and ceiling, silver hardware

white wall, original ceiling, gold/brushed brass hardware

If changing pulls I would go with golden champagne Amerock hardware instead gold brass. Looks better not such yellow.

Look gold (yelloow) on pic, better in reality.

https://www.build.com/amerock-bp40517/s439633?uid=3446169

Agreed on the golden champagne!