Catharine, are you saying the tile is not to busy for all over or just using it as an accent of 2 or 3 rows high?

I don't think it is too busy to have it as the whole backsplash but it might have a more "featured" look if it is just an accent band with another backsplash tile. Sometimes the smaller mosaic tile can look like a solid if there is too much of it.

I love the copper tiles with that counter; the travertine is what's giving me pause. Your polished granite and that copper are a sophisticated match, and the travertine looks too homey/rustic, even if the holes are filled in.

A light gray tile might be intriguing as the main backspash with the copper as an accent. Look how well the light-gray blotches and dark-gray veining in the granite offset the copper in your stone.

The cream tiles look like tumbled marble. I have them on my current backsplash and they look great. However, my current countertops are not busy. I also think they look to pink with your granite, at least from the photo.

I like the copper glass and as an accent band I think it would look stunning. I found a beautiful whitish/gray, called Driftwood Mosaic that might look good with your granite. Some of the stones also have a faint vein in a coppery color like the copper in your granite. It's from Lowes, but you have to see it in person. When you pull it up online, it looks much darker than it really is in person. I'm considering it with my Bianco Antico granite and my terracotta range.

Good luck!

The field tiles you have seem too busy and not quite the right color to me. What about a ceramic field tile in a neutral color with the copper as accent tiles?

I love those copper tiles too. But, I agree that the travertine tiles do not look quite right with those glass tiles. I think I would do a glossy cream subway tile, and a narrow accent line of the copper tiles. In my mind, that would not be too busy for the granite, and would add a nice pop of copper to the backsplash.

I don't like the stone.

Catherine, are you saying the whole backsplash could be those copper tiles? Wouldn't that be gorgeous? It could be way too much of a good thing...but they just put that cottage cheese travertine to shame.

If I could afford it, I'd do 100% copper tiles. :) That match really hit it.

The stone does nothing for either the granite or the glass tiles: It's rustic, they are sleek.

Pale cream subways ... again ... would be the "little black dress" of the kitchen. Sleek and unassuming, letting the granite (which I LOVE) and the copper glass stand out. Also, available for really low prices which means you can use MORE of the copper glass.

Or pale grey ... whatever blends into the granite so the copper can stand out.

I think lazy gardens has hit on the right idea. Some sleek unassuming subway tiles with the copper glass tiles.

I can't really see your cabinets on my monitor, but I wanted to show you the backsplash in my old house - dark cherry cabinets, crema Bordeaux granite, tumbled marble with scattered glass accents backsplash. We loved it the whole time we lived there (probably still would).

Backsplashes are perhaps the hardest element when you haven't considered all three laments when you started to design your kitchen.

Many of us here, chose the cabinets and the granite. This is now installed and it's backsplash time! Oh oh! What now? Quite of few of us (me included) have installed and ripped out the first backsplash.

My 2 cents. I see a traditional kitchen. To me glass is more transitional or modern. I would not use the tiles you are showing. First they not current, they were popular, but no longer. One reason is that they can often change color and give off pink or gray when installed.
Your backsplash is busy. We say here on GW, one star per kitchen. Yours is your granite.

I'm not saying that you can't have some bling. But, I thin you should go with a ceramic tile. Find that first and then look for accents if you want them.

Thank you ALL for your input. One thing I think we all agree on, is the stone tile is wrong! I'm still confused as to what to do, but I'll keep looking. The copper glass is what I love. I'll find a stone or tile too. I thought about a subway...but not sure of that.

yep, I am more traditional.
sjhockeyfan, I love what you did at your previous home.

This post was edited by deickhoff0 on Thu, Oct 30, 14 at 22:46

If you love the copper glass, you should at least give it a try. Otherwise you'll always wonder how it would have looked. There doesn't seem to be that much variation in it, and if you use a matching grout, it wouldn't be too busy, in my opinion.

suellen...the glass doesn't have color variations at all. It has 3 diff textures. I'm going to check grout color options. I am tempted to do all glass. I don't want to make a mistake because I can't rip it down after putting it up. It will be way to expensive for that. I'm going to go look at some more stone tile just in case the right thing is out there.

Thank you for your advice

Agree with zeebee, the tumbled stone is the odd man out

It looks like what you show in your photo is a sample board of the copper glass. Is it sold as a mosaic on a mesh backing? If so, I would buy as much as you would need if using it only as an accent. Tape it up and see how it would look as the entire backsplash. If you don't like the over-all look, just use it as an accent. That way you're not out any money. Everyone agrees that it is beautiful, the only question is how much to use. Right?

i love the idea of copper in the BS, but not that one...
it is way to modern for your kitchen...and to me that pattern has been done to death, kinda been there done that.....
find a field tile that u love and add some copper accents, maybe 1x1 square, like a fleur de lis or something that interests you....there are so many out there....

your field tile doesn't have to be subways if you don't want....you can go 4x4, 6x6 ....

we have travertine and it doesn't show pink or grey, just beige....its unfilled which we love,...we loved the contrast of the shiny granite with the rough texture of the travertine....
travertine really gets ripped on this forum, i think b/c its been around a while, ., to me it has a warmth to it that u get from real stone and u don't get with shiny, matte, ceramic tile.....my .02
does is go with every application, definitely not....

sprtphntc...your .02 is VERY welcome. I was thinking maybe of looking at something else for a copper accent and definitely another stone tile. I do think this one has a pink undertone.

suellen...good idea if I decide I'm definitely going with that particular tile (as of now, I think so)

I would not reject a tile because it is "dated". Too much focus on the whole dated thing, IMO. If you like it, get it. Travertine is nice, I just don't think it goes with those glass copper tiles. The two different textures just don't seem to belong together. Pretty as the copper tiles are, I think an entire backsplash of them might be too much for me. As an accent, I love them. But, it really is all about what the OP wants, if you want the whole backsplash done in the copper, go for it!

It's hard to tell the colors in your granite. I would choose a ceramic tile the color of the lightest color in the granite.

Once you have that in place, we can figure out how to get some copper in there. Just not glass.

Subways have been very popular and I have them too. But I just read on another post that they are losing favor.

Not advising not to get them, just alerting you about the trend shifting.
We do say get what you love. I just had to warn you about the travertine, too many issues, too many problems.

Ellendi...you said, too many problems and issues with travertine. But didn't say what they were. Can you elaborate? I'm really not a subway tile person unless it is glass with color, or white in a contemporary kitchen. Then I love it. I want what I like, but I'm also one who changes with the trends. Backsplash isn't something I want to change anytime soon. I do it enough with furniture and accessories..hubby's heart can't take anymore than that

Now call me stupid, but I asked what that tile was? And she said stone and nothing more than. I guess it's travertine

There are travertines that are smoother. Travertine needs to be sealed. I have not found it to be a big deal. There are color enhancing sealers and non color enhancing sealers. Usually, you can wipe them on with a rag and then wipe off any excess. That's about it. I did mine eight years ago and never since. There are also porcelain tiles that mimic smooth travertine. There are gold travertines. A poster here a few years back had extremely smooth, rectified travertine with a little inset medallion of his (Golden Thunder? Golden Lightning?) granite. His kitchen seems to have disappeared. You may also want to search for Poohpup's kitchen to see a gold backsplash chosen to highlight the gold tone in her Magma Supreme granite. I'm not necessarily pushing travertine, just trying to clarify some choices.

My first 3 reactions: (the most important reactions you have )

1) I love that granite

It's a silver-gold that looks very chic and glam and looks great with stainless steel (sink, dishwasher front, fridge...)

2) Since wood tones reinforce the gold - copper tones and you have wood cabinets that will be adjacent to that granite, stay away from that color for your backsplash. Else, you'll have a copper - gold overpowered kitchen.

3) Also because of 2) play up the silver - grey part in the backsplash.

Then the question becomes how...

I looked on Houzz for photos of that kitchens with that granite with wood (not white or cream) cabinets but couldn't find any.

Thank you kitchen and MareLuce.

Sealing won't be an issue. The cooktop is in my island and sink is in front of the breakfast bar. The area at the sink up to the counter has granite...no tile needed. I figure sealing at install should be good for years and years.

MareLuce, thought of the copper issue you mentioned especially if done all over.

Someone who used to post here did a kitchen with granite that has many of the same tones as yours (at least, as it appears on the monitor) and used a custom glaze from Status Ceramics as her backsplash. She also has cherry cabinets., and she used Venetian plaster treatment on her walss and hood.
Best to scroll through entire linked thread for all the photos

Here is a link that might be useful: Igloochic

Could you post more photos of your granite? I cannot tell if it has bordeaux tones in it or all golds, creams, and greys.

How about a gray beveled subway that picks up the gray / silver.

I feel your pain!! We recently went through the same ordeal and after MANY, MANY trips to MANY tile stores... btw travertine was one of our choices and we were sold on it... BUT., we decided to go with a painted beadboard in a color that compliments our kitchen and we really love it! We have typhoon bordeaux as our granite CT and it is busy but beautiful like yours! So we decided the BB was the way to go and IF we find that perfect BS down the road we can easily change it. If we had gone with the trav BS changing our minds down the road will be a much bigger headache! ;) good luck!!

MareLuce, I have thought about a gray/silver subway, but would have to be glass. I don't care for the smooth ceramic subway. I like that idea and plan to look into it.

Kitchendetective, I will post more pics tomorrow. I'm too tired tonight to do it. My granite has some of the Bordeaux coloring, but not a lot. Very very little is near the blacksplash area and not all that much elsewhere. That was done on purpose. I loved the slabs, but not so much the Bordeaux in large amounts. I have Bordeaux flecks here and there that compliment it, but they don't stand out a lot. It is mostly gold, rust/copper, creams, black, grey, with some of the cream area having a green undertone. The green undertone is hard to see until green is held up to. It is a very very faint bamboo kind of green or grey green..hard to describe, at least for me. Because of the green undertone, I hesitate to use beige in the stone BS. Pics coming.

Melkel...I don't want to do this and change my mind, because I'll have to learn to live with it.

I took a rest from tile stores for the last few days, but plan to hit them again Monday. There really are not that many near me. I may have to expand my search area.

After I figure out the tile/stone, then I have issues where to end it in one area. That will be my next question. I may post a pic of the problem area when posting more granite pics tomorrow

I appreciate all suggestions and opinions. Thank you

How many square feet will be tiled? That could help determine whether you will be overwhelmed by your first glass choice--or whether you will walk into the kitchen every morning and think, "I love it. It's gorgeous and just right."

Guess I'm going to have to do these one at a time

This pattern is only here and breakfast bar...not really near the BS

Kitchendetective ....These pics show the variations in my granite pretty well. I do not have any really Long runs. i have 3 areas requiring BS with the longest being 59. Total sq ft, as I figured will be 14sq ft.....running inches x 18 inches divided by 12

This post was edited by deickhoff0 on Sun, Nov 2, 14 at 15:01

I think I'm almost there, opinions please....not sure of the pattern. I think the material works.

Another

On my monitor, the glass looks great but the ceramic color looks "off". The ceramic "type" looks right, but not the color, but again that might be my monitor, in fact, the color looks different in the two pics you posted!

sjhockeyfan, I think it's the pic quality. I'll keep looking at it for s few days in diff lighting without really studying it.. It usually takes not thinking about something to really see it

Oh and they might be diff. I think one pic mocks sealing. I wet it

Okay, I think I know the reason for color diff. It wasn't from wetting the tile. Both pics show a dry tile. Those pic were taken in 2 diff locations. The pic with tile laying flat was on the island with lighting directly on it. I did that mostly so the glass coloring would show up.

Sjhockeyfan, I wish I had your eye for color

Okay, I think I know the reason for color diff. It wasn't from wetting the tile. Both pics show a dry tile. Those pic were taken in 2 diff locations. The pic with tile laying flat was on the island with lighting directly on it. I did that mostly so the glass coloring would show up.

Sjhockeyfan, I wish I had your eye for color

Looks off to me too. Too cool and lifeless and doesn't go with the accent tile at all. I would ignore the gray in the granite because the gold is going to win that battle.

Is that botticino marble? I have some of this, but my granite has much more burgundy and much less cream in it than yours. I do not think that stone will work with your granite. I understand that you do not want ceramic subways. What about ceramic squares or glass subways or glass squares in a cream that matches the cream in your granite more closely?

This post was edited by kitchendetective on Mon, Nov 3, 14 at 20:29

Kitchendetective the cream in the granite is not easy to match...I have tried hard. I looked at many glass subway tiles today, and nothing seemed to work. Maybe I need to keep looking before a final decision is made. I don't know what the stone is. I might go back to the design center tomorrow. I probably should ask..duh

May flowers..my wall is gold and I'm not sure gold is what I want to bring out in the stone but, it's a suggestion and worth considering. This stone is definitely on the cool side.

Love this forum..helps slow me down and look a second look

Just throwing out suggestions so that you feel like you've seen many possibilities. Here is a link to some Ann Sacks glass tile possibilities.

Also, maybe a long arch glass tile would look good.

Here is a link that might be useful: Glass tile

Here is an example of an arch shape, although it's ceramic:

Kitchen detective....I appreciate all of your suggestions!

I'm not suggesting you add more gold but work with it. The gold in the granite will always be the dominate tone, so it makes the cool, off-white color tile look flat, like chalk. You need warmer, creamier tones for your field tile if using off-white.

The paint looks like it has green undertones. The granite has golden brown/amber, which the accent tile picks up. You'll have to resolve the paint clash as none of these tiles will work with the green-gold of the paint.

May flowers...the paint is restrained gold by SW. It doesn't have green undertones. I will say, in the pics it does appear too

Appreciate your help!

This post was edited by deickhoff0 on Tue, Nov 4, 14 at 16:55

We did a kitchen 9 years ago, with CT of Santa Cecilia, which looks very much like yours. We used Edilcuoghi Rocks Gold tile on the floor AND the back splash. BS had a mix of mostly 4" Rocks tile, then 4" Rocks mosaic and 4" squares of an Italian mosaic with gold and copper tones The last two were "scattered" among the solid 4" tiles.
Nine years later we still love it!

Here is a link that might be useful: Edilcuoghi Rocks Gold tile

Chicago bob..I like that and gives me another idea...so full of ideas but know nothing for sure yet.

Thank you!!