My sister's new-to-her-house used the same Volga Blue quartz (I think) for the backsplash. Her kitchen is also dark cabs and fairly small. Looks good.

I'm not sure what shade of blue you have in your Volga Blue granite. I know there can be some differences. But with a quick search I found some that might look nice.

How about one of these:

I don't know about using it for backsplash and countertop --- might it not be too much of a good thing?

I love that second tile. The one with the print.

I have the Volga Blue with cherry cabinets on the perimeter
and an island with expresso/black cabinets with a lighter color granite counter. It took awhile for me to find a backsplash, I found the lighter colored backsplash that was not to busy worked best for me. I ended up with a 3x6 marble, Grecian White. I priced it at the local tile shop and HomeDepot. And ended up at HD for my tile, it was 1/3 the price. If you don't like marble, the neutral glass tiles look nice.

I have caesarstone Blue ocean with Calcutta subway tiles.

We wanted just the white/gray marble subways but tile company screwed up order, then we decided we liked the little veins of warmth: gold, red, brown, all very faint, just in every few tiles, rest were white/gray. The gray tied in with the blue counters and the surprise bits of color warmed the space. I was trying to copy Ina Garten's amazing blue counter without the $$$ price tag

Volga BLue is one of the most beautiful granites. (it is definitely not a quartz.!!) The more premium versions are darker overall with larger inclusions.

It has brilliant blue inclusions that have the same optical properties as the security holograms you see on credit cards such that they are dependent on the angle of viewing and light. very dynamic effect.

regardiing your bscksplash question; a tile treatment that is light colored would be best if your kitchen is smaller or lacks a lot of natural light. if its well lighted using the volga blue for the splash should work fine.

just a suggestion; get a decorative edge like 1/2, demi, or full bullnose. the blue inclusions are spectacular when exposed along the edges!!

I like the idea of a basic white something, but not marble. I know, I'm the only person in the world who doesn't like marble. But something in a soft white with a slight color varation -- that's a good possibility.

Lovely kitchen though. Very much like the layout I'll have.

Yeah, no surprise that it's a "premium granite". However, I'm not splurging on a whole lot of things, so I can have this; and I do want a "good piece". I've read in several places that this is something you want to go pick for yourself because all slabs aren't equal.

Cool that it's the same stuff as security holograms. Nice conversation item.

My kitchen'll be small . . . but will have a fairly large amount of natural light. I do agree that light is going to be the best choice.

Love the suggestion to go with a nice cut edge. I wouldn't have considered that the inclusions would be spectacular in that situation.

This is what we came up with. We spent 2 years with nothing trying to decide what to do. I think it turned out well.

erick85, I like your background. It convinces me that I want a light backsplash. I'm thinking of cabinets a little lighter than yours, but the concept is still the same. Thanks for sharing.

MrsPete,

Thank you. We really struggled as I wanted something to accent the blues but my wife didn't want too much blue. The accent tiles really work well. There are, I think, 5 colors that make up the accents, but they work really well together with both the tiles and the granite.

I didn't want something too dark, but wasn't sure how the lighter color would work. When I ran across the glass accent tiles, I bought a sheet of that and a pack of travertine (all from Home Depot) and started playing with a design. That is what I came up with. The centerpiece, which doesn't show up very well, is a tile of the Last Supper that my wife and I bought on our honeymoon 8 years ago. We knew we wanted to incorporate that somehow as well. I'll try to dig up a close-up of that.

Here's the centerpiece. I guess I don't have pic of it with the tile fully finished.

With our volga blue granite we used a snow white subway tile and a mosaic that has stainless, white, and grayish blue tiles. Beautiful!!

This is our cabinets

My friend has volga blue - GORGEOUS! She used a darker gray glass tile in a subway pattern. It is the perfect tile for her kitchen.