I think the marble naysayers have jumped on the bandwagon without really living with the stone. I have statuary in my bathrooms and love it. Most stains can be removed with a simple baking soda and water poultice. Acid etching is harder to deal with since it removes the polished surface, but its part of having a living stone in your home. If it becomes too bad, you can have it repolished. With a darker stone, you won't have as many issues as a white marble. In order to really know if you can live with it, I suggest you get a small sample of the stone and do some tests. Here is an example. http://www.dohiy.com/2013/04/21/marble-countertops-the-post-acid-test/ Please note that she used bleach and oxyclean to clean the stone after her test. Stay away from both since they can etch the stone just as much as an acidic food. Instead, clean with a ph neutral cleaner like isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol), and for heavy stains, the baking soda poultice mentioned above. You have to remember that marble has been used for centuries as flooring, table tops, countertops, etc. throughout the world and most of these installations are still here and aren't stained and etched to the point that it has been ripped out and replaced. Just think about all of he luxury hotels in Europe and how many times they have been exposed to Hangover type guests without any damage.

Yes they do have similar styles in porcelain, but to me it doesn't look the same. Search around that site and see if any of the other tile designs in other materials strike your fancy. I know you said you don't like the subway, but you could get a glass tile in a 2X8 and lay it in a herringbone or find shorter ones and do a chevron. Don't know if you care for mosaics, or penny rounds, those would also look nice. You are going to have to narrow it down to a look you are drawn to, and then go from there. Search kitchen backsplashes on here to get some ideas as well.

kitchen design

The main sink is right on the corner -- only one place to put things down. Behind the sink is not a great option. Other sink -- prep sink? hand-washing sink? bar sink? seems to be too fancy and not very practical for a kitchen space. Save that kind of sink for a guest powder room. Any sink in a hard-working kitchen needs to be flexible and purposeful. The exhaust fan above the cooktop seems too high up and not wide enough. Trust me -- mine is not wide enough, and I wish it was, but at least it's not too high up. I appreciate in this sleek, modern design, you want a very low profile exhaust fan. But -- you need the capture area to be wider than your cooktop so you can capture all the grease, steam, and smoke. One advantage you have is that there are no cabinets there to limit the width of your exhaust fan -- so widen it up. It's a must in a hard-working kitchen, especially one with a somewhat open floor plan. I don't know how you will use your kitchen or what the rest of your home is like. You may value a sleek, beautiful kitchen way more than a hard-working, efficient space, in which case, most of my comments are lower priority.