I'd tile all the way up and over the window. You'll be wondering about the paint the other two ways. Make it simple.

i'm concerned, with any of the options, what the raw cut edges of the tiles will look like. generally the tile butts against the window trim. what does your contractor or tiler suggest?

oh, and i agree with your tile guy too. but he still has to make the raw edges look good.

Pam P., I have to admit that the idea of making one more decision (about paint) is enough to make my head spin! Putting the tile all the way up and around the window would certainly resolve that dilemma! Ninigret, I had wondered about the same thing. To solve that problem, we would use a brushed nickel schluter strip to finish out the raw edges of the tile. It's actually quite pretty, and would coordinate nicely with my stainless appliances and the cabinet pulls.

I think actually I'd go no backsplash at all here. There is such a skinny strip of wall between the upper cabinet and the corner that you're going to have a bunch of weird little slivers of tile there and the pattern won't really get to repeat or look whole. If you really really want tile, I could MAYBE see, like, penny tile or some other mosaic with really tiny pieces, but in your shoes, I'd honestly just put a piece of stainless steel on the wall behind the cooktop and otherwise paint the wall a pretty color.

I’m in the window coverings business and by far the most common way I’ve seen them done is the way your tile guy suggested. If you cover the entire wall, you’d have to wrap the tile inside the window opening or it would look unfinished. That’s a lot more work, plus, it will be more difficult for you to attach anything to the tiled wall (think window shade). In fact, try to avoid tiling the inside of the opening in order to maintain an even surface for inside mounted shades.

I'm hijacking the thread a bit to ask about your cabinets, as I'm considering maple with a medium stain - and that is what it looks like you have. Could you share the name of the stain on your cabinets?

I don't know if I can give any advice about where to stop the tile, but I must say that the tile really ties the countertop and the cabinets together - I think it was an excellent choice.

At a minimum, listen to your tile guy. I do think tiling to the ceiling would look amazing if it is in your budget and to your taste but in reading the post by Draperies by Susan, I see the practicality of her advice.

Hi Katie - our cabinets are from Kraftmaid. They are maple with a Praline stain. We're very happy with them, and the customer service from Kraftmaid has been excellent! The color is beautiful in person, and Kraftmaid has so many nice storage options, good door hinges and drawer glides, and plenty of choices for style of door. Good luck with your kitchen! Susan, I definitely appreciate your input, and had thought the same thing. I didn't think it would be smart to carry the tile into the window opening, especially at the top, as that will make mounting window coverings very problematic. I suspect we'll leave the entire inside of the window opening drywall regardless of what we do around the window. Thanks for all the advice, guys, and please keep your thoughts coming! Houzz is such a great resource because of people like you. Thanks!

My observation. Tile all the way to ceiling, don't tile inside wall, then have the s.s. trim all the way around the window. If you just tile to bottom of cabinet, you will have bits of s.s. trim each side, which probably won't look as nice. Pls post a pic when done.

Are you doing a window covering at the very top? If so, then perhaps you should trim out the window (wood to match your cabs) and go to the trim with splash (keep same height as you're backsplash. That will leave the side and top opened so you can install a cute window treatment.....

Good point about trimming out window. Maybe paint same color as the window itself - to blend in.

What the tile guy said. Tile to the window at the level of the bottom of the cabinet. The way the contractor said to do it will look funny. You can do all the way up and that would be fine too if that is the look you want.

Angel 18432, I like your original suggestion if we decide to take the backsplash all the way up to the ceiling (which isn't very high, by the way.) We have a fairly small kitchen with a very low ceiling. I think if we decide to tile that whole wall, it would look nicest if we just use the schluter strip all the way around the edge of the window for a clean line, and that also leaves the inside of the window drywall for ease in installing a blind. I love having the window blind-free, but we need something for the late afternoon because the window faces west and gets tons of sun later in the day. I had a light colored blind in there before so I could just tilt the slats to deflect the sunlight but still let lots of natural light in. I suspect I'll do something similar blind-wise (either a faux wood blind, a standard mini-blind, or perhaps one of those that is sheer fabric with the slats inside the fabric. If we don't tile all the way to the ceiling, that leaves the possibility of some sort of nice valance at the top, but I'm afraid of getting too busy, so I might just stick to an inside-mount blind with no decorative valance regardless of what we do.

How many inches of wall do you have between the cabinet and the window. If you are running the mosaic horizontal it looks as if you will have very short pieces around the window. Perhaps it would work better if you put the mosaic vertical for you entire backsplash then you could have full length strips of the mosaic along the sides of the window instead of short horizontal pieces.

I ran my mosaic vertical and got tons of compliments regarding it being vertical. My individual pieces are narrower than yours but here’s what a 6” wide area looks like vertical. If you have at least a 3” space you should be able to run a couple rows vertical.

I used the Schluter square profile edge on both sides of my backsplash because my backsplash is only behind my cooktop and I needed a way to finish it off next to the rest of the wall. It does the job nicely.

Here’s my tile to the ceiling for reference. You just have to imagine a window instead of a vent hood

Good luck with your decision.

Absolutely listen to the tile guy. That is the way I had my back splash done and it looks finished, not like I ran out of tile.

I think you should go around the window too.

Thanks for the photos and the input, badgergal. Your kitchen looks great! We only have about 2 3/4 inches between the side of the cabinet and the window. The more I think about it, I think you're correct that we don't have enough room to run tile along the edges of the window without it looking odd. I love your kitchen, but I prefer the horizontal orientation of the tile for our kitchen. I think it's going to have to be ended in a straight line down even with the edge of the cabinet or extended from the bottom of the cabinet to the edge of the window and then down. Either way requires a schluter strip to finish out the exposed edges of the tile. Luckyblueeye, do you have a photo you can post of how you finished out your backsplash? If so, I'd love to see it! Thanks!

They would have to miter the corners of all those individual tiles. People saying all the way up don't understand how to lay tile.

Your contractor is right but I would frame the window. The top would be a 1x header and the sides would also be a 1x ripped to size. Then I would paint a simple white so you don't have the strip of wall color. It will look like a framed window like the rest of your home probably is. It also gives him a stop for the tile at the window.

Sorry, I'm out of town and can't post a pic. Lay the tile against the area in question, or tape some paper around it, and try it both ways. It will give you a good idea what the finished product will look like....you will know which one is right :)

Thanks for your input, wannabath. Actually, none of the windows in our house have any framing/trim around them. Our house was built in 1974, and it was (I guess) a somewhat "contemporary" look at the time to have windows with no trim/frame around them. You may not be able to tell in the photo, but the kitchen window goes almost all the way to the counter top behind the sink (there is a thin strip of quartz that the fabricators put in vertically between the countertop and the bottom of the window) so we wouldn't be able to put any sort of trim/frame on the bottom of the window anyway. Whether we stop the tile at the edge of the window or stop it in a straight line down from the edge of the cabinet, we would probably use schluter strips to finish out the edge of the tile. I think that would eliminate the need for any mitering of edges, right?

did you finish your project? would love to see a final result!

was wondering the same thing can you post a photo @https://www.houzz.com/user/dabskid

Haven't finished it yet! We ran into a scheduling snag with the backsplash installation, and we're waiting to hear back from them on a new installation date. I'll keep you posted! Thanks for your interest and all your feedback, everyone!