Marthastoo- your kitchen is beautiful. I love your tile, I love the variation of the glaze. It adds such dimension and warmth.
I hear you about the tile store under ordering. I was looking at one tile store when a friend in the business said 'I dont recommend them, they always under order to lowball the quote' It was a blessing for me because when I went to a different store I fell in love!
Great kitchen- congrats!

Drooling...lovely tile...beautiful kitchen.

Martha- it looks absolutely gorgeous! Your kitchen looks so beautifully "finished". It blends perfectly with your countertops & floors. I know you must be thrilled. My tile is going in next Tuesday & Wednesday. I got the new tiles, not exactly the blue I was trying to get, but a nice blend. What colors are in your range? I can see green, maybe a little taupe & some silver. The variation in color & tone is lovely. I think I've used most of my gushing adjectives. Congrats!!!

Oh....just read your post describing the colors. I zipped right through to your pictures & was so excited that I didn't read everything.

It looks great.

I recently ordered bullnose tile that was shown and labeled in the catalog as a single piece of bullnose. It is delivered as dot-mounted sheets of bullnose. So, I ordered 70 pieces (distributor did ordering) and got 70 linear feet. Can I return it? Nope. It was a custom order. They also had trim pieces that were not pictured, trim pieces that were pictured and no longer manufactured. I wonder if this sort of thing is typical in the tile industry. Sorry to hijack.

In this closeup of the tile, you can really see the variation in color. What you can't see is the beautiful but subtle sparkle and depth to the crackle.

Awesome! I love it. It is perfect for your kitchen and love the variation. Welcome to the ABB !alumni club

Wow! That tile is sooo beautiful!

Beautiful! Also, what is the counter on the island?

Martha, excellent choice of grout too! I like the contrast.

One more question. Did you have any input in deciding how the tile was arranged (color variation?) or did you leave it up to your installer?

hbrrbh - the island countertop is calacutta marble

romy - we took out all the tiles in our currently unused sunroom and sealed them first ourselves (well, DH did it - I supervised LOL). That gave us an opportunity to lay out all the tile in one location and see all the colors. We mixed them up on the ground and told the installer to generally maintain the same mix. We just didn't want 3 brownish tiles in a row, for example.

Gorgeous tile! I wouldn't have expected a color called "mint" to be so warm and earthy.

BTW, its the responsibility of the installer to calculate the amount of tile needed, not the retailer. Several tile stores that I know won't even order at unless a waiver is signed that the installer didn't do the math. The associates are there to help with color selection, design advice, and general tile information. They don't visit the home and do the measurements, nor do they rely on the measurements of non professionals to calculate quantities. Now, if the store is also doing the install, every bit of it is squarely on their shoulders for everything.

marthastoo, its beautiful!!! It really does tie your beautiful island marble in so well. I may have missed it but did you ever decide on a banquette fabric? I love your kitchen.

Romy718, I can't wait to see yours next week! You suggested Encore tile to me and I found it & fell in love with it. I didn't end up with it mainly bc of price and lead time to order it, but I will always wonder if I sholuld've went for it bc I love it so much.

My marble bs went up yesterday & today too...maybe I should post a pic too...

Oh your kitchen is fabulous, I found more pics on another thread and just love all of it! Perfect teapot, I need that color! Backsplash is perfection.

Homebuyer23, please post your pics. I remember your kitchen & how great the marble subway looked. That was my original choice but I couldn't find a marble that blended with my Danby countertops. You have the beautiful blue color in your mudroom?
Martha- I bet your light fixture above your banquette looks divine (new adjective, for me) with the Mint backsplash.

Oh I love your tile! It probably wouldn't do in my kitchen, but it's so pretty and I really like the subway tile look.

DH thinks back splashes are a splurge. We're not putting one in our NC. Maybe someday I will just do it myself.

You're very lucky!

i have 2 subways in Mint, if you need me to mail to you. It it so lovely. I was told 4 weeks, because the factory closes week for holidays. You really waited 7 weeks?

GreenDesigns, Encore has 2 boards: one has blue undertones, the other has green.

Wow!!! That is gorgeous! I love your kitchen!!

What are your perimeter countertops?

Martha, what color grout did you use?

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!
You did an amazing job! The backsplash really pulls it all together. LOVE IT!!

aktillery - our perimeter countertops are leathered steel gray granite.

Romy - we used power grout in praline

Marthastoo, I went searching for your fabulous tea kettle, not that I need one but I just love that color. I think I found it is a Martha Stewart blue on steel?
Looks like it is no longer available, perhaps because of a recall? Perhaps you should be safe and send it to me ;)
Meanwhile, I've seen it called "tiffany blue", does that seem accurate to you? I'd really appreciate anything you can share about finding that color for accessories, it is perfect!

Here is a link that might be useful: recall notice

kksmama - sorry, DH bought me that teakettle about 5 years ago for Christmas (there were other presents LOL) from Home Goods. It's Chantal brand and apparently, not available anymore. It's a great teakettle - it whistles and is very sturdy. We use it almost daily for tea. Maybe try eBay?

Here's a pic of the actual teakettle. It's blue in the pic, but it's actually a perfect turquoise IRL - not too blue and not too green. Tiffany blue, actually.

This post was edited by marthastoo on Sun, Dec 15, 13 at 10:39

Kksmama-if you are an ebay shopper, here are two of that exact teakettle for sale on Ebay.

Marthastoo, I am in love with your cabinets, beautiful leathered steel gray granite counters, your gorgeous blacksplash, your hardware chosen and your floors! I love the light floors with the cabinets broken up by the darker island! I wish I had room for an island.

What are your floors? Any close-ups?

Any close-ups of your counters near the range?

When are you posting the kitchen Reveal with all the details? I would love to know the brand of cabinets and the white shade chosen for the paint.

It looks like they are beaded inset shaker style with the 5-piece panel drawers but more of a traditional not shaker look cabinet door with the beaded inset? So pretty and functional your kitchen is!

The Tiffany tea pot matches the towel over the hardware on the drawer and really adds a nice umph to your kitchen!

I love the grids in the window over your sink that really adds to the kitchen? Are they beveled grids? I am replacing windows in my house and trying to decide between the beveled which will not match the upstairs since I am only doing the downstairs or the flat grid.

Lynn - thank you for your kind words. We love our new kitchen and definitely plan to post a full reveal. I'm just waiting on throw pillows, window treatments and the cabinet makers to fix our microwave drawer cabinet.

The floors are a porcelain tile by Ceramiche Campogalliano - the style is called Rox in Natural color. We used a pinwheel pattern and the grout color is antique white. We opted not to go with hardwood floors after seeing so many destroyed hardwood floors in kitchens while we were house hunting earlier this year. The color is a grayish beige with faux stones in the tile. It does an amazing job of camouflaging dirt.

The cabinets were custom made by an Amish cabinet maker. We chose BM Chantilly Lace, but we're pretty sure that that is not the actual color on the cabs. We had the rest of the trim in the kitchen painted BM Chantilly Lace and it is definitely NOT the same color as the cabinets! However, we actually like the cabinets better than chantilly lace, so I guess all's well that ends well! The cabinets are a creamier white that what we originally selected - chantilly lace is a pretty stark white. I'm guessing that the cabinets are actually BM Simply White. The cabinet style is a beaded inset with 5 piece panel - definitely not Shaker since we felt Shaker was too plain for our tastes. We wanted a little zing to the kitchen, but not too much.

The window you see is the original window to the house - we just had it painted white (it was a horrible green that is all over the house). I considered tearing it out, but I didn't know what to replace it with and it was an unnecessary expense since that window only opens to the sunroom and is not used as a window any more. They are not beveled grids - just regular grids that let in lots of cold air (the other windows in the house are the same and are super inefficient - on the list to replace *sigh*)

Your kitchen is beautiful. Everything just works together! Love the countertops and the backsplash tile just completes the look. You have quite an eye.

Marthastoo, I just love your tiles so much! I also love the cabinet color so that worked out so well also. I am looking to replace my 23 year old windows with more energy efficient windows that do not have cracked vinyl sides. Since I live in a townhouse I have to have the same grids so I am trying to figure out if I should go with bevel or not bevel.

Your kitchen is just gorgeous!

Thanks for the info and close-up of the kettle. And for the pictures of your floor, the color change is remarkable! Looking forward to the final reveal. (And thanks for the ebay tip, Romy!)

Perfect! Love the photo of the sunlight on the tiles. Beautiful balance of components and colors.

Martha, I'm searching for the "right" color of crackle tile. I have brought home samples of truffle, smoke, and silver so far (encore). Silver is the closest so far, but I'm wondering if I should try the mint. Obviously the name suggests green. I can't tell very well on my monitor, does it read green in person?

Martha,
I love your kitchen. Everything goes together so well!
I am just starting mine now. We are painting our perimeter cabinets a cream color and have a cabinet maker making new doors (the boxes are in great shape) and new drawers. He is also building us a new cherry island. So yours gives me a great handle on how those colors/woods will look together.
I have yet to pick anything else out at all besides the appliances. I have a very long way to go. I dont even know what color scheme I want yet :(

Lckaisgir, bookworm has 2 mint tiles tiles that she offered to send to Martha. If she has them, I'm sure she'd send them to you. Also, I'm happy to send you a few tiles. It's so hard to really get a feel for the range of colors with one or two. Even when I had 20 of them sitting on my counter for a month, it was a totally different look when they were vertical & grouted. I absolutely love my backsplash. I think it's my favorite kitchen "selection". I don't think can go wrong with this tile. You just have to pick a color.

Lckaisgir - the mint is a bit of a misnomer, because unless you're looking for it, most people don't even see the green. My MIL was certain the color was beige at night and then in the morning she was surprised that it looked gray. The color really changes depending on the light. It has just the slightest hint of a moss green, but as you can see in the photos, it looks like a taupe. HTH!

I still have a mint , but it helps to have a few samples. I couldn't go wrong between Cameo and Mint. The company seems very good. My tile came in 4 weeks, but I won't be able to pick it up until next week. My samples of mint were at store, and the Cameo's were ordered and arrived within 2 weeks.

Mathastoo I have that kettle in royal blue! Love yours.