Hi there,

I've lurked on and off for years now, but this is my first post. We sold our old house much faster than we anticipated and are building a new one. It's all happening so quickly that it's making my head spin! Anyway, our builder wants us to finalize our tile selections fairly soon and I'm feeling a little indecisive. Could you please help us by giving your opinions?

Let me start with a little background. This photo shows the model home:

We're choosing the exact same light fixtures, flooring, granite countertops (Venetian Gold), and cabinet style/stain color, but we are extending the cabinets all the way into the dining room (shown on the left) to the far wall:

We're putting a speed oven and regular oven in the second set of staggered cabinets. The cooktop will be induction, and this is the hood (Zephyr Anzio) that will be placed in that open area above it:

For the backsplash, we picked a mixed glass pattern called Bliss Random Amber Tea, which is somewhat similar to this (not my photo):

This will be installed not only under the left bank of cabinets, but also the right bank and under the hood. We were concerned that so much glass tile would look too "busy," so the store designer suggested we consider combining it with a contrasting solid tile.

Here's a photo of option #1, which is a slightly textured, dark brown, matte 6" x 6" tile (the granite countertop is shown at the bottom) with the Bliss Random Amber Tea in the middle (about 1 1/2" H shown, but it would be more like 6" H in the final layout):

Our idea is to use the dark brown tile (which is called Field Himalaya Makalu) to create a border around the glass tile, like this:

Or we could pick option #2 for the border, which is a smooth, glazed reddish brown, shiny 4" x 4" tile (I think it's called Anatres):

The border design would need to be altered accordingly for the smaller tile size, so it'd probably be something closer to this:

Here are my questions:

1. What are your thoughts on option #1 vs. option #2 for the contrasting brown tile?

(Personally, I'm leaning toward #1 because I like the non-shiny, slightly textured appearance. It seems to bring out more of the gray tones in the Venetian Gold granite countertop, which is not my preference, but it's not too bad. I think the color of #2 is a little richer and I like how it pulls the browns from the granite; however, I'm not as crazy about the 4" x 4" size because the border wouldn't be symmetrical, and something about the shininess of the tile bugs me. So there are pros and cons to both choices, in my mind, and I don't know what to do.)

2. Do you like either of the border designs to help reduce the "busy" look? Do you have other ideas on ways we can achieve this goal? Or do you think all glass wouldn't look too busy, afer all?

3. Any other comments on the color, layout, or something else you'd like to make?

(I haven't had nearly enough time to look at examples on the Finished Kitchens blog or elsewhere as I want, and this won't really be an option because I've got a busy travel schedule for work coming up soon. Therefore, I'm feeling rather clueless about different designs for the backsplash. The other type of tile we'd considered was stacked stone, but I think that could blow our budget and my husband is concerned it would be hard to clean. Since we both like the Random Bliss Amber Tea, that seemed like the best way to go.)

Thanks in advance for taking time to share your comments!

-Jackie