we did a 6x6 travertine set horizontally and i think it came out great..... i feel its a little more updated and a 4x4, which reminds of bathroom tile...

HTH

For the most part, it is an aesthetic decision to your liking. If your kitchen area is large, you might consider the 6x6. If small, perhaps the 4x4 will look more in scale. Some things to consider; with 4x4 you have more grout to keep clean. Also with 4x4, if you have the standard 18" high backsplash, there will be a cut at either the top or bottom row, vs 6x6 is more likely to be close to three full tiles high, (like the photo above). Do some layout to experiment with necessary cuts. One benefit to diagonal is you can avoid long runs of a small rectangular cuts.

My personal opinion, whichever size you go keep the grout joints narrow, and match the grout as close to the tile color as you can. chris

Sprtphntc - that looks great! I love the pretty simplicity of it. You know, I was trying to visualize 4x4 and 6x6, and I realized that my 2nd floor bathroom has 4x4 white tiles and my 3rd floor bathroom has 6x6! I'm thinking that maybe the 6x6 looks less busy (I really am not a fan of the little mosaic backsplashes.)

Cookncarpenter - My kitchen area is not large, but it will be an open floorplan galley, so maybe it could feel larger than it really is. I don't know. I agree about keeping the grout narrow - I like the look more, too. And, yeah, a color close to the tile makes sense - otherwise, you're drawing attention to the grout rather than to the tile, I'd think.

Fwiw, I'm leaning towards 6 x 6 if I go with a neutral colored square. I just like the more substantial look. One factor for me is whether a particular size will result in slivers of tile somewhere. For example, my windows will only be about four inches off the counter. So one 3 x 3 I was consider would not work very well there.

I decided on 4x4 crackle tile for the splash behind my range. The grout lines are very thin and match the tile, so it almost disappears. I chose square over subway because it mirrors the squares in other elements in my kitchen - the glass panes in some of my upper cabs, square knobs on small uppers, check pattern on my counter stools and square pattern in my wainscotting.

crl - the window I'm planning is one concern for me - what do you plan on doing about that if you go with 6"? I haven't decided for sure how high up over the sink the window will be - so I could make it more than 6" above counter, but I think that's higher than I want it, or I could forgo tile under the window entirely & just have a widow frame just above the sink. Not sure what to do about that.

Daisychain - terrific ideas. Thank you!

Amck2 - what pretty texture on that tile, thank you for the image!

At this point it looks like we are going to take the marble slab up for backsplash on the window run--it will also be the window sill material if we go with marble. But if we weren't doing that I would probably go with 6 x 6 on that wall and have those tiles cut smaller and notched around the window wall with the parts on the sides of the windows going up three tiles for 18 inches. I don't mind cut tile, it's just the little slivers I'm not find of--6 x 6 would leave four inches of solid tile under the window, where 3 x 3 would leave one solid tile and one 1-inch sliver. There are probably other solutions too--trim pieces of various kinds.

Keep in mind that 3 6x6 tiles does not equal 18" because grout lines are grout lines - even very narrow ones add something to the total dimension.

Sjhockeyfan - I think I read somewhere that actual tile dimensions were a little smaller than the stated size, to make room for grout. So, the 4" tile is actually, say, 3 & 7/8 of an inch. I have no idea if it's true at all, or sometimes true...

I am dealing with tile size and proportion with my small fireplace now. I would strongly suggest mocking both sizes up in person. I predict the answer will be clear to you immediately if you do that. Tile that is too big for a small space can look really weird because only a few tiles cover the whole space. There isn't enough tile repetition for it to look right.

You could continue your counter top material up just behind the sink to take care of the window issue. Like this:

Thanks, Jillius, for the mockup suggestion. If I do that, I should then wait until the remodel is complete, (well, at least the cabinets are in place) right? Which would mean that I would have to do the back splash after the kitchen has otherwise been completed. Certainly possible, and worth it to make sure I end up with something I like.

Join our ABB Carrie_b! ;)

Mags - what's ABB? If you're in it, I want to join it! ;-)

All But Backsplash - ABB?

If part of the plan includes bringing your countertop material behind the sink to create your sill, you'll probably want to to do that when your fabricators are there to template your stone.

Thanks, amck2. I don't think I'll be doing the bs behind the sink. I think it looks lovely in your kitchen - but I'll probably either do some tile, or (more likely) make the window counter height.

What did you decide?

I went with 4x4. I like the way it worked out!

Yes! And I like the off-set layout a lot. What tile did you use?