Thanks Lisa. Here's a pic of the flooring.

We weren't really interested in the white subway tiles. If we do subway we want a glass grey possibly. My wife honestly feels subway will be on its way out soon.

Thanks for the flooring photo. I think the lighter Grey will work nicely.

Do you have a builder nagging you for a decision? If not it is best to wait for the counter top to be installed and try out samples against the surface.

I like the darker one, but maybe in a larger tile format? here is ostrich slate,,,

or a lighter gray in a different shape?

or a nice marble herringbone

The stone you are showing can be difficult to maintain. You'll need to seal it on a regular basis and if you miss a spot you could end up with forever spot there if something gets on it. Also, it being rough, not the easiest to wipe stuff off.

This could be interesting in your kitchen. With white grout.

ted, i believe her choices are porcelain. no sealing. but even if it was actual slate, it's no big deal to seal or clean. I have slate flooring and it's a breeze.

Have the installer use mastic instead of thinset to adhere the tiles. Much easier to remove the tiles if you grow tired of the style in a few years.

You could do white beveled subway with light gray grout. And you could do some stripes of pearly shell surface for some sparkle. I will see if I can find example.

My contractor will let me get the countertop installed first. He told me today the cabinets should be fully in and set. Tomorrow appliances can go in and countertop people can come template Wednesday and then install next week.

Beth I was looking for the dark, but in a larger tile. I like that one you showed, but is that difficult to maintain?

the black slate? it comes in all sizes. and no, it's not. You apply a sealer/enhancer (which will deepen it) and that's it. I've had slate flooring for over 10 years. It's no different than having a marble backsplash or even granite. once it's sealed, you wipe it down like you would anything else. you just use a cleaner that's meant for natural stone. When water stops beading up on it, it's time to reseal. maybe for a splash every few years or so.

Hey everyone. So I guess I am still confused on what to do with the backsplash. I went to another tile store today and they told me exactly the opposite of what the other place told me. They told me glass subway tiles would look perfect and gave me a few of these samples the bigger ones (whatever color) would be the backsplash and then the small ones could make a herringbone pattern over the stove if we wanted.

Those would be nice. I might stick w/the same material over the stove. that white stone might be a different shade than the glass tile once it's up. You could do a gray subway and then the white herringbone,,,but doing the two different whites? not sure how it would look unless the whites are very closely matched

Home depot has a really nice gray subway tile that would look good w/your countertop. the glass one you are showing looks a bit on the greenish side??

Here are some glass subways from tilebar.com take a look at these and see if you like anything

http://tilebar.com/collection/subway-tiles.html

this is a 4X12 gray Santa Monica

and a 4X12 Ash Gray in frosted glass

3x6 white thassos, beveled

So have finally narrowed it down a bit on backsplash. Thinking one of these 3...the middle picture I love that it comes with that other option that we could showcase over the stove. Countertops are in and this is the last piece that has to go in.

i love the middle option. perfect

1st and 4th too dark to my eye. The 2nd one is interesting, but might be too much with granite. However, it could work as a compliment over the range? #3 looks great for your granite, IF you are doing undercabinet lighting. LEDs would be best in "warm white" which is really bright white to my eye, and it would sparkle this glass tile. Nice choices!

So, I laid them all out again this morning. Tried to see what it looked like with sun coming through the window and with the lights on. I was actually leaning towards the darker because with white grout it really pops (at least it did in the store). This is what the kitchen looks like now if it helps base anything off of it. #2 would only go if we did that over the range and then did #3 for the rest of the wall. I am actually myself leaning towards #1 I like the long glass subway tile and it matches the color of our island cabinets which I feel would bring it all together.

I don't think you can go wrong with either option. If you still want something different over the stove then see if they can use the same tile (#1) in a different pattern just for the stove similar to the photo attached or even try and find a pattern that has the matching dark grey.

Kristine I really like that! I just wasn't sure if I went with the longer subway how to incorporate that over the range because normally like the picture it's smaller, but I guess my contractor could cut it.

I would just do something interesting with the lighter gray glass tile, like run a strip of the stainless tiles all the way across the space. Your space is more modern looking to my eye and this would visually expand a relatively small kitchen. Doing a medallion over the range is kind of out of fashion and doesn't seem a good fit for your kitchen? Just another option to consider.

I really love the #2 option! Go for it. You can use the subway pattern everywhere else and do the stove area in the #2 and you now have an accent wall. You can't go wrong with white kitchen and gray backsplash really. Please update us once its up! How exciting! Here is a pic of my white kitchen with an accent wall-/ everyone told me to do all white when I posted here, and I just went for it! I couldn't have been happier. Sometimes you just have to pick what makes you happy!:)

That looks really awesome! I told my wife it's her pick. We've narrowed it down this far and I'm traveling the week for work so I said whatever you chose I'll be happy. I'll keep you updated. She's leaning towards the darker gray glass subway and maybe not doing an accent wall. We like option #2 but when we held it up the wall it looked a little too light which we were afraid of. We feel dark would look best since we took down walls and it's all just an open floor plan and tons of national sunlight. Plus we'll have undercab lights too.

I can see your thinking. With your dark base on the island, the darker backsplash would help tie that look in so I think you may be on the right track there especially if you have plenty of light in the space. Good luck. Keep us posted!

@June what type of pull handles are those? We are looking for the same style. We haven't pick out anything yet. The wife wants those exact ones though.

I really loved the grey you have pictured in the first photo of the backsplash. I really dislike subway tile and glass tiles.

Nick, those are 'cup pulls'. have you thought about polished brass/gold? would look really beautiful w/all of your choices.

Nick , they are 3" drawer cup pulls in brushed nickel. They are great. Although I wish I had seen these ones earlier in rectangular 4" pulls. I prefer these because it is larger and would work well with hubby's bigger hands . This is what I have in my vanity in my master bath. I got them for such a good deal at wayfair if I remember correctly.

And here's a close up look of the ones in the kitchen, I like these too because they are not as round as the ones I've seen and it has a matching knob and trim on corners but unfortunately I ordered them from the cabinet maker and I forgot what name brand. You can order them any finish.

Thoughts on this? Above the range would be that cool design boxed out basically. Then that other subway tile the rest of the way.

love the chevron, nick.

Thanks Beth! So you think those 2 together will work? My contractor drew it out today when he measured the square feet needed.

yes. looks good. so the chevron in the middle and the rest of the splash is that linear glass right next to it? (in the pic above) what is the size of that subway tile? 1x6? 2x6? do they have a 3x9 or 4x12?

Yup, exactly. Just not sure if the glass subway is too thin or small. I don't think it is, plus it'd be staggered.

doing an off-set brick pattern? i would like to see those bars a bit larger if doing that pattern.

this size these look like 4x12 or 3x9

otherwise it will look like this (even in an offset) these are 1x6

this size is more for a contemporary, retro feel. yours seems a bit more classic.

found a better pic. this looks like your size

Yes, off-set. The issue is that chevron only matches those thin ones. We've looked everywhere and the place said this is as close as we can get unless we go with a different tile. We really liked the chevron because it was different and was a nice accent wall behind the vent.

what if you did a marble chevron to go w/that gray glass subway in the larger size? Either of these will look really nice w/the glass

Nick, in the last pic I posted w/the white glass and dark cabs, that appears to be the same size as your small bars. do you like that look? if so, then go ahead w/those . it's your kitchen! If you want larger subways, then you could always do the stove accent in any other material. it doesn't have to match the subway tile your are using (meaning, same glass)

So just got off the phone with the wife. We're going with this...

It's called reed. If you look up close it's got a cool textured design within the glass plus it's bigger. I think doing a light grey grout will look nice.

nice! why don't you do the entire space in the herringbone?

these are ceramic chevron ,but same idea

We originally thought that. Still a possibility gotta see if my contractor can do it.

your contractor??? how about your tile setter. and if he can't, then he shouldn't be laying tile. I can do it. it's not that difficult, just time consuming.

there is a formula for starting the herringbone pattern. if he doesn't want to do it, he's lazy.

Our contractor is also our tile setter. He does everything. He's solid though. This is the tile for our bathroom he did. I am not opposed to just running the tile the whole way too even behind the stove.

Here's the backsplash! Love the choice.

Looks great! I think the contrast of dark on white highlighted your kitchen cabinets and countertop.

Thanks Junee! Yeah, I am pretty happy with the results. Honestly, my wife and I are super indecisive so this whole process has been at times a bit stressful.

Some marriages can't survive it, so you should be commended! Kitchen looks fine too! Carry on!

Looking WONDERFUL!!!

I pretty much would not go with natural stone. It is super hard to clean when things get splashed on it or say the spaghetti sauce explodes a bubble on it! I mean REALLY hard to clean. Go with something smooth.
Leslie