Moccasinlanding, thank you - I wondered if I could just take a picture of it. Now, however, the deadline has passed and I'VE DECIDED WHAT I'M DOING. Whew! Actually I didn't decide. I told my contractor who showed up this morning that I CAN'T DECIDE and am going completely crazy out of my head bonkers not being able to decide between stainless w/ marble subway backsplash or soapstone w/ beige subway backsplash. So I told him to decide for me and I'd be happy either way (and if not happy, it would be default tell me that I really wanted the other thing)! So HE chose stainless w/ marble. He said black counters are too ubiquitous these days, and dark (potentially depressing), and that we can add more warmth by replacing our kitchen island top with butcher block (it's currently stainless). To answer your question about our floors, they're wood. Yesterday I found an interesting online piece about a woman's original 1912 or 1913 kitchen - showing pictures - having one counter w/ steel on it. It appears to me to be zinc or pewter, and it was in a pantry-type room that had U-shaped counters, the connecting counter being the metal one. The other two were made of old dark wood. Stainless was invented in 1913 (amazing how many things were - including refrigerators!) and so I feel good enough about doing a period kitchen in stainless as long as all else looks old-fashioned for the most part. And as long as I can contrast w/ lots of warmth in other ways - particularly re. wood. The marble should help w/ that too I hope. Can you tell I'm trying to convince not just you guys but myself, too? ;) Here's the link that shows that woman's original 1913 kitchen (I can't help but feel sad that she changed it - and also some of her choices - but to each her own. Plus she wrote that it was meant to be a temporary fix only): http://www.fromtimespast.com/RestorationJournalTheKitchen.htm Third pic down shows the metal which you can see much better if you use your computer to zoom in on it.

I'm almost finished with a kitchen remodel due to a water leak. I got new cabinets and appliances, the granite was reused. I didn't care whether or not I kept the same backsplash but the insurance said it wasn't necessary to have it replaced. So when they installed my new cabinets, to make them level, they were running higher (above the bottom of the lowest tile) so they took off the lowest row of tile. They explained that once the granite was reinstalled, it wouldn't look right to put something back in that area because you'd see how it runs uphill (or downhill) so we tore off the entire backsplash. I just had the cheap white 3"x6" subway tile from lowes, and I like it so that's what I'm having done again. But I'm soooooo glad that we tore it all out and re-tiling the backsplash. It will look so much better. It's getting done tomorrow. I personally would rather have the backsplash redone than to go with the 3" piece. JMHO BTW the insurance paid for a new backsplash since the granite couldn't be installed exactly where it was before and I got $1100.00 for a $300 backsplash :)

i love it. Large is good. Neutral is good. The fact that the tiles are LARGE and NEUTRAL and have TEXTURE adds visual interest. Go for it. BTW, I make red sauce every week and it does splatter on the walls. First time I freaked out: white tiles, white grout. thank goodness I put in teeny grout lines and sealed them. I knew what would happen. And I kinda like the tiles vertical like you have in the photo. But horizontal will look nice, too.

Thanks so much for your suggestions, everyone. Yes, cbphoenix, the tiles do have a hint of olive in them when we saw them in person. We were expecting a lighter, more spring green, but I still think it could look nice. I think my husband will go down and check out the soapstone slab in person with the tile and get another feel for it. The tile is such a good price (on craigslist), I don't want to let it go, but I want to make sure it will look nice. I will keep looking around; luckily, this is something that doesn't HAVE to be decided immediately! Pluckymama, thanks for posting the link. Now I know to do that on my own next time!