Why not take samples of your cupboard finishes and counter material, and go shopping? When I did my kitchen, I was overwhelmed (in a good way) by the choices available in any of the local tile shops available to me. Don't try to confine your options by presuming there is only ONE PERFECT backsplash that will work in your kitchen. There are probably hundreds, or thousands, although you will want to pare down those numbers pretty quickly. So go shopping, and see what's out there. Some will turn you off immediately, while some will stick in your memory, or even "sing" to you.

Thanks so much for your help, everyone. I'm inching closer, I think. kpaquette -- your floors are beautiful (love that border)! If I go the red oak route, I really hope I can manage to get those warm gold/brown tones in the floor. Bobby99 -- That certainly is the beauty of unstained wood floors! Your golden floors look great with the black countertop, and I'd never be able to tell you have such a lovely and large companion romping on them! Northcarolina - I know what you mean about that red soil. I've got relatives in NC and when I come home from a visit, I've got to wipe the red clay off my sneakers -- it is a gorgeous soil though and would blend perfectly with the red oak - a maintenance dream! linelle, dseng, flori and i_love_my_dog -- that's what I'm struggling with the most. I'm afraid if I do anything other than red oak it will disrupt the flow and make the house seem choppy. Although the kitchen is not really "open", it has three interior doors (all leading from red oak) and you can see into the kitchen from the (red oak) front entryway. I love the red oak in all the pictures you've so graciously posted, but most of the kitchens (with the exception of oldbat's first pic) look pretty traditional; and I think our renovated kitchen will end up more transitional and I'm not sure it will look as good. I went to a nearby Lumber Liquidators yesterday (hmmm -- I only saw the bad reviews of LL after I returned). I loved the LL "Golden Teak", but after reading some negative reviews of LL, am pretty reluctant to take a chance on that. The teak has some variation though and blends with and picks up some of the red oak color, but is more of a medium brown with some red and gold tones. It really seemed like a nice compromise between the red oak and dark stained floors that would blend nicely. Didn't like unstained white oak at all (too greenish) with the gray counter. I'm tempted to try to stain oak the color of the Golden Teak. The LL guy did tell me that if I'm toying with staining an oak floor, I should go with white oak because it absorbs the stain more evenly. Can red oak be stained to pick up brown/gold tones? I'm not sure that will gain me much though, because once you stain oak, isn't it likely to show dirt and scratches much like the darker stained floor which I love but am trying to avoid because of the maintenance?

FYI, here are some of my inspiration photos. I love the red accents in this first one (my compliments to SoonerMagic--I hope it's OK that I'm re-posting this) but I'm just not sure if white subway tile might be too stark in our kitchen. Our cabs are white rather than off-white, there's no window above the sink and there won't be much painted wall showing. If we went with this color scheme we'd probably do something like BM Bennington Gray on the walls. Not certain if we'd use the contrasting grout or go with something whiter. I like how the beige-y backsplash in this 2nd photo adds a little more color to the room. Was thinking a subway tile in this shade might still work nicely with red accents (with paint in a similar beige shade): A third option would be to do a grayish paint (BM Gray Owl?) and go with a subway tile in carrara marble something like the one below (sorry--I'm not sure whose pic this is). The problem is I'm not sure that would coordinate well with the red in our dining room. It's also a cooler color scheme than I'd originally planned. Any thoughts? Our floors are hardwood, by the way--similar to the color in pic #2 or just a touch lighter. Thanks again for all the input!

Hi Linelle, I am so happy that you made a choice and I am glad you are happy with your Cloud White choice which is what I would choose. I never knew the pain could be so bad from losing my little Furson. I loved him so much and I was shocked to find I could not revive him. His seizures had been getting worse and the increase in the medicine was too much for him. I never should have left him alone in the kitchen without carrying him to the other room to put on his bed. I was not ready to lose him. I was only gone about 4 - 5 minutes and I had not left him alone in the past few weeks in any room but my gated home office where he was safer. I miss his little kisses and how bonded were were. He had not been able to play fetch for awhile. The other little dogs miss him so much. When another one of mine passes, I plan to adopt a little kitten or cat that likes little dogs. He was the oldest and was an only furchild for a few years. I had planned to write a post but the crying has been terrible and the guilt of leaving him alone when I knew he kept fainting. He just seemed more well that morning and instead of going to the puppy pad, he was waiting by the patio door for me to let him out to go do his "big boy potty" for a "big boy potty treat". I feel my life will never be the same without my little Skeeter.