I am very curious to see what others have to say because I have delicatus gold and I'm totally lost as to what back splash would look good. I'll be watching.

Iris, one reason I chose this is because the frosted glass tiles in it look almost exactly like the swirls and veins of quartz running through my granite. Like I said...the picture came out dark. That dark color in the mosaic is actully a medium frosted gray glass. The square of glass in the bottom left corner...that glass is actually almost a cream color.

I was wondering if you considered using just the 1 x 1 mosaic for your backsplash. We have saphire blue granite and I made the same mosaic using the tumbled travertine and blue and brown glass pieces. If I were to buy it it would have cost me around $750.00 for 22 square feet but since I made it myself (bought the full travertine mosaics and then bought the glass and popped out trav and replaced with glass pieces where I wanted them)it only cost me about $200.00. I did not use the 4 x 4 so our entire backsplash is made of the mosaic. I really love it and wish I had a pic to show you but I am at work. Also, I just want to say that your granite is beautiful and of course I think the mosaic is great too!!

I am afraid using the mosaic along might be too busy and is also a little over budget. The mosaic costs $25 per square foot and I need about 45 feet of it....over $1000 worth. If I go this route, the total cost is under $400.

hmmm...you know....now that I think about it, popping out mosaic pieces and adding my own glass would really save some money. Not a bad idea at all!! I need to look on Ebay and see if there are some great deals on glass mosaic and also travertine mosaic. Stonelocator might be a good place to look also. thanks!

First of all, I want to say it is beautiful. However, Personally, I think it is too busy. I would not want to distract from the granite, so I would use the mosiacs as the center of the tiles only or use the mosiacs linerally with the tile. What do you want to 'ooo and ahhh' over ? granite or backsplash. My feeling is backsplash just enhances the granite not competes with it. Just my opinion, of course!

I would do the plain tile with a straig thin line of the mosaic running through it horizontally...The pattern you posted is way too much for my taste...

There are some really great glass websites out there too! I just used google and searched for glass tile. I looked at a lot of websites but I am a little OCD about stuff. It was not an easy job but it was not hard either. Good Luck!!

just an idea, but check out rhome410's kitchen....i think they have many different cabinet/countertop and tile combinations and it looks great.....what i'm thinking is maybe you can use the tumbled marble in certain areas and then the mosaic in others, like behind your stove/cooktop. your layout may not work out quite like rhome410 but i love how they mixed it up!

OK...here's a couple alternate layouts. Simple...I think I like the second one the best.

I wasn't planning on doing anything special behind the cooktop because I hav a stainless steel shelf there. I am planning to run the pattern straight down the whole length of the counter.

I'll check out rhome410's kitchen right now. thanks!

"I wanted a backsplash with color, but not too distracting."

It's a very pretty design, but IMO, would steal the eye from your granite -- so too distracting.
Basically, anything with that mosaic is going to steal attention.
If you want to really enjoy the granite, go with a plain color on your backsplash.
Fancy layout maybe, but plain colors.

Firstly, I love your granite choice, it's beautiful, and I love the design of the backsplash, something I'm having a problem figuring out too, it's wonderful. But my initial thought of the two together was won't they be too busy? So I was glad to see I'm not the only one who thought that and that another alternatives were given that will look good too!

I'm with Sweeby. Was going to write something similar, but hers says what I'd say.

I am going through the same thing now. I have darker cherry cabinets with venetian gold granite. My granite is busy also but we love the richness of it with our cabinets. One of my choices was very similar to yours with the 4X4 tumbled marble and very similar accent. We are having a hard time also, as I personally think that with your design you will notice the backsplash more than your granite and the granite is so so pretty. I would go with the 2nd choice also instead of both accents as it would be alot going on. That is only my opinion, but we are having the same problem picking out the backsplash and think we are going with a simple one as to not compete with our granite. Good Luck!!

The OP did something fabulous in her initial post, and that was to state a 'mission statement' for her backsplash -- basically, a description of what the ideal backsplash would be like.

"Color but not too distracting"

If that description is an accurate statement of her vision, then all she has to do is measure each choice against that mission statement and finding a great backsplash will be much, much easier. If your only criterea is:

"Which do I like best and does it go with my countertops / cabinets?"

... then you get into what we Kitchen Forum old-timers used to call a "Backsplooziesplat",
which is a Dr. Seussian term for hysterical fits of hair-pulling and analysis paralysis, culminating in massive attack of indecision and a grade 4 money-hemmorage.

Describe what you want your backsplash to do for your kitchen and measure against that standard.
Guaranteed, you'll get it --

Great colors, in both the slab and the backsplash choices. OK, MHO is in line with the others, that the first one is just too busy.

One thing to think about along with the cost of the mosaics is that you get a lot more bang for the buck if they are the focus. So, does the field tile come in a larger scale or a few larger scale sizes? I think there are too many lines of grout in the field tile area. Personally, I like the field tile to be just that, a field and then the accent tiles to POP!

Of the choices you laid out, I like 12" x 12" or 16" x 16" tile on pointe (diagonal) with the strip through it or with the 3 x 3 of the mosaics as squares instead of diamonds. Then if you have a place, like behind the range, you could do a detail of just the mosaics, or a field of the smaller 4" x 4" tiles on pointe with a border of 2 or 3 rows of the mosaics.

Or, if there are larger sizes available, you could do a running bond brick pattern by cutting the large tiles in half (6 x 12 or 8 x 16) and then run a strip of the mosaics through.

Just ideas...good luck!

Just for color cause its Jeffrey-bloody expensive-Court
{{!gwi}}

One more voice -- I agree with moremoremore -- at most, use a single line of the mosaic.

The granite is really wow. If it were me I would keep the backsplash totally plain.

Great question that I'm sure many of us struggled with! I know I did! Even though my granite would not be called "busy" by many, it is a little busy to me, especially at night when it's twinkling brilliantly -- Black Galaxy. And, my kitchen is small. I didn't want the backsplash to compete either, but compliment. I'm showing you a pic, just to help -- not at all to suggest my particular pattern but just to give an idea of how "fewer" glass tiles look with the field, which is tumbled marble.

My preference for this particular small space was to go straight instead of diagonal. But I originally planned to use more of the glass mosaics --- until tile guy laid it out for me on the dining room floor... more was too much and became a lot less. And I love it now. I also decided -- at the last minute -- to go up and inside the window which I thinks work nicely on the straight...

Again, just an example of less mosaic in the field, which I think, along with a travertine or marble or porcelain field really looks nice against an interesting granite, like yours! Good luck! :)

{{!gwi}}

I like the look of tumbled stone and a strip of mosaic running through, as you can see from what I did. My granite is very monochromatic, but I think it would work with yours too.

{{!gwi}}
{{!gwi}}

Great job on the scanning photoshopping by the way... I like mindi's idea of a larger field with pop of mosiac. I'd even consider a larger glass mosaic accent OR go with the strip. Easy for me to say... I can't get past trying to achieve a layout I love.

Great suggestions everyone!! Thanks for all the advise and the pictures. I do agree with you too...my favorite layout is too busy. I am now leaning towards a larger mosaic field...maybe 4" x 4", spaced out maybe a foot apart and I will look at 6" square tile instead. I'll lay it out tomorrow. I actually did the layout in autocad, a program I use daily at work. I started in photoshop, but I am not as good with it and it was taking too long. With autocad, I just copied and pasted the photos in and could resize and rotate them easily. It will only take a few minutes to lay it out tomorrow with the new ideas. thanks again!!

Cindy

You need to let the granite shine and be the star. There's too much going on in all those backsplashes you posted. They would be beautiful with a plain finer grain granite but not with a beautiful stone that busy. It's like wearing a floral blouse, with a floral skirt in another print.

I would do a plain glass or crackled longer subway in a rich cream, or light honey color. Maybe beveled for more interest. You can also do a small square, light stone mosaic with not too much contrast between the pieces, and a matching grout. A tumbled honey onyx small mosaic might work too with matching grout. You don't want to see too much of the grid pattern. The colors should be grayed down a bit as to not dull the granite as your bright cream tile does.

I know that might be boring, but it works and looks pretty with the granite.

I am back! I really like your second choice (the second of the second) ! Simple, elegant and it would be beautiful. Keep us all posted!

OK...here's two more layouts, this time using 6" tiles instead to reduce the grout lines. The mosaic in the first is 3" wide, the accent blocks in the second are 4" square. I am sort of partial to the first...with the rows of mosaic. Plus, it will be a LOT easier to do since fewer tiles need to be cut. There will be cut tiles alont the top edge of both layouts becuse the space along one wall is 17 1/2" high and the space along the other is 19 7/8". The grout I am going to use will match the tile and blend in and the colors of the mosaic tile are not as dark as they appear in this scan photo of them. Opinions? Suggestions? As always, thanks for your help!

Cindy

I too would vote for something very plain that wouldn't be distracting to the granite. Something soft and probably matte. I like the diamond shape insert above. Very pretty or do the tumbled for all of the backplash and do something different for behind your stove--or did you say you were going to do stainless there?

I had originally planned to do a mosaic behind the cooktop, but couldn't decide what I wanted to do. Then I got this great stainless shelf from IKEA and since my hood has warming lights, I mounted it in that space. There really isn't room there now to do anything special so whatever pattern I do in the space between the counters and the cabinets will follow the wall all the way down the wall and behind the cooktop.

I like the second one in the most recent posting. While I'm generally a fan of lots of color and pattern and texture, I think you really do need to stay a bit calm with your backsplash.

Thank you. I am sort of leaning more towards the second one too. the mosaic squares are spaced 18" apart which will look nice and spice the back splash up just a bit. It also means buying a LOT less of the expensive mosaic tile than the first of the two new layouts. The layout picture in my last post represents about 7 1/2' of back splash using 6" tiles.

I think the second one will be beautiful -- a nice classic look and the travertine with the glass will be gorgeous.. subtle, classic and gorgeous.