We will have white cabinets and absolute black honed granite. However, I think our solution will work for soapstone. My husband did not want a white backsplash - he thought it would look too sterile. When we met with our decorator on thursday, we came up with a very, very light green subway tile. We are going to mount it in a heringbone pattern (if I spelled that right!). We will pull in some more color (darker green & whitish cream tile) over the stove. It will be very subtle, but at least something different. We picked out the vermouth color. See this page: http://www.decor-n-tile.com/IMAGEgallery28.htm (it is at the bottom) I hope this helps!

I just spent almost $8,000 on 2 Bedrosians Magnifica Calacatta Oro counters for my master bath and so far- nightmare!!! The slab is supposed to have a soft white background with gold (Oro) veining. What showed up was blue grey color that’s not even close to the soft white of the sample of the slab they showed me in the warehouse. It’s a completely different color- not even close to the same color family ( blue-grey vs. cream!). Of course we didn’t know it was wrong until fabricated and installed. Waiting to hear back from Bedrosians if they’ll take responsibility and fix. I’ll keep you updated but BEWARE... I picked expensive porcelain because it’s supposed to be very consistent in color and no surprises. Now my beautiful beige/ cream master bath has an ugly ( expensive) grey countertop in the middle of it 😭

@Bivian Torres Thanks! I have been very happy with our bathroom project. Shower trim is Delta Trinsic in Champagne Bronze. We also have these faucets at the sinks, a tub filler, and towel hooks. Black cabinet hardware and black rimmed mirrors. We used Mapei White grout, it's a creamy white and we have not noticed it turning yellow. I do, however, squeegy my tile walls religiously after using the shower. :) I love the mix of patterns, textures, and finishes.

Well, it occurred to me that I have samples of Makoto at home, so I tested them for cleaning! Here are the results. * Tested tiles: Makoto midori green & kumo gray, which are both matte. Also two glossy tiles for comparison - Cloe and Traditions (Bedrosians' basic subway tile). Test (1) Splashed them with water as they laid flat on my counter. I have hard water (my city is 240ppm if you want to compare). The green Makoto tile showed significant water stains when dried (yikes!), the gray Makoto looked a lot better. The glossy tiles looked fine overall but did have fingerprint smudges and water spots if you looked at from a certain angle. See first photo. Test (2) Soap scum and kid bath paint (the red spot you see on the tile). All the tiles showed those marks and all washed away equally well. The matte did not feel any harder to scrub than the glossy. Test (3) Put them in the shower in vertical position. This simulates the actual position they will dry in, which apparently made a big difference. The green Makoto now came out just fine! See second photo. Based on this, my conclusion is that matte tiles are harder to clean only if (1) you have hard water, (2) tiles are dark and (3) tiles lie horizontally on your floor. Knowing this now I will never use black tiles on floors!