Most people here will tell you to wait until your counters are installed. It's what I did and I think it's the only way to choose tile.

At first glance, I don't think I would do subway in the space - but it's hard to tell without seeing what's on the other side of the kitchen.

I really like the floors!

I honestly, truthfully mean no offense, soft.

It is pretty tile, but it's trying too hard, you know? It takes "hand made" to it's comical extreme. I mean, there's hand made, and then there's "didn't use a straight edge or a ruler." How do you lay that tile? How do you grout it? It looks a little too... DIY - like someone made it in an art class. Or like it was hand made in the 1500s. Like the image above, it belongs a little more in a Tuscan villa than in a suburban kitchen in the 21st.

You have to think of tile in context... and absolutely, as jp says, wait. Do you have any inspiration images?

I totally disagree. Look at it in the subway profile installed in this kitchen by Emily Henderson:

Yeah... The subway tile is not much better, but the installation is more kitchen appropriate - they used a thicker mortar bed to even out the surface of the tiles a bit. Still, the tile is very glossy, and more of a mini brick which is OK, but not what I would choose for most kitchens and certainly not this one. In context.... it might be fine in a brownstone if you could get past the glare. The square tile as applied above is a no go for a kitchen backsplash. We are not going to agree on this one - but please show us your results in your kitchen if you choose these tiles.

I agree with waiting till the countertops are in glad I did because I changed my mind ! I can't even imagine trying to clean that square uneven tile especially in the kitchen . It's pretty to look at kind of like a piece of art in smaller spaces .

There are some pretty mother of pearl tiles that gives you a little bling with out being very busy .

Eam, I'm not even doing a tiled backsplash. I'm sort of sick of seeing them to be honest! That handmade tile comes in lots of different shapes anyway, and it's the subtle variation in tones that I'm drawn to. You don't like it though. That's cool. And I honestly don't know the context of the original poster's kitchen. Has the rest of the house been posted about here already? Is it just a suburban house so slap some white ceramic subway tile up and be done with it? That would be a much better choice than most I've seen made. In any case I agree they should wait until the countertops are in.

Soft, you're the one that posted a white ceramic subway tile. :-)

And the right white ceramic subway tile in the right kitchen can be beautiful. Still, the original poster isn't limited to white, or to subway tile. I was actually thinking along the lines of slate, but then I flint know what the counters look like... What I meant by context is that not every tile looks beautiful in every kitchen. You agree although you may not express it in the same way.

Should the original poster return post counter installation we would be best able to help if he/she gave us some budgetary guidelines and inspiration images.

I've noticed that I'm a little late to join this discussion, I'm interested to see what you chose in the end. I found this conversation while google image searching white zellige tiles which I absolutely love - the same one in Softpunk's first comment. I might add that I'm an artist, love the handmade look and the idea that it might be made in an art class. In fact I did try making some but couldn't get the size exactly the same for all the tiles. I have a bit of a tile fetish and couldn't contemplate something 'mass produced'

I live in a suburban house too but that would never make me compromise on a look!

I love them too Gordon but in my case I'm going with a machine made backsplash tile because the star of my kitchen will be my quartzite counters. Very busy pattern so I needed something that picks up the color but doesn't compete.

If you use those gorgeous tiles, please post a photo when done.

"couldn't get the size exactly the same for all the tiles"

Gordon, the whole point is that none of those tiles is the same size. Or color. Or flat. You can absolutely make your own tiles and they will be more homogeneous than these. I say, go for it. Think of the custom glazes you can create. At any rate the result will be entirely yours.

You're right of course eam44, these are my trials in the photo except for the pink (top left) which is a sample I bought of the expensive variety we mentioned before. As home made as it is, it's still got straiter edges than mine! Regardless, you've spurred me on to have another go, the moroccan ones are ridiculously expensive. I'll let you know how I get on!

I love these... I also went down a rabbithole of considering handmaking tiles for my bathroom remodel (I'm also an artist, and also live in a suburban house :) )

I'm assuming the pink is cle zellige? I also considered just purchasing bisqued unglazed tiles and doing just the glaze fire, but I found a random thread somewhere that calculated the math for all the work, time, and cost of everything and came up with some staggering end cost for the product - like $40/sq ft - thus making those expensive handmade tile companies seem more reasonable.