nik, Welcome! A couple of thoughts: if you love absolute black but are worried about maintenance, look at a leathered finish. It is much more forgiving than the polished finish to smudges, etc. There might be a reason you aren't seeing a lot of pictures with your color cabs and white tile - you might be right and it might be too bright. Try to get some sample tiles and bring them home and tape them to the wall to get an idea. You might find the answer really fast! Check the Finished Kitchen blog and Backsplash slideshow (link to FKB below, backsplash slideshow at FKB) for more pics to see if anyone else has done it - there are lots of successful rule breakers here! Maybe consider an off-white subway. Again checking a sample in your kitchen with your cabs and counter will help. If you both love the glass mosaic you might be able to incorporate it in a small area - like behind the backsplash or as an accent with 2 or 3 rows of mosaic between rows of subway - there are some examples in the finished backsplashes. Finally, congrats on making it this far! Here is a link that might be useful: Finished Kitchens

I know that yogurt commercial picture is tough to really see the grout. But any suggestions for a good light tan or simply off white grout color to use?

The misalignment looks to be up under the upper cabinet so I don't think it will be particularly noticeable. However, the pattern would drive me nuts in that it doesn't flow--the first and second picture show awkward corners, but perhaps there is a reason he hid those there that I can't see from the pictures. Depending on how much the installer charged I would be tempted to make them redo it to fix the pattern. I don't mind the gray grout, but it is less forgiving than white grout.

Go to Saltillo Imports for tile. South of Yorkdale on Tycos Drive in the design district. So many tiles, so many ideas and lots of items on display. Many of the HGTV designers use this store for their tile. Have a look at their site - worth a visit, even if you think you've found what you want. Olympia is nearby as well - almost overwhelming choices there. The tile you've chosen above...I don't know...for some reason I think bathroom when I see it but maybe I need to see it done and grouted. As is so often the case, it all comes together in the end, but we spend a great deal of time second guessing our choices when in the midst of the project.