Well, I did a trial with a few tiles and then covered them with polyurethane. The trial didn't necessarily go entirely to plan but I was able to establish that PU will be too soft. Epoxy is likely to yellow even indoors, so that leaves me with the following solution: 1. make the tiles thicker (not a big deal) use tile selection and a thicker tile bed to enable a relatively flat surface to be made 3. seal it with a thin polyurethane to protect from mess Thanks for the contributions.

Personal preference - they both look great! But the black grout is more of a statement (which i love!)

Have you been to visit some kitchen showrooms? You can customise the photo search here on Houzz quite a bit. For example, you can simply select [dark wood[(https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/kitchen-design-ideas-with-dark-wood-cabinets-phbr1-bp~t_10444~a_17-103) cabinet finish in the filter options. Then add more filters like floor colour, kitchen layout, cabinet style, wall colour etc if you wish. Leave the benchtop and splashback options open and see what results you get. You can then save any photos that appeal to your ideabook.

I have this colour on walls and have similar tone in carpet and while I didn't choose it it has proved very versatile. I have used a different schemes in each room including the following. lavender blue and gold /mustard pumpkin and green Black, white and cherry red teal and burnt orange and mustard and black, copper. duck egg and cream Look at the Resene whites and neutrals chart for other neutral tones.