I can tell you that my neighbor remodeled her kitchen last year and used a similar countertop material and didn't love the end result (white perimeter cabinets, dark island). I thought it was too busy, too. Her hubby chose it and loves it. I can also tell you that there are frequent postings on this forum from people who were disappointed with their waterfall islands because of the difficulty inherent in matching the veining from the top to the sides in busy patterns. So I think your instinct is good to instead look for something more plain. I think it would also look better with your cabinets.

I would go with the same quartz for backsplash if it is not so busy as you show on photo.

So white backsplash but the above marble for island? Or just quartz white for everything?

would help to see a pic of what your kitchen is to look like.

is it more modern?

I'd say for a waterfall island PLUS the backsplash and perimeter, it may be a bit much.

(Is that a porcelain? These are also porcelain:

here's a shot w/two similar looking countertops/waterfall and backsplash. is your kitchen going to be a similar style? more modern?

Here's a two tone w/the natural wood and dark painted island/hood. this is really pretty

another two-tone. this one has book matched slabs behind the stove (very important if you're jointing two pieces together)

Bookmatched Porcelain slabs "panda".

This waterfall and backsplash is pretty

I believe this stone is Cristallo

Britannica

You could do something like this. use the island piece behind the stove, and elsewhere go w/a matching tile

Ciello quartztie w/a solid perimeter countertop and tile splash

some other options.

go w/that busy pattern, but scratch the waterfall

Or, if you do the waterfall, then choose a tile, like they did here

This is blue roma quartzite. gorgeous. no waterfall. they kept the tile splash simple

Beth has great photos. I think if you do waterfall island, use plain perimeter countertops/backsplash. If you don’t do waterfall, use porcelain calacatta on perimeter and do a plain backsplash. If you were using real marble you could do slab backsplash but this photo imprint on porcelain is too busy.

Love it on the island. WITH a plain perimeter and a tile. Too much drama can be a killer of a great idea.

This is nice too....... with island and ONLY splash

( thanks Beth )

I like that one too. but it's a much more sedate looking quartz. and not much of a countertop over by the stove.

Hani, this is why it's importaint to post a diagram of what your kitchen is supposed to look like.

As you can see, there is a huge variation w/size, style and the type of countertop.

She included the rendering...which indeed makes the backsplash a bit awkward no matter the selection. Might need some open shelving around that window for balance

oh poo, I missed that. Ok, it's more modern looking

more like this.

since she has that window, I don't think a full backsplash is going to look right. plus, she will need another 2 slabs

agree about shelving. maybe she could run the slab all the way across and stop even w/the underside of cabinet and lower shelf

what might look cool is if the shelves were made from the same material.

tried to photoshop it

here's the wood

how it would look w/no shelves

how it would look if the whole wall was done, no shelves

remember I mentioned book-matched slabs earlier?

This one is not. see the diff? it's a decent match job, but nothing like the bookmatch

I'd like tile on the whole wall, but that's me.

This might be a kitchen that gets a short backsplash up to the window sill all around with a piece behind the cooktop and that's it.