I'm inclined to say the lighter of the two, as your tiling will visually encroach into your adjoining space, beyond that breakfast bench. Because the tiles will not be installed between walls, with an open end, a dark tile would be difficult to integrate in paint schemes without dating quickly. I don't think the dark would be an issue as far as depth of colour goes, I just feel the subtlety and lightness of the soft grey is more sophisticated in a period home. While the dark grey lends itself to a more contemporary environment. If the spalshback in question was a different layout, ie stream lined or enclosed I would like the charcoal myself, but in considering your entire layout, I would go the other route.

I have used a glass splash in the last 2houses we have built (my husband is a builder!) and I really recommend them above using the same as the bench top. I think you would find the contrast much easier to work with than the busyness of the granite pattern. I would look at choosing the darker colour from the granite as the glass splash back and consider one that has a metallic look too it. I have used the metallic look in a charcoal grey and it went so well with the sink and the stainless steel cooktop and the fridge....loads of compliments on how it allowed the granite to be the hero. There are some great options in colours and you can actually choose your colour from a paint chart and have it done that way. Best wishes would love to see the completed kitchen.

Thanks. The calacatta engineered stone bench was from a wholesaler in melbourne at the time (Polygramm), then i used his recommended stone mason who cut everything on site which took a whole day. Its equivalent to the top ranged ceaser stones... saved a few thousand after getting many quotes! Glad i chose engineered stone as i nearly went timber.. i use it everyday and its copped dropped glass jars, wine/beer, you name it.. couple of light scratches but a product called gumption seems to 'cut and polish' everything out so far. I am carefull though to use wooden chopping boards though. Very easy to clean too, i would certainly chose these style of bench tops over anything else if i was to do it again. The cabinets are by flatpackkichens in melb, they offered 50mm increments in cabinet sizes so made customising for my compacted space easy. Pretty sure they just order the doors from Polytec, which are vinyl wrapped gloss classic white in a style called sofia or atlanta (think they are the same). Good luck!

Ali your kitchen looks amazing. The colours are wonderful. I have a question for you about the Rugged Concrete. I’m thinking of using it on our island bench but I’m a little worried about finger marks and cleaning. I’ve read lots of bad reports about the other Caesarstone concretes like Fresh,Raw and Sleek. And I’m hoping Rugged Concrete is easy to clean. How is yours now that you’ve had it for a little while?