Well, my kitchen is still not quite finished but I can show you where we are. We need to finish the backsplash. The one in the picture has to come down. I can't decide what I want to do. Any suggestions? Anyway. This is what I have.

Before I got to agonizing about countertops, I agonized about backsplashes. Then I found GW and realized that I was going at the problem backwards!

In your previous post I was with everybody else wondering why you were mixing grey and brown...now we all know you weren't! So...this is what I think. I think that you're not so far off the mark with what you have already installed other than it needs to recede into the background more. I think you do that by putting something with a little color but lighter. In fact, having spent hours and hours looking at tile (no, that is days and days) I think a very pale greyish green or greyish blue would really work with your light cabinets and your counter. In fact, I think I have a sample here!

The tile I have in mind is a thin porcelain, not very expensive, and it is not flat but sort of wavy. It's machine made but made to have this smooth undulating quality. So you get some texture without actually having different colors. I've pasted the link below and would recommend you see if they will send samples -- they're very happy to give them out at their stores. I don't have "moon" but I do have "bisque" which is off-white greenish greyish color; "spring" which is a blue/green/grey color; and I'd say that "bark" is probably too dark -- it would give a craftsman feel while actually having all the same color in and between tiles. These tiles are very smooth and a satin/matte finish which would go well with a glossy countertop (less reflection).

I have another tile from them labeled "gala5/25" but I can't find it on their website. It's also a sort of pale neutral with blue/green feel about it. It's flat, not undulating, and satin finish.

Anyway, there are a million tile companies out there and a million tiles so these are only suggestions but they are at the lower end of porcelain and are neutral colors without being colorless. I like the subtle undulating surface of the Harmony series because it has interest without drawing too much attention to itself.

As to the trim or accent tiles, I know someone who has installed tiles similar to what you've done in the photographs. The difference is that instead of running across the middle of the backsplash, it's at the top -- but the same over the range as you have. The colors are white and a light terracotta so there isn't as much contrast between the two colors and between the tile and the wall. Anyway, it looks great. I myself cannot decide between just all the same color or something like you have done and after coloring in a bunch of pictures decided to try the "francy method" of using index cards (when we get to that point).

My last comment is that I think you've picked about the right color in the field tile but it just needs to be lighter and more neutral, to pick up the blue in the granite and the lighting but without screaming "blue."

Here is a link that might be useful: Oregon Tile and Marble porcelain tile -- Harmony