Hi! Your kitchen is warm & pretty. For my new kitchen, I put in tumbled marble subway tiles in "almond." It has a lifetime seal, so it is not too delicate. There is a lot of variation in color. It might be too busy for your counters, but it is worth a look.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm open to other options. Are you able to give me a link to the manufacturer you used so that I can see the tile, or do you have a photo of your kitchen? I actually saw something that I thought was that recently in someone's kitchen here in a warm tone but wasn't sure if it was what I was looking at since there was no mention of the stone or source.

Thanks :)

I used the WZ Gramercy Park in bone china. I had considered the Heirloom white which would have been a better match to the marble but would have been too starkly white for the wood and the vintage feeling I wanted. The bone china read very light when installed. I recommend getting samples of the actuals because the tiles I received were different from the samples I had seen. The crackle lines were not as pronounced in the actuals as in the samples (which were old). Also don't be surprised-- these tiles are made in Mexico.

From what you just wrote, it's sounding (at least on "paper") like the Antique Linen may be the best choice or maybe even the Hamptons Beige, which looks dark on the website but might not be in person.

When I get into the office tomorrow I'll see if we have a local rep. Even if we don't I'm sure it will be easy enough to have samples sent out to us. All of the big companies have a sample line to call for designers and typically you get the pieces within a week or less.

You should also check out Sonoma Tilemakers' Stellar line. They have a good color and trim selection. You can download the Stellar brochure. The colors are on the last page.

I need some help from the group here getting the pic posted, I can't remember whose BS this is...

Someone has a great two color tan and beige crackle BS, I think it had Rixi in the tile name if I remember right. The darker shade in that BS might work very well here. The pic posted had a row of darker tile with the lighter tile above, and darker matching accent tiles with a design, if I remember correctly.

This one!

Here is a link that might be useful: BS tiles

Oh the Rixi. I found that one earlier also. I see a green undertone in that brown tile so that wouldn't work but I did bookmark the website earlier to call them tomorrow also to get some samples of their lighter colors. It's very similar to the Walker Zanger, and much less expensive.

Oh and I took at look at Sonoma Tilemakers. Really great color selection so thanks for that one also Mayflowers!

sivyaleah- we have the Grazia Melenge tile in Butter blend and love it. Their tiles are subtle and stunning. Their Rixi line is pretty too.

Maybe if I could see your kitchen up close, I might feel differently. But from your photos, I kind of like your kitchen how you have it right now, with the self-backsplash and the rose terra cotta paint. Are you sure you want one?

I have to have one. I've been advised that the heat from the Viking range is a danger hazard for one thing (believe me, it is!). The two back burners are hardly used at this point because of that. And it gets really dirty back there which is hard to keep up with on paint.

Also, I've already noticed since it being painted that behind the sink area you can see splash marks, etc. and worse, some small nicks in the paint from the faucet handle (we had to adjust it's placement due having to bring in the wall while in construction).

So I really do need something which I can wash down easily and to hide some errors in the wall too. There are several little things which went wrong in my renovation so having tile would make a world of difference to hide them. It's one of the things in the kitchen which makes me batty although it seems I'm the only one who notices them!