I love the mural and think the Arts and Crafts theme looks great with your oak cabinets! But I'm not anti-golden oak, either :)

The mural looks so good, I'd definitely use it behind the cooktop and at least as an accent on the rest of the backsplash. I think you have to tie in the mural (and other colors of greens and blue) on the sink wall, too.

The stainless steel countertop looks amazing, with the backsplash. I'm not really fond of brown, with wood cabinets and the stainless steel looks so good, with the appliances and that cool vintage sink!

Thank you, LL! One vote for the mural, yay! Hmm, and a mini-mural on the sink wall...7'' high? Here's another mockup. The Talavera tile that I can afford for the mural is too shiny for the sink wall window ledge--blinding in the sun.

Unfortunately, the ''stainless steel countertop'' is actually the Ikea laminate brushed aluminum but I'm glad it looked good. I did try for actual SS counters but DH wouldn't go for them.

cheers

Oh, I know it's Ikea laminate...I was talking about the 'color' and that it looks so much better with the mural and wood...and the white dishwasher. I think it will also look better with the floor, instead of another tan or brown.

This is going to be a fun kitchen! Best of luck with the remodel :)

Thanks for the encouragement, LL. Good luck to you on your evolved-through-the-decades kitchen!

Thanks! :)

mtnfever
I love the tiles. I couldn't resist playing with them just to see if they could be lined up this way. Not a viable idea for your spaces, nothing I would do with them, but just couldn't resist. So, FWIW

Oh I really like what Bellsmom did! That layout would look great over the cooktop!

Oh, I love Motawi tiles!! Can't wait to see your finished BS. I used Motawi accent in our fireplace surround. The only thing to be aware of is the Motawi tiles are much thicker than regular tiles. Be sure your installer knows how to handle that.

@Bellsmom, thanks for going to the trouble of putting together a pic! The dark green does make the picture tile stand out more.

@kaiju, Having the tiles in a row would be pretty much the same 36" as the cooktop and exhaust hood except the 4x8 is really one tile, not two 4x4s, so the lack of symmetry would make me crazy.

@joyce, I love these tiles! There were several more Pine Landscapes in different sizes that were very tempting. When DH told his group of friends in Ann Arbor that I had gone to ''a tile store'', one of them said that it must be Motawi and boy was DH in trouble LOL. I'll definitely have different tile thicknesses. We have a good friend who does excellent tile work that I'm hoping to work the backsplash into his schedule. A good enough friend that he'll tell me if he doesn't want to do it rather than doing a unhappy job. How did you handle the different tile thicknesses for your fireplace surround?

thanks for your comments!

Those are sooooo BEAUTIFUL...so serene....Lucky you! :)

I think the mural would look great in your kitchen. I
One of my friends kitchen is on their website - how cool!

We are so fortunate to have 2 high end tile companies in SE Michigan, but out of my price range, so just get to see the motawi tiles at UM hospital and pewabic tiles at Mott childrens hospital. I even had a chance to make one of tiles for the new children's hospital.

Thanks, annsch and a2gemini! I'm glad you think the tiles and the mural will go ok in my kitchen.

cheers