That center piece is gorgeous and will always look different depending on the light in the room as it catches and shows the blue tiles.

I would've gone with simpler, neutral creamy white subways.

Kidding!!

Looks great!

I love how jazzy the diamonds are! The colors are perfect with your cabs...

(lol, Marcolo)

It looks great! Can't wait for the final reveal!

blfenton: Thanks ... and to illustrate your point, those tiles aren't blue :) They are kind of greyish. This closeup gives a better idea of the color:

Getting the lighting right for the pic is kind of hard, but I'll try with the final shots. The halogens under the hood aren't that bright against the wall, so the grushed glass tiles look darker in the pictures than they do IRL.

marcolo: lol!

dianalo/brianadarnell: Thanks! They may even get the grout up today so the next shots will be much more complete.

Unfortunately, it looks like we ordered too many sheets of those diamonds -- I have two additional (nonreturnable, custom-made) sheets. So if someone *really* likes it, they should let me know! They cost me $58 each!

WOW, that is gorgeous. I can't wait to see the rest!

If you can't find a taker, you could retile a small pedestal/table top with the diamonds. If the sheets are small, then you'd have some stunning trivets.

dianalo -- a potentially brilliant suggestion. I don't think I have enough for a table top, but I could sure make some trivets or something. Nice!

Actually, we have *lots* of leftover tile -- a whole box of 4x4s, and bunches of 12x12's from the bathroom/mudroom floor. Maybe we need to start a thread on interesting things to do with leftover tile...

One of my fav backslashes....very, very elegant.
Yeah, good for you not putting in the normal ( boring) neutral backsplash!

I love it.

Nice!

Hi NYSteve, What a lovely start. Not sure where you are in NY, but do you mind sharing who set your tile? Thanks!

NYsteve, what about using that tile in that bathroom you mentioned yesterday? :)

Studioist: I'm in Rockland County, and our GC does not sub out any of the detail work like trim carpentry or tile work -- he has his own guy. It's Provenza Contracting.

jilsee & Elab1: Thanks!

brianadarnell: lol ... or not!

Here are some more pix to give you some perspective (still no grout).

They started tiling each wall in the center of the "focal point" -- the sink in one case and the cooktop in the other -- which is why those focal points look so great. But it's also why the tile ends a bit short of the edge of the counter on each run.

We're thinking about a way to "finish" it off. We could use a pencil molding or, as our GC suggested, cut some tiles to 2x4 and run a single course (vertically), staggered (like bricks) on each of the two edges. I'm not sure ... but there is currently too much wall reveal and about an inch of counter with no backsplash at each edge. Thoughts?

Why not use the same trim pieces you used over your stove to frame the glass tiles?? I think that would tie it all together great! What color grout are you going with?

We thought those chair rails looked too big on the ends (I had a couple left and held them up.

We did the vertical brick run of 2(ish)x4 tiles cut in the field (they even put a grinder on the cut ends to make them look rough. Looks pretty good to me; pix coming later.

RE: Grout... we went with TEC AccuColor 940 Antique White (Sanded).

very nice!

Oooh, that looks FAB!

VERY nice Steve (from one Rockland County-ite to another)!!!!!!

That's gorgeous! I love those rich jewel tones in the backsplash. At least that's the way they look on my monitor.

thanks again for the compliments!

cat_mom: Nice to meet another person from 'in the county' here>
marti8a: those "dots" are a rich burgundy crushed glass... we were very happy when we found them. I like the "jewel tones" description.

OMG, that is beautiful!!! Thank you so much for sharing. We also have TB granite, but are still sans backsplash...
We have a particular problem, with a small kitchen, that only has one wall of cabinets, but also a very small space between the counter and the two windows. The windows are near each other, and one is 1/4 higher than the other, from the counter!
I'd love to do something like this, but fear that the narrow strip, under the windows, wouldn't look right.

My mom just had this granite put in her kitchen. I was worried about seeing it because they weren't sure they liked it at first but it was mostly because it didn't go with their wallpaper. When I saw it I was thrilled. It's so beautiful. I want it for my own house! They have to lose the wallpaper and the old matching balloon shades. I think that is what is bugging them also the fabricators were not too careful with their house. It upset them very much so it took the shine off the new thrill of having something new. I am hopeful when I get that wallpaper changed out it will make them happy. I can't say enough how beautiful this granite is. Their's is so pure, it doesn't have any rust splotches in it or odd discolorations. It is a very all over pattern with gorgeous colors. The background color is a beautiful off white. It makes their older cherry cabinets that have a medium stain look so upscale.

I am happy that you posted BS pictures as that is a place they need to do something. I bought them some new canisters and the color of them looked so good with the granite I was thinking that a simple neutral shiny tile would be great. Not white but a really great shade in a handmade tile that will have shadowing in it. It sure did look great with those canisters if I could find that color it would be great. I'm so pleased with it. It's a truly beautiful stone the only thing is the Typhoon Bordeaux slabs I have seen here are nothing like my mom's. Be careful when you are picking out this stone as it varies tremendously.

I love the way your tile looks with the stone. I have seen that tile in a salmon color combination with African Ivory granite and off white cabs, it was stunning.

sandesurf -- thanks so much. DW had a real vision for what she wanted, and a great tile store helped us find the pieces to execute it. And of course, the tile guy did a great job executing the plan.

I'm having a hard time visualising what you're saying... if the windows are over the counter, at slightly different heights, then I don't think that you want any horizontal lines between the counter and the top of the window. That means you'd have to use a tile that is at least as big as the larger of the two spaces. How big is that space?

gr8day: Thanks. Part of the reason people see so much variation is that some people consider Typhoon and Sienna Bordeaux to be the same, but they are really two different granites. We found Typhoons to have more white in them, for example, and went with Sienna. But yes, there is still tremendous variation.

Hi again, Here's a picture of the windows I'm talking about, and our TB has NO white in it at all....

Wow - That is gorgeous!!

SQ (from you Bergen County neighbor!!!!!)