Stranger, I have Caesarstone Smoky Ash which seems nearly identical to Charcoal/Zulu. It has a little taupe, but no pink (thank goodness). Its price was comparable to granite. I was looking for something dark gray without a lot of movement, so this fits the bill. Not sure I would choose it again, but that's academic at this point. My cabinets are white and my floor is red oak. I decided I wanted something more yellow/gold for my backsplash and the good people here at GW talked me out of it. I'm instead going with a cream crackle subway. Although I'm not convinced my first choice was totally wrong, I think a more neutral b/s is going to work better in the long run. It doesn't fight with my counter. I'm not having any special accent tiles or liners. I was surprised how expensive tile setters are and non-field tiles, like bullnose. I'm grateful I had just enough left in my budget to cover the b/s. Many here will suggest you just hang tough and wait a while until everything else is done. I tend to agree with that. Get LOTS of tile samples.

chispa, Thanks for your comments. We have looked at many counter options for the laundry room of a variety of price points. You are right that I did say the grey speckled laminate counter was "boring". However, now that I realized I can get some pattern from the back splash, I am okay without the pattern and sparkle in the counter. I really believe you choose one pattern in hard finishes (either floor, counter or back splash). The funny thing is, that very grey speckled counter is what we chose 20 years ago (it is called grey fog) for our kitchen (long before everyone was choosing grey). We have a table in it that can go in the laundry room under the window. It must be timeless if it was available 20 years ago, and is still available now. It will look way different of course in this laundry room as it will have the blue cabinets, back splash and tile floors that we did not have in our original kitchen. The other thing that is good about that "boring" laminate is it has no undertones in it. It is grey and white and that is it. So many of the laminates we looked at were much more multi-coloured than that. So, if we use that laminate counter and save big on already having a table and keeping the counter cost way down, we can cover our splurges elsewhere in the home which is good. Now my challenge is to find a good back splash that is timeless, and to finalize the cabinet configuration so we can get the cabinets ordered from Sheer's (RTA) cabinets for DH to get busy assembling them. Does anyone see any tweaks and changes with the cabinet configuration? What do you think about having subway tiles in grey (dark and light) and white for the back splash (like the colours posted in my 11:21 post today, but in bigger subway size tiles)? Carol

No one can tell you whether that color will work in your room. People can tell you if they like it in their house, but that doesn't really tell you anything. Get a sample from Samplize.com or paint a sample board that you can move around the room to get the effect of different types of light at different times of day. Be sure to look at the board against the other surfaces in the room at the same angle as the cabinets. For instance, don't lay the sample down on the counter to look at it. If you're doing the painting yourself, be sure to research the correct (very time consuming) way to paint cabinets as the finish will not last if it isn't done right. The door style of your cabinets is very dated. Did you look into cabinet refacing?

Thanks @Beth and @RedRyder! Looking at the new colour samples some more in different lighting and positions, I really like the RAL 7037 -- Dusty Grey as well -- I think it's the winner! :-) Thanks for your guidance on the colour selection -- I'm a loss when it comes to colours, whether it's in a reno project or co-ordinating clothes, so it's awesome to get professional help! One more (hopefully quick) question. The table frame is also being custom made and powder coated to any colour of my choosing as well. I was originally just going to make it Matte Black, knowing that the dining chairs will have matte black frames as well. But should I be matching the table frame to my cabinets (i.e. Dusty Grey) or to my chairs (Matte Black)? I've included a drawing below that kind of compares the two differet looks. The actual dining table will have some of the frame under the stone revealed as well (i.e. where the stone overhangs the frame by 1" around the perimeter) but that's not drawn in. And these are the chairs I'll end up buying, but they're out of stock at the moment :-( Thanks!