Thanks everyone for all the suggestions! Here's a picture of the actual slab we used in case that helps. We liked that it was subtle and didn't have as much brown or movement as some of the others we saw.

Kendrah, thanks for that feedback. Yea I think we are married to getting a backsplash at this point. We thought about just doing Taj backsplash, but decided against it because of the cost. We had the 4 inch strip before, but didn't like the look of it.

Boxerpal, thanks for the feedback. Wanted to stay away from too much brown or tan. The second and third options look interesting so will add those to the list.

Jan Moyer, we like the look of those, particularly the triangular dont be a shellout. Found a couple stores nearby that carry the brand, so I will try to check out and get some samples today.

The only way to tell is stand them up in your kitchen.: )

I would add that a rise need NOT be a mere four inches. It can be eight, nine....ten"! .....and at taller heights? Is quite a cool look and not busy. You may want to reconsider doing that with the Taj.

What would we do with the the area above stove and behind hood if we add a taj rise? Just keep it painted? It's worth noting that we do cook alot and one of the thing we struggled with was keeping the grease and buildup off the walls and cabinet. Hopefully the hood will help with that.

We went with the rise and painted the walls. Beyind the stove, we put a sheet of stainless steel.

If you have the correct venting, you will have a lot less grease. You can run that portion up to bottom of hood.....

The key to a fan, is to run that fan well BEFORE you begin to saute or sear!

We're not seeing your kitchen plan ( feet and inches)

What is the hood style here and what width with what size cooker? You cabinets don't meet ceiling, so I am guessing chimney style and stainless?

I think your kitchen is going to be fabulous! Can you share your paint color on the cabinets? Love it with the Taj! Good luck on the backsplash!

Thanks Design2 girl. Cabinets are uptown white by forevermark. Note we've had some minor issues with chipping so far.

Jan Moyer, yes we plan for a stainless hood with ss crown molding. cooktop and hood are 30 inches. It's about 18 inches from top of counters to cabinet.

Lots of options for tiles that go with Taj Mahal and not everyone will like what you choose! So pick what you like.

I went with this marble mosaic. The white (honed) marble works with our BM Chantilly Lace cabinets and the brown (polished) marble works with our wood floors and ceiling beams.

I tried samples of every tile out there and took over 5 months to make a decision once the rest of the kitchen was finished. I had gone through a similar search years before, because I had also used Taj Mahal in my previous house, but that kitchen had stained cabinets and was a different style of house.

This is the same Jeffrey Court mosaic I used, but in a different pattern

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Sonoma Tile, Dahlia in Daydream

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Walker Zanger Tangent Zephyr in Calacata

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Fireclay tile backsplash in Rosemary.

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Backsplash - Plumage Mosaic by Encore. Ceramic molding also by Encore, in Westin Ash.

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Got a few more samples that I think could work taking some of the advice offered here. Interested to get your thoughts on these:

What's the under cab lighting? It looks too cold, and I think it is really throwing you off.

Second question? The cook is 30" as is the venting, which should have been 36" but a little late for that.

You mention both SS and crown, clarify: You plan to return crown to wall behind stainless? I'd be no on that.

The second, fourth and fifth tile sample in left to right in your pic? Nope. : )

The one all the way to the right looks best on my monitor. I also think that size is interesting. Just make sure your grout matches closely.

Taj Mahal for backsplash. Then you get to see more of it.

Hi Jan, under cabinet lighting is set to cool white in these pictures, but I can set it to whatever as they are multi color led. They are also deliberately placed on the front lip of cabinet(facing the backsplash) because I was afraid of it being too reflective if pointed down at the countertops. Here's a couple pics with it changed to warmer yellow.

The vent hood should look like this when installed(we would put the molding up to ceiling if we decide to use). We weren't working with much room to right of cabinet and didn't wan to go through trouble of changing layout so it's 30 inch and so is cooktop.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/ZLINE-Kitchen-and-Bath-30-in-400-CFM-Convertible-Vent-Wall-Mount-Range-Hood-with-Crown-Molding-in-Stainless-Steel-KBCRN-30/207078931?cm_mmc=ecc--

Hi everyone, spent a few days going to tile stores and combing over selections, but we seem to be ending up at a similar place and it's all starting to look the same. lol. Anyways, we brought a sample of the actual slab with us and we ended up at at this Myorka White tile. It does seem to appear more gray in these pictures than in the store. Thoughts? I also put it next to other samples for comparison, but it comes in subtle variations.

Jo, yes thats the one, but the box comes in slight variations.

Oh! I didn't realize it's the same as the zigzag tile

My suggestion is to not tile in that pattern!

It makes it look too busy especially with the variation I'd do stacked vertical or horizontal or brick too

It does look a bit too cool but it's hard to say I'm sure in person it reads differently

i think there is a yellow undertone.....problem becomes the counter then reads peach and the slight yellow is more so w the counter tone. I actually like the one with the gray boundary around the edge. with your hardware and a warm gray grout I think that would be a nice detail and the white doesnt seem to read yellow in that tile. what we see on our screen may not be the impression in your space.

This is crazy but im currently in literally the exact same boat! Also Taj Mahal counters, white cabinets and also landed on the Mayorka white glazed tile!!! ive already ordered the tile and honestly the tone seems to look the closest to the background color of the Taj. It really depends on the lighting which is driving me insane. ill post some pics of the tiles ive taped up possible layouts bur think we are going with traditional brick install. the tiles have quite a bit of variation and seem to have a chameleon quality.

There is some variation like i said and the color changes depending on lighting but tiles themselves are quite pretty. Have a luminous quality and the other half of the batch is more of a glazed finish. Some of the glossier looking ones tiles can lean more gray (depending on lighting again) but once mixed in with the creamy/off white color of the others I think it will blend nicely IMO. But im going for a transitional modern with some indistrual accents so that is factoring into my decision. Also going with a 30” range hood! we decided on a black stainless which is somewhere in between black and stainless.

Andrea Rodman, WOW, did you sneak into my house and take pictures? lol this is crazy!! Thank you for sharing your pictures, this was exactly my concern that this tile would have too many variations. We were one second away from pulling the trigger in the store because the sample we compared to out slab went perfectly, but then as you said when we got home with different lighting it looked more gray/cool which confounded me. I even requested a box but they didn't have any on site. Anyway, I'm torn but your pictures are SUPER helpful! I'm going to share this with my wife and see where we end up- I think she still likes it. We originally thought about herringbone pattern, but as others here have suggested we thought it might be too busy. When is your install? Would love to see the finished product.

I know what are the odds right?! Im just glad Im not the only person agonizing over this. i cant count how many hours ive spent going to tile shops (Floor and decor knows me well!) and my husband probably thinks Im mad. But thats ok. Our tile guy is coming to start next Monday so kinda forced to make a decision. I had over 2 months to decide. I also ordered samples online from tilebar which were gorgeous but ultimately we still kept going back to the Myorka White! I will post some photos of those and their names just in case it helps. But if you find a another tile that looks better PLEASE let me know! I still might have time before Monday! :)

hi Andrea, goodluck!! Will do! if you dont mind, could you please post another picture of the tiles showing the variations in daylight? it is a bit hard to see because of the lighting in the ones you posted.

Also jscm86 the 2 types of finishes in the Mayorka white are 1) glazed/matte finish and 2) slightly more glossy reflective finish. They are subtle, not obvious but your tile person would need to stagger them. I took some time and separated mine into 2 piles just to make it easier for my guy when hes installing but some tiles actually have a litte bit of both finishes just to tilt my OCD into overdrive.

but again im talking subtle variations here so it just depends on what you guys want. Happy to help! Again so funny!!! Curious what part of the country you are in? We are in Florida.

Oh and I originally wanted the herringbone too! ;)

Yes will send daylight photos as well. good idea

Im good with it having subtle variations, only thing bothering me slightly then is it coming off too gray/cool. Im in NJ, but it sounds like we are the same person. Im a numbers person but im super ocd about stuff like this.

Too funny! Heres some daylight photos.

The quality of these images isnt great. Houzz must compress them-let me know if you want I can send them over IM

Sorry having trrouble uploading photos

Another one we strongly considered is Tile Bar’s Montauk collection, color is “gin”. There is also a “sand dune” color but that was too tan i felt.

This one is SO close to the Mayorka! You can see side by side in the next photo. The main difference I see is the Montauk gin has more of dimpling pattern.

sorry my OCD is taking over. Now that im looking more closely the Montauk Gin is less gray than the Mayorka. Just ever so slightly. Gin on right again. Slighly more iridescent and picks up a tiny bit of pink but so close i have to double check

Best and easiest way to pick backsplash. Buy white poster board and place backsplash samples against it, then place that in vertical position on top of counter.You can then better see undertones in countertop, cabinets. Don't use brown cardboard...

Thanks Andrea. Not surprisingly we also considered Tilebar's montouk gin first, but didn't have time to wait for a sample so we found something similar. Also agreed that sand dune was too tan. I think I read that they are supposed to be from the same manufacturer and are just rebranded. What color grout are you using? the shop we went to suggested "moon beam" which was a grayish color that best matched the tile. Anyways, thanks for taking the time to share your pictures. Im sure it will turn out great.

Oh thats interesting about the two tiles being the same. makes sense. they are virtually identical. for grout im using one called frost. thanks and good luck!

Thanks again Flo for that advice. I'll definitely ask about that and would feel better pulling the trigger if it's something they could confirm.

You are so right. The Tilebar Montauk Gin White abd Mayorka white by Soho have same name and Sku on back of both tiles. i had to peel off the tilebar sticker to see it.

Equipe manufactures tiles for many retailers - Bedrosian’s Cloe line that everyone was using (in White) a couple years ago is made by Equipe. Ivy Hill sells quite a few of the styles + other retailers that are available at HD and Lowes - as well as actual tile stores.

Both of your kitchens are going to look beautiful! Must feel good to be near the finish line!

that is good to know! Makes it easier now looking online for photo examples when its the same as other more popular brands! Thank you for your kind words-im a bit nervous but of course excited to see how it turns out!

I’ve been in a bit of a quandary myself with Taj (look at my post history), but it’s in a bathroom so there’s no tile sitting right next to it like your backsplash… Anyway, I thought I’d show you what I chose for the nearby shower walls in case you want to give it some consideration. Here is a photo of the mosaic pickets, but they come in a straight stack pattern too. I went with the pearl color. They look quite different (darker) on the Daltile site than in person in natural lighting, as you can see from the photo. They aren't gray at all - more of an off white or very light beige. Your nearest Daltile showroom should have samples you can see, or you can order them and have shipped to your home.

https://www.daltile.com/products/mosaic/miramo/pearl

Andrea, howd it turn out?

Its in the process of going up now!

No grout yet—so its kinda hard to tell. Will post photos once finished. Now i have to decide cabinet hardware.

black matte (as shown) or brushed nickel? Hood range is not up yet but will be installed tomorrow! Hows your project coming along?

That's looking great! We ordered the tiles so hoping to be able to install early next week and apply the finishing touches with painting and what not. I'm still worried that it's going to look too gray in our space. Still conflicted about the grout color(we chose moonbeam which is kinda whitish gray). Do we we use spacers or not?

As far as the hardware, I'll leave that to the pros, but we went with satin nickel after toying with the idea of oil rubbed bronze and are very happy with it. We eventually came to the conclusion that oil rubbed bronze was a little too dated. We had ruled out black because my wife didn't want it for some reason, but I think it would've worked too.

I had also tested the Montauk/Myorka tiles with my Taj Mahal and white cabinets. One of the reasons I did not go with this tile was that I have a large triple window and the tiles caused major glare and reflections on the polished counters. Too blinding and distracting.

This was when I switched my search to a honed or matte tile for the backsplash.

Oh thats great! As for the spacers i just left it up to our tille guy. He is doing 1/16 inch so fairly thin grout lines is what Im hoping for. But since these tiles arent perfectly shaped you might not need spacers. Maybe ask on here. the tiles are not reading gray at all. They are really a neutral off white which is kinda the look i was going for. i dont have any big windows direclty facing them so the reflective quality isnt that noticeable which is good.

Yeah Im conflicted on hardware too. We have some industrial accents so the matte black might be a nice contrast but im going to wait until the tile is done. We have satin nickel now. Grout i chose is a fairly neutral off white. Its what they had at Floor and Decor. called “frost”. ill post pics later!