Hmmm... Is it me or are the veins in the tile brownish while you have grey on the island? I don't mind the white differences but not sure I love the idea of different colored veining, IF that is true in real life. I do think the veining on your island is gorgeous! That slab was a Great find!!!

Seems risky to me to mix the marble with the marble-look. And not sure I'd want to detract from the more focal-point island counter?

I have to laugh at myself, though...Before I saw your user name under the subject heading, I thought someone was planning to inset marbles into their backsplash and maybe a concrete island counter or something! But knowing your kitchen, it made sense....Or maybe I should say, I came to my senses!

I thought the same thing as Rhome about the marbles, too funny.
Mahlgold, I am all about things matching and blending so I may not be the right one to respond but I see brown too in the sample and more grey in the counter and I would be scared it would look like you tried to match it and got it wrong. Your counter is really pretty and I think there are so many beautiful things you can do with your backsplash that will compliment your counters. With all that said though, if you like it that's the most important thing because at the end of the day you are the one in your kitchen looking at it and loving it.

I don't mind the whiter color either, but I have to admit that I see something less "matchy" as a backsplash. I wonder if lurkiish could photoshop some big 12X35 tiles to see what it would look like.

I have purchased a number of Porcelanosa tiles lately and have been very happy with the product. My fireplace and my bathroom both have the tile. I was surprised at how thick it was. Much thicker than my other tiles and feels very substantial.

I am wondering if anyone other than TKO GW members would even think to ask, or even ponder, that this is not "real marble". Yes, this is coming from the woman who thought it was real when she saw it in the showroom, but still -- would your typical kitchen visitor know if it was "live or memorex"? (OK, you may be too young to remember that commercial).

There is another thread (or maybe more) in the past few days where people discussed that the carrara and calacatta marble subway tile samples they recieved had varying yellow tones amongst white tiles. I think that unless you can get subways made from the sibling slab of your island, you are going to have a variation in the color of the subs, or in the veining. The ceramic may provide a more consistant color amongst the tiles. Even though it may be whiter than your island slab, it will be white like the slab, and not yellow; like some "real" tiles may be. But then again, unless you've asked a TKO individual over, they might not notice the yellow tones possible in the real marble tiles.

I also think that there are enough ohhs and ahhs in your kitchen that the typical visitor won't even begin to notice any possible differences. At least any visitors I have wouldn't.

Well....if you guys saw what you think is "brown" in the veining, then it must be true. I noticed the same thing in the showroom, but thought maybe it was me. Or was trying to ignore it, because I liked the tile.

rjr - I totally agree with you on the TKO comment. There are many things I may have passed on because of being TKO, but these are things that NO ONE besides us here on GW would've notice. I'm not worried at all about this tile not looking like "real" marble, because it actually does. I was really more concerned about it all blending. I'm going to try and get a sample of their large format REAL carrara tile. And I do remember that commercial!! LOL!!!

Back to the drawing board. And there's not very helpful in this showroom. ugghh!!!

Dear Mahlgold: I continued to be stunned by your beautiful kitchen everytime I see it on Gardenweb. Congrats! I like the Porcelanosa "marble" tiles you've posted. But like others who have responded, I think your marble topped island is so stunning and such a focal point that you don't really need marble on the backsplash. I'd recommend something less showy and has firsthouse mp says, "less matchy". So even if the Porcelanosa tiles were a better match for the marble in your island, I wouldn't select them.

That tile is gorgeous, but I read the tile veining as brown and your island veining reads as gray. I love your island slab. Fantastic! Hope you find just the right complement.

WOW - your marble island is beautiful. Have you ever thought about doing a slab marble backsplash?

I have considered a slab, but due to the thickness of the slabs, I can't fit it behind my range. There's not enough space behind the island trim on the range and the wall. That's why I was considering the Porcelanosa tile, large format, but only 1/2" thick. They do have large format real carrara, so maybe i'll take a look at that.