Now that is a wild looking stone. Do you have any close up photos of it? I need to know more before I can ponder backsplash possibilities.

Here's a closeup. Do you find it wild? I actually find it calm compared to some of the vivid stones I've seen. It does have a lot of movement for a granite. It so different than what I'd been considering that I'm not certain how it might fit in.

This post was edited by gooster on Thu, Feb 7, 13 at 2:43

Not wild, but it does have movement. With white cabinets you can go in a few different directions. It is good to think ahead for the BS
Sometimes the granite is installed only to find it is difficult to match it up. You can certainly start looking at tiles, but I would not order them until the counter is installed.
Remember that the counter will be horizontal and not look quite the way it does vertically. How much light you get in your kitchen and how it reflects will also be a factor in deciding the backsplash.
All of this is a matter of taste. I happen to like light BS's but you could go with a darker one or one with dark accents.

I don't have a suggestion, but just wanted to say that is beautiful!

What a beautiful stone!

I am no color guru, by a long shot, but to me that stone asks to be paired with a light gray ceramic tile.

Love the stone! It's beautiful.

I could see a handful of different options, though it'll be helpful to see the granite installed before committing. Perhaps a bold black ceramic or opaque glass backsplash. Or a warm gray that works well with the gray in the granite.

What about a gray glass mini-brick? That's what we are planning to use (we're going with white cabinets and a dark gray quartz countertop). Ours is Solistone tile in Carrollton (see link below)

Here is a link that might be useful: Solistone Carrollton

Does that granite have some red in it? If not will it clash with your island and floors?

It's a beautiful stone! I would let it take centre stage and just pick out a light grey from it for the backsplash.

Thanks everyone for your responses!

I've not settled on my counter choices yet, but like to get a vision of how all the pieces fit together. I find a counter stylistically can be shifted in different directions depending on what it is paired with. And these choices will then cascade onto other finish details. This stone is under consideration, along with some others.

I found if I leave a final choice to too long in the process, I sometimes get caught behind some pretty long lead times for some more specialized tile (I've been quoted 4 to 6 weeks on certain products with custom color runs, like at Heath tile).

robotropolis: I was surprised with the closeup showing some undertones of red. In person, I actually see undertones of deep green and green-grey. I'll be verifying the color tones once I collect all the samples and take them to the slabs.

Thus far, I see a consensus of grey glass or ceramic, with black offered up.

Green would be super nice. I was worried it was like a yellowy beige with black but I did see a bit of that red too -- it looks maybe very different on my monitor!

I see you mentioned Heath tile. Before I saw that I was going to mention Heath Wide Hex in one color in the Twist pattern.

You could always use a piece of that stone for a behind-the-rangetop backsplash. That then means that there will be a piece of it that you can look at vertically, the way you are seeing it now. We really wanted to do that because our island slab was just too cool.

drbeanie: I really like how your stone complements the wood stain color and is bridged by the countertop and the view of the woods outside. Combining a slab-range-wall like this really works.

Palimpset: I thought about hopping over to the Heath factory store in Sausalito. I heard it's great.

I'm going back to the stoneyards again, samples and colors in hand.

This post was edited by gooster on Thu, Feb 7, 13 at 18:01

Don't wish to hijack, but robotropolis--what tile is that in the pic with the light grey tile? I'm considering something like that.

gooster--that's a beautiful granite!!! Good luck with the backsplash--definitely take the cabinet samples with you to the stone yard--it really will help with the decision (if you aren't sure yet).

cathy it's just a random tile from Amazon! Not sure what it looks like in person. You could also consider Susan Jablon glass tile and modwalls also has nice glass tile, both a little $$$ (I'm more of a bargain shopper so have never ordered from those places).

Here is a link that might be useful: Grey tile from Amazon.com