Dear Tom, I am wondering what color backsplash and wall color would go well with Ubatuba granite. We have white cabinets with black hardware, ubatuba counters and are looking to paint our walls and install a backsplash, we were thinking something on the gold side. My husband wants red but I can’t picture this. There is a lot of green in the counters, so I am not sure which way to turn. Oh, yeah, and we have hardwood floors which are about to be stained darker if this helps at all. We could really use your help..

Thanks, Desiree Harrington

Hello Desiree,

I used Ubatuba many times with white cabinets. Usually, a lighter stained floor compliments this combination best, but just be sure that you tightly sealer the bottom of the cabinets to the floor. People love to look at the base of white cabinets for some reason and having a nice tight transition from the floor to the cabinet will make the contrast look clean and professionally installed. I know you did not ask about this, but I wanted to get that out of the way first.

Dark Ubatuba Granite with white cabinets makes for a very clean look. Adding the black hardware changed everything from simple to sophisticated. First of all, you can not do red in the splash, unless it is Christmas in your kitchen 365 days a year. You can go in a few directions, depending on your taste and style.

The tamest option is travertine tile in a 4″x4″ size, set on a diagonal and installed all the way up to the upper cabinets. The mixture of color tones in travertine will compliment the granite nicely. Travertine comes in shades from light ivory to a dark noce. You can use any of these as they will all looks great with Ubatuba Granite.

The next option is to install the same granite slab up to the cabinets. I would only suggest this if the room as good lighting. With dark granites like this, I also only recommend full height granite slab splashes with white cabinets. Otherwise, it is just too dark. Full slab granite on the splashes allows you to appreciate the granite in two directions, horizontally and vertically. You can only appreciate granite countertops when you are right on top of them. So consider how granite on splashes is nice to view from a distance.

Lastly, it is a little trendy, but glass tile would look amazing. Check out Board #8 and #9 on this website. http://www.sandhillind.com/conceptdesigns.asp#board8 I am really likely what these people are doing with designs - simple, yet sophisticated. There is even a little red in #9! Board #3 is also great with the black fixtures.

Regarding paint, it depends on the splash choice above. Pull a shade from the lightest color in the splash that you choose. Match paint to that. That will work very well. If you go with granite slab splashes, then a light yellow/gold would bring nice color into the room.

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