It doesn't look that bad to me. The pattern would practically disappear with a like-colored grout and would just be a subtle texture. If the color is off (which is best determined in person and in different lighting) it might always annoy you which is a good reason to send it back. But the photos don't look any worse than some others I've seen posted that have been "oooh"ed and "ahhh"ed. I think if you had posted how much you loved it, you'd have had just as many agree. To me, the black hardware and wood valance "speaks" of a more country (vs urban) look. But I don't know the overall effect you're hoping to achieve.

I have to laugh when I hear of anyone that says that back splashes get greasy, nasty, grout lines gross, and so on... ALL that I can restate time and time again is the OBVIOUS: the person responsible for cleaning the kitchen doesn't or does not know how to clean. Period. If someone fries a lot and does not clean then WHAT do you THINK any kitchen would look like? It's just utterly ridiculous. The majority of people on this web site probably are the upper echelon of fanatics on kitchen cleanliness and appreciate a beautiful kitchen. And we do know what it takes to maintain a clean kitchen. Some people just do not. And I'm with everyone else: if someone is trying to steer you into a direction that you don't want to go in, then don't go with them! I'd be thankful that they gave you a clear forewarning of your imminent unhappiness to come if you hire them to do a specific job they had no confidence in performing. Some wonderful building talent out there just don't come out and say, "I'm not good at...(whatever), so you would be better off hiring so and so."

Slabs differ to some extent, so if you've chosen yours, perhaps you can post an image of it, and your wall color. Also, it would help to know what kind of feeling you want in your kitchen - contemporary, traditional, modern, etc... But New Venetian Gold has lots of earth tones in it that allow it to coordinate well with many materials, and while it has a lot of speckles, they're pretty small, giving the stone a greater uniformity of color overall than many granites. The top image is a slab view, with progressive magnification. With white cabs and black appliances, you might want to consider a cool brown or a warm grey color tile. If you like the subway look but want to keep it modern, play with the tile size. Fireclay Crush glass tile in 2" x 8" format, or in a smaller mosaic sheet, in gloss Camelia or Willow, for example: Here is a link that might be useful: Fireclay Crush

Ours doesn't line up on one side of our kitchen we are redoing. We are using subway tile for the backsplash so we got the half finished edge tiles for the end and lined it up with the top cabinet. The bottom cabinet and counter are about 6 inches farther out. I think it looks fine. Since you are on the end of a cabinet run then I would line it up with the top cabinet.