What about 3 x 12?

if tile are 4" you can do a liner to make up the difference, or take a little off the first row and a little off the last row and have three intact rows in between and it will look right instead of starting off with a full tile.

I found that the eye will tolerate the first row being shaved down a bit better than having the top row shaved down. If you mock it out on a drawing program you will see what I mean. Perhaps someone who is a design professional can explain why this is.

do not lower the cabinets unless you are petite and it will help function better because some appliances are over 16" and will not fit if you use a light rail.

Lori inthenw:

Contact a solid surface fabricator and have him cut custom "tile" on 1/4" thick solid surface. You can even make the length dimension "tile" come out perfectly by cheating each "tile" length. Completely sanitary and no grout.

I'm using 4.25x12.75 tiles for the field because i liked the look of a larger tile in my space. I'm planning on using an accent tile stripe of mosaics that are .75" wide so i can decide on exactly how many rows to use once the pattern is laid out. The picture shows the two tiles I'm using.

Thanks to a GW'er, the field tile will be 1/3 offset running bond. I have 18" from counter to upper cabs. Tile day is tomorrow!

Thanks for the suggestions. So far I have only played with using different sizes via graph paper, an elevation, and a light table (so old-fashioned, I know!). I will try more options with 4" and 3" tile. I have found 4" I could live with and I'm sure there are 3" versions that are similar.

I did consider the huge tiles with almost no grout lines, but our tile guy is also old school, but our GC is very fussy and this is who he likes to work with, so I'm fine with tile. We really don't splash a lot of food on the walls, I just like the look of minimal grout.

The large tiles I was considering were 12x 24, not sure I sold my DH on that option anyway, but I also found the colors to be more limited. (I just want a creamy ivory,matte texture, no real pattern. The ones I was finding were either too grayish or had a patten.)

When doing my calculations, though, what width should I put in for the top and bottom gaps and for the grout lines?

The width of the grout lines depends on the kind of tile you use. Some are 1/8" and some are 1/4" or 3/8". Why are you worried about a sliver of tile up underneath the cabinets where nobody will see it?

Tile sizes are often nominal, which takes account of the grout line

Anna, I will definitely see it. We sit at the counter a lot. Now we have a cut tile there, but it is wide enough not to look like what I'd call a sliver. It might be 2" .

Thanks, ineffable, I had forgotten that some were nominal. My floor tiles measured precisely 12 x 24.