It seems like the back splash is very cool and not blending with everything else to me. I am not an expert, but it seems like your choice of back splash tiles are more suited towards a light kitchen. I love Everything but I think that you can find a better back splash tile.

Our cabinets were originally going to be walnut which is much cooler. Switching to cherry has really twisted the palette. I'm not much for the warmer tones and that's where the crux of the matter lies.

The pictures on my ideaboards were put there months ago in an attempt to find a middle ground with the BF. He loves maple. I started with a desire for a white kitchen. He said he liked modern, however after months of struggling to find a kitchen he liked I realized he does not like modern. SMH.

I've been selecting light tile, because I'm trying to avoid beige tones. I'd probably love a dark blue BS or a deep taupe or deep gray.

It was interesting to me that worth the flooring and counters being cool that I could go softer/warmer with the stools, backsplash and chandelier. (Although the chandelier really suits us.)

Do you need to decide your backsplash now? I think it will be easier to make the decision after other elements are in place. Especially because you do have a lot of dark elements in the kitchen. I think a light blue-ish simple glass tile might look nice, but I'm not sure I would like the white against the black. I like contrast, but it might be too much. Of course, that is a personal preference. Again, I think it will be easier to tell after all the other elements are in place. It is one thing to see samples next to each other, but another to consider the scale of each of those elements.

I love those bar stools and disagree with your niece on that. I don't think you need softness in a kitchen. And those have cushions anyway. :-) They go great with your floor and chandelier and all will make your kitchen unique.

Unless you are on a strict time line I wouldn't stress over backsplash until everything else is in. Your granite slab laying under your lighting will look different than samples in a store. We had quite a few things that we thought would look great until we got them in our new kitchen and realized we were way off. Good luck! We've had our new kitchen for 6 months now and still have no backsplash, but we are getting there...

I agree with everyone else who recommended you wait on the bs. Also, if you don't love warm tones, reconsider the caramel stain. You could opt for unstained cherry.

The shape of the hood you are considering is going to work against your contemporary styling. Might you consider something more modern?

Modern and contemporary often is interpreted and used different ways by different people.

I agree with eam regarding the hood.

Can you post an inspiration image of how you would like the kitchen to look overall? Maybe we can offer some suggestions. To me, the caramel stained cherry cabinets in shaker style are throwing things off. Have you picked hardware?

Sorry for dropping off on this thread. I really appreciate your input. We had an incredibly busy weekend that included emptying our kitchen on Sunday and Monday in preparation for demo this coming weekend.

I don't really have any inspiration pictures that are easy to point to and say, "This is exactly what I'm going for." So many kitchens are white and we're not doing white, or there is one specific element that we like, but not the rest. I took some time today to add some images to my Ideabook.

Kitchen · More Info

Love this tile.

Kitchen · More Info

I like the pattern of the tile. (Not an example of tile color, just pattern.)

Kitchen · More Info

My BF really likes the herringbone pattern.

Kitchen · More Info

Love this variegated blue tile!

Kitchen · More Info

This would probably work well, because we could tile the cooktop wall and the hutch/bar section on the opposite wall.

We started discussing possibly using green for the backsplash.

Bathrooms · More Info

I really like this large format tile. Medium wood tone with black countertop.

Contemporary Kitchen · More Info

This example has green mosaic tile with a large window on the adjoining wall, similar to what we'll have. Our kitchen will have an appliance garage in the corner and two glass fronted cabinets (18"w) on each side of the range hood similar to the example above.

Hovey kitchen · More Info

Blue Ridge Kitchen · More Info

I can wait, and I may have to, but I'd really prefer to have everything nailed down. Or at least a couple of ideas in my head that unite this kitchen's style together. My brain would like some peace.

Lisa, I'm glad you like the barstools. :)

eam44, not staining the cherry will leave me with um, cherry colored cabinets and I couldn't live with that. The caramel stain drops the cherry tone down dramatically.

We like the swoopy hood style, but if we felt we really needed to step away from it, we'd probably switch to a basic Euro pro-style.

Hardware is very basic modern bar style.

Chandelier is going over the island with seating. The prep island will have cans over it.

I like green with your choice of cabinet color.

I am sure I have seen the tile from your second backsplash inspiration pic somewhere, but couldn't find it on the Heath or Fireclay websites (my two leading condenders). It has a similar look to Heath's bowtie tile, which you can get in many colors.

Our KD mocked up two visuals of Blue Granite as the backsplash. In the first it goes up to the bottom of the hood (wrong style hood in rendering) and in the second it goes to the ceiling. Cost: $1,600 for half wall, $2,200 for full wall height.

It's not the best mock-up, but it helps with the visualization. Thoughts?

The mock-up remind me that one, this is not a large area and two, that with the paneled refrigerator to the right and the appliance garage to the left it's kind of a cozy nook. As a reminder, the wall to the left has an 8' wide window that it bumped out 6".

I also found some examples of kitchens with medium wood cabs and black countertops with white subway tiles. Still think it's too stark of a contrast?

One more thing I'd like feedback on is using real copper trim on the range hood instead of SS. Yay? Nay? If we decide upon this trim, then we'll change our chandelier to something with a warmer colored metal.

(We're doing this hood style in black river. The BF is pretty set on this style.)

Here's another rendering from the KD using the hood style with white subway.

I like the hood with the copper detail...note the copper has shine which really shows......the tile too is shiny but has a slight bevel to the edges which softens the whole feel somewhat. these are really well thought out final details. The copper could also perhaps be had at a less shiny final sheen?? don't know. The second pic of a real kitchen you show has the dull copper, and accordingly the tile is matte. Think what you like...what you want to look at day to day. I think the copper detail may be worth it.....but you have to pick and choose within that palette now. Personally, I'd probably not do the blue granite as I can see fatigue with it developing.....the light or white backsplash is more classic ......just my opinion....but you can still get details to create style with it.

"Personally, I'd probably not do the blue granite as I can see fatigue with it developing...." I am quite concerned about this happening.

"the light or white backsplash is more classic" Agreed.

I think a lighter tile would be best in your space.

White tile backsplash and copper accents on the hood which will pull in the cabinet color. The white backsplash will help lighten the kitchen and help pull the light floor up.

Oh yes yes and yes on the warmer metal chandy and copper trim! It'll look awesome!

The SS hood with copper looks nice too

Chandelier

https://www.houzz.com/products/arteriors-auburn-antique-brass-chandelier-prvw-vr~1241644

Another.

http://www.westelm.com/m/products/363908/?catalogId=71&sku=363908&bnrid=3902401&cm_ven=Google_PLA&cm_cat=Shopping&cm_pla=Chandeliers&cm_ite=AllProducts&kwid=productads-adid%5E153603528168-device%5Em-plaid%5E64052705815-sku%5E363908-adType%5EPLA&gclid=CO3UsI2G_88CFVKDfgoduhwBbg

Let me know and I'll stop lol

https://www.allmodern.com/Gavin-8-Light-Candle-Chandelier-LGLY3355-LGLY3355.html

LOL, smm5525! Thanks. I like the second light fixture best..

"White tile backsplash and copper accents on the hood which will pull in the cabinet color. The white backsplash will help lighten the kitchen and help pull the light floor up." Thanks, cpartist.

You guys are making me feel like this design can be pulled together. Giving me hope.

smm5525, can you find a chandelier like this, but in a warmer metal? Would like LED if possible. :)

http://m.lampsplus.com/products/ramona-32-inchw-led-pendant-light-by-possini-euro-design__5w979.html#read-reviews-tab

This one is kinda cool

http://www.shadesoflight.com/midcentury-modern-mobile-chandelier-6-lt.html?&variantID=595673&product_id=CH14053GL&adpos=3o9&creative=72522552152&device=t&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=Cj0KEQjwkdHABRCHiZ2gs6yGh50BEiQAA91WlhUEfF4wTTzZFUZsNPbdfd3mnG_Vzeqr9LBglIT5OuAaAkjG8P8HAQ

http://www.destinationlighting.com/item/kichler-lighting-armstrong-chandelier/P1518773

This one comes in varying mixed metals

https://www.houzz.com/products/agnes-chandelier-10-lights-black-with-custom-brass-cups-prvw-vr~6153692

Oh, wow! You've been busy, smm5525! I think the middle one has the most promise. :-) Thanks!

We ordered our range hood, finally. We decided upon stainless steel with antiqued copper bands with large rivets and an antiqued copper lip. (The image below has shiny copper.)

A couple of questions...

1.) Backsplash question: shiny/glossy or matte? The hood is brushed stainless steel with antiqued copper bands and lip which is a matte finish.

2.) Chandelier: what metal would you recommend?

would this work? http://www.lampsplus.com/products/ramona-32-inchw-led-pendant-light-by-possini-euro-design__5w979.html#read-reviews-tab

Love the hood!!!

1) matte

2) yes. Are you doing chrome hardware?

Yay, I'm glad you love the hood. The faucets are SS or brushed nickel (can't recall - that's embarrassing!) and the cabinet hardware is the same.

So jealous. Where did you order hood from? They are so pricey! I gave up

We went through our appliance place, but I believe we could have done it online or through the local rep. It's a Vent-a-hood and yes, it was pricey. We were trying to convince ourselves that by having it done in Black River instead of SS that we'd be just as happy, because that would have saved us some serious money. In the end, we decided it wasn't worth the savings if we would be suffering from design fatigue before too long. We also considered going with a European style hood, which would have been a big savings, but we're seeing a lot of those around so we went for something less common (at least around here.)

The plan is to age-in-place in this home, so we'll be looking at this for a long, long time.

I can barely stand the sound of a vent fan, so DBF was onboard with getting a Vent-a-hood to spare me from the fan noise as much as possible. (What a sweetie!)

Still, it was painful to pay $4,700 for a range hood. We took so long to make our decision that it's likely we'll be waiting on this to arrive past the time when it could have possibly been installed.

Feedback on from all of you really helped us make our decision. It's one thing to discuss the pros and cons between the two of us, but having input from others that have been down the same road, or can simply look at a design from an outside perspective, is invaluable. Thank you!!!

These popped up in my fb feed today. They might look nice with your copper

Are those from AllModern?

Yup. Very affordable too

Backsplash tile:

• Our flooring (LVP) is 6" x 48" and will be laid in a 1/3 offset pattern. Do you think using the same 1/3 offset with the backsplash would be best? Would this be better than a stacked pattern? Should we try to pull in a contemporary look with the backsplash, or should we let the other elements in the room do that?
• The space behind our range is not a big space, 18"w x 18"h + 47"w x 60"h + 18"w x 18"h (i.e. 18" on each side of the cooktop) What size subway tile would you use? 3"x6"? 4"x12"? 4"x16"? Other?

bump

I personally like 2 x 5 or something different than 3 x 6. I'm not a fan of the larger tiles for kitchen. But I'm not the tile expert. Perhaps one of them will chime in or start a new post.

I think a 1/3 offset for the backsplash will work fine. I personally would prefer the shiny tile.

cpartist, I'm glad you spoke up about preferring shiny tiles. I thought shiny tiles would probably be what would be called for seeing as the perimeter granite and hood are matte. Using a shiny tile would tie into the island granite which to my thinking would pull things together.

Opinions on something like this: http://tilebar.com/mini-brick-oyster-white-pearl-tile.html