I have the striped mini pumpkins, Kakai. LMK. Will trade for Datura Lisa

Kim, one of the problems I deal with every day is one-dimensional color theory being applied to the three-dimensional. It's like trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole. Pound hard enough and you can probably get that peg wedged in that round hole to the point that you can say it fits. The square peg will be battered. Corners clumsily whittled and splintered. By no means a good fit in that round hole, but it made it in none the less. I think there is much work to be done. :-) Intensity, chromaticity or chroma, saturation are *for the most part* interchangeable terms in wall color world. They basically deal with the same. Brightness and dullness. Vivid or weak. Vibrant or muted. How has a hue been altered to create a color and what is the resulting color's relationship to black. Or, you could also look at it as how close has the color been moved towards a neutral gray. Nuance is a very important term to understand relative to paint color in particular. It's a two-dimensional term. Could say it sums up light/dark and chroma/saturation/intensity all in one visual evaluation. It's a great term to use to talk about the mood and character one sees in and feels from a color. Hue and color are not the same thing and are not interchangeable. IMO any way. Pink and red are not the same color, but they both have the same root hue, red. Hue is what you start with. It's the genesis of a color. Color is what results when you do something to the root hue. Defining what the primary or root hues are can make for very interesting color conversation. lol! :-) It can depend on which corner of color world you are talking about too. Whether you are talking additive or subtractive. Each of those terms can have further detail, can be used to deconstruct color further and for more specific application. And there are many more color terms in the same boat. i.e. What's the difference between luminance and reflectance? Is there a difference? Some people use the word saturation solely to speak to how close to white a color has been moved. Chroma strictly to describe pureness of color, how pure or muddied is the color. It goes on and on... Some would simply classify it as semantics. Others would blast the semantics argument and flat out call it too lazy to learn *proper* color vocabulary. Hard part is getting agreement on exactly what *proper* color vocabulary is.

I understand your angst, but color inconsistencies are really a non issue. Over 32 years I have installed many tile applications and have never had a client find an issue with grout color variation. More important is the sanded/non sanded. 1/16 really needs a smooth grout unsanded, and you should avoid certain grouts that are "hybrids" - grout for thin joints that has fine particle filler. You can never get them to have even suspension through out the mixture.

I've only used the pre-mixed grout a few times, not a big fan. The instructions for cement grout warn about color variation but, in 20+ years of installing tile, I never had an issue. You can get color variation if you add more water to the grout after it's started to set up. The bigger concern there is that it will weaken the grout. Another cause of color variation is using different bags. If the job calls for more than one bag of grout, you're supposed to "box" them (mix them together). A kitchen backsplash is unlikely to need more than one bag (probably only a quarter of a bag.) My advice would be to use un-sanded cement grout. For 1/16th joints, add water and mix it until it's about the consistency of peanut butter or just a bit wetter. Let it set for about 5 minutes to "slake" then mix it up again. As for the brand: PolyBlend by Custom, Laticrete, and SGM are a few I've had good luck with. I've heard but never saw first-hand that Mapei had color variation issues. If you have to use the pre-mixed stuff, it won't scratch your marble. Pre-mixed grout typically contains sand (silica) which won't scratch the marble but will be difficult to get into 1/16th joints so you will probably end up with several unsightly holes in the grout that will need to be touched up.