Kitchen Design Advice

We've been working on a kitchen refresh, and are close to being done! But now I'm in a design quandry, and need advice/input from all you family and friends.

We've got new countertops that are dark chocolate, fairly matte finish (made of a cool product called Paperstone). The appliances are mostly black (double oven, cooktop, and fridge) except the dishwasher (won't replace until it breaks). The sink is dark grey granite. Cabinets are honey-ish oak, and floors are oak with a darker brown stain.

My design indecision comes down to the tile backsplash and wall paint color. Walls are current eggplant (I know it sounds weird, but it looked good with prior tile/counters). I feel like with all the brown, we need a splash of color. We have good lighting in the space, although it gets a little dark under the cabinets.

Here is current state (taken on the iPhone, so kinda blurry....Bill has the good camera).

Option One: 1" glass tiles in a mix of almost black, mocha brown, slate blue, and super light light celery green.


Paint would be either a light celadon, or a slate color.

Option 2: mixed tile - various sized, and composed of different shades of browns with some reddish tones and a beige granite. I like that it brings together many of the other shades in the kitchen, but fear it may be, well, toooooo much more brown! Walls would be neutral/light.

Option 3: mixed tile - various sized, and composed of blue, greeny-grey, and a beige granite. This one is nice because it introduces different sizes, and also material texture. Wall color would most likely be blue (note, blue paint chip is softer blue-greyish than the photo implies)

Here is options 2 & 3 against counter/cabinets, for context.

So.....what do you think? Now is your chance to influence the Nyland kitchen? Leave us a comment here on the blog, or on Meg's FB wall. Thanks!