I'm sorry about the bad picture. It's really hard to photograph because it's small, but I have a window over the sink and an even bigger one to the left. It actually gets a lot of light, but I know that doesn't show here.
Firstly, great job on the backsplash! It's beautiful! Also, I adore soapstone so another wonderful selection! You seem to have an eye and I would be interested to know what your gut tells you. I could see beautiful 12 x 24 tiles staggered in your kitchen in a nice light gray (to brighten it up a bit). Perhaps something like this? https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/8a/47/40/8a4740095c64c147da1eddeeb1a415e0.jpg
Thank you @The Rosy Home! Actually, you are pretty close to what I was thinking. I thought of doing a wood looking tile in a grey color, sort of the color of driftwood. Although we have wood floors throughout our house in oak and I hate adding a different wood tone to it,we're going to be refinishing those later this year and can go with a complimentary color.
You did a beautiful job! I love your choices. If you decide to use wood-look tile I suggest that you use the narrowest grout lines possible and in a color that will disappear against your tile color. Many people lay faux wood tiles as they would any tile so that grout lines and color make it obvious that it's tile and not wood.
How about using the same oak flooring that you have in the rest of your house? You can have the wood planks blended in, sanded, and refinished by a professional to make one cohesive look.
@MaryStLouis, Yes, I couldn't agree more with hiding those grout lines. But I don't want to bring the oak flooring into the kitchen because I'm kind of tired of it and I'm a little afraid of using real wood in a kitchen.
....I agree with your comment about the wood looking tile, I was going to suggest that, and then read the comments, and Mary StLoius is correct about the grout lines with the wood looking tile....; my boyfriend does all kinds of tile and we did this look , not only in an entry way, but also on a big front porch. It looks amazing, and its a great choice for your kitchen. .
I would paint the vinyl sheet flooring a solid color; perhaps a light to medium grey to eliminate the pattern and allow your back splashes to really pop.
Great job. I like the backsplash. I would suggest to go with limestone or travertine tile flooring. Exceptional durability, stone tiles create a naturally beautiful pattern.
I would go with staggered floor tile such as travertine. I can understand you not wanting oak flooring, but it would look beautiful in here. What about cork?
If it were my kitchen (which isn't even close to being as beautiful as yours!) I would leave the floor that is there, for now. Then I would browse and browse and browse flooring sources until I find one that makes my heart go 'pitter-patter' and make me say, "Oh my gosh! This is the one! I am happy I finally found 'the one'!!" It would be really sad to put something down that was OK, only to happen upon the perfect one later.
Thank you all for the wonderful compliments. I'm still not sure which flooring to go with despite so many great suggestions. @EdiLeck great advise! As much as I want to finish the job, you are absolutely right. But you have all given me exactly what I needed, which was a fresh perspective. I had tunnel vision as to the way I thought I'd go, but now I'm going to bring home several different tile samples than i even thought to look at. Once done, I will repost a picture (of much better quality) and let you know how it comes out.
I totally agree with EdiLeck. Find two or three samples that makes you absolutely happy, and then bring them home to see which one looks the best.