I had white uppers in my last house-- the base cabs were a high-gloss stainless steel color. We had a white/grey subway tile. It looked nice. I don't think it should be the same color-- otherwise it might look sterile or there might be too little contrast. What is on your counter? Is there a white/neutral color in there you can pick up on?

Danielle, the counters are black soapstone. The thing is, I like the look of the white tiles and white cabs. The lack of contrast doesn't bother me. What might bother me is the color of the two whites being *just* off . I've seen lots of photos here on GW of white cabs with white subway tiles, but it's so hard to tell from a photo whether the cabs and/or the tiles are pure white, off white, or cream. So I'm wondering how others have handled this. When you say you had white/gray tiles do you mean the color of each tile was somewhere between a white and a gray? That sounds pretty. I thought about going with pure gray tiles, but there is a lot of stainless steel in the room and the walls are going to be pure gray, so I'm not sure - I think that wall needs to be white.

Are you doing custom cabs? If so, what we did was find a subway tile we like (Anchor Bay's 2x4 "bisque") and then found a paint that would go with it for the cabs (BM Dover White). If you're getting a factory finish from a stock/semi-custom cabinetry company, you'll probably just have to do the reverse and order tile samples to see which work best with the cab color you've chosen.

FWIW, we chose our particular tiles because they weren't stark white, but also weren't a yellow-y cream. They're just a nice warm white, and they look great with the soapstone and marble we've chosen. The Anchor Bay samples are only $2, and they ship fast.

Have you considered honed marble subways? They would have a variety of whites and grays that could coordinate with your white cabs, black soapstone and gray paint. Just another thought.

Not to stress you more... But I too have cream (antique) white cabinets, and soapstone. I have looked at subways in every shade of white. I have found many that are close I am not for matching either but also see how the stark white does not go with the cream unless your walls are stark white perhaps. Look at Sonoma tile, they have many shades of white so does Meredith tile, their iron gate series (I posted the link to them). Most come in subway shape. I have been paralyzed with no backsplash for 4 years! I am about to post again looking for help. Because my walls are deep tan, I am at the moment leaning toward calacutta mosaic that has a creamy background with subtle warm tan and grey veining as opposed to too white or grey, OR a slab of it behind my cooktop, kind of a show piece area and I don't want to over do it or under do it. I think my family will tease me endlessly if I just do white subway there. Though I know that would look just fine... Good Luck! Let us know what you choose.

Here is a link that might be useful: meredith tile

worldmom, this is the problem - our cabinets are semi-custom - quite a few options, but limited nonetheless. We had a choice of about 4 "whites" for our painted cabs. The one I chose is called dove white by our cabinet company; it is similar to BM's Cloud White. The problem is, there is not an infinite number of whites available in subway tiles, either! I've looked at "vanilla", "bone", "biscuit", "almond", and they are all just off which is worse than being way off! I've started thinking that a pure , glossy stark white would be the best bet - at least no one could think I was *trying* to match. I will look at Anchor Bay, though. Kittymerr, I feel your pain. I am considering marble as well to avoid the ceramic tile anguish. I will look at the sources you suggested as well. Thanks so much.

We feel your pain; went through a similar search looking for something to match an off-white cabinet. We didn't want an exact match, but they do have to complement each other.

Have you looked at Daltile's choices? They have a few variations on white; we ended up with ivory, but they have some other shades as well.

Have you seen redroze's wonderful kitchen? She has white cabinets (not cream) and a beautiful white tile backsplash (by Heath Ceramics). They don't match but they certainly complement. Also suanandmarkw's kitchen (of the "Something's Gotta Give" inspired kitchen), socalthreem's kitchen, soonermagic's kitchen and mwardlb's kitchen (a personal favorite) are a few which immediately come to mind of having white cabs with white subway tile.

I wonder if the grout color is really the key .... I wish you so much luck!

Thank you so much for your input, everyone. Worldmom, the bisque color from Anchor Bay is looking promising on my monitor - I am going to order a sample. What is the difference between the cardiff and the soho tiles, do you know? They are both available in 3"X6" and bisque color. Rmkitchen, thanks for all the links. I'm drooling over those kitchens. Grout color -good grief! I thought the only color of grout was...grout. You mean I have to make another decision??? I am not going to survive this, LOL

Subway Ceramics does an Avalon White that is meant to replicate the old white of historical subways -- not as yellow as modern 'bone' or 'ivory' -- perhaps you can get a sample of those as well? (I almost chose them myself, they're gorgeous thick flat tiles and they have a very wide range of trim shapes.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Subway Ceramics

I echo the others in saying that your best bet is to get a tile sample and hold it up to your painted cabinet sample and counter sample. Then you can tell if it looks right. As easy as that. Grout can come later I think...it's somewhat more flexible. I would start with the tiles first.

I chose my backsplash (thanks for the link RM ;-)) because it was very white which echoed my cabinets, but has a grey undertone that also compliments the grey in the granite. I think the tiles can't be the exact match to the cabinets as you want a slight contrast in whites there for some visual interest. I think you just need to figure out what direction you go in - a warmer white, a pinky white, a creamy white, a greyer white, etc. In your case, I think getting a white tile with a grey undertone will work with your grey paint and black soapstone.

Good luck!

We did our bathroom cabs in BM's cloud white (love it!) and did daltiles 101 white subways and they go great together - not identical but both are a creamier white. If I remember correctly, daltile makes a creamy white and a stark white and maybe others but the 101 goes best with the cloud white.

I know you saw my kitchen recently, because you left a nice comment and talked about tile size. Like I mentioned in the post, the backsplash was the hardest decision to make. My kitchen was complete, except for the b/s for a whole month.

I thought the white would be too white. I ordered glass tiles, but didn't want to go that modern. I also thought some colored accents tiles would be nice. My DH was just like, "It is just tile, pick one already and lets be done."

I took a cabinet door and a countertop sample to HD Expo and held it up to all the different tile boards and just loved the color and size of the Adex tiles.

The color wasn't an exact match, but very close. My cabs are a grayish-creamy white. I used a slightly darker grout to show the pattern a little better and break up the white.

In the end, I am glad I took my time finding the tile. I think it really makes the kitchen.

I hope you find something you like, too. Tape up as many as you can under a cab to see how it looks. Good luck!

Adex 2"X 4", color Bisque. Grout is Alabaster.

mary in nc...thank you! (your kitchen was one of the first I ever saw when I joined this forum, by the way, and I fell in love with it!) You addressed the fundamental question: does a tile in a different shade of white than the cabinets compliment or clash? Yours certainly compliments but then, I think your cabinets are creamier than mine (it's so hard to tell in photos.) But I agree with you, the sink is going to be white against the off white cabs, why not the tile? Budge, our cabinets apparently are close to BM's cloud white, so I will look at the daltile 101's. caligal, I adore your kitchen. It has a lot of the industrial/vintage look that I am striving for. The no-nonsense subway tiles next to the stainless steel utensil rack just says "working kitchen" to me. It's good to know I have a lot of tile choices out there (maybe too many...) we got our bathroom tile at Standard Tile; I just told the salesguy "white subway tile" and he picked one out. It is Florida tile. I didn't think about there being different whites, or rectified or beveled or anything else. They are fine for the bathrooms, but I'm going to spend a little more time trying to get the kitchen tiles right.

FWIW- We also had semi-custom light cream colored cabinets, soapstone counters, and a white fireclay sink. I had the same dilemma in choosing a creamy subway tile color to coordinate with our cabinets. What I found to be very helpful was to take a sample door of our cabinets into the tile store and hold different tiles up to it. Although all the tiles were cream colored they definitely varied a lot when held up against the cabinet. In the end I ended up ordering a crackled subway tile from Pratt and Larson.

haven't read all of the responses but an idea popped into my head... what if you have your grout match your cabinets so at least there is some visual tie in??

VJ,

I wanted to post a couple of links to Anchor Bay's colors. You can order samples for $2 apiece ($10 shipping, regardless of number). They're all handmade tiles; some are crackled, some are beveled, some are 2x4, some are 3x6, and some lines come in more colors than others. (I think we're doing Soho bisque with a celery listello).

http://www.AnchorBayTile.com/Claypads-Tile-Liners-Listellos-p/300clp1201.htm (46 colors for this particular one)

http://www.AnchorBayTile.com/Clayline-Ceramic-Subway-Tile-Trim-p/310cll1750.htm (60 for this one)

http://www.AnchorBayTile.com/Cardiff-Ceramic-Subway-Tile-2x4-p/230crdf.htm (6 for this one)

http://www.AnchorBayTile.com/Soho-Ceramic-Subway-Tile-Trim-p/221sohf.htm (4 for this one)

I'm not trying to push this company on you or anything, but they do have a few whites to choose from. They're great for me since I'm hours from a real tile showroom. It's fun to look at Ann Sacks' website, for example, but I have no way to actually order any of that stuff. I love that this is a direct order site.

Anyway - I think you're wise to make a reasonable effort to get the two whites to go together (like not putting a cool one against a warm one if you can help it), but like Mary said upthread, it's not even possible to match all your whites and you'll drive yourself bonkers if you try. I know our fireclay sink is a different white than our tile and cabs, but at some point, I have to say that white is white and that's good enough for me. ;o)

It's so comforting to see that other people obsess as much as I do! My cabinets will be BM Linen White, and after MUCH searching I am going with an Ann Sacks subway tile in Buttercream - although the tiles and cabinets are not in yet (soon!) I have looked at my samples in every type of light possible and I think they are a great match :)

Mary in NYC
What color are your creamy cabinets? I love the color of your cabs and how it contrasts with the brighter whites.

Gail - that will be a great match - I almost did the ann sacks subways and linen white but I wanted to go whiter!

I did Horus Art Tiffany Crackle in Bianca and BM Dove White - it is a very close match and I am very happy with it!

Here is the link to my kitchen.

Here is a link that might be useful: Willow Decor's Kitchen

mary_in_nc: same question here: what colour are your cabinets? they are a lovely creamy white!

islandgarden--this thread is more than 6 years old. It's doubtful you will receive a reply from this member. It's a good idea to check the date of post you are responding to. Good luck!