We did 4x16, but not stacked, our are staggered . Love the larger tile, less busy-ness.

Based on what you asked and with no other information regarding your other surfaces and the feature tile specifics, smaller is better for sure. And please, no dark grout for the subway tile.

Here are is a picture of some of what we selected for the kitchen. We plan on doing light grey cabinets with a navy island, and white quartz counters. Our floors will be a grey wood.

For grout, we were actually leaning on slightly darker than white. We want to use the same grout for accent and subway tile to pull everything together. Something close to our cabinet color actually. But we haven't put anything in yet so keep the thoughts coming!

Also if you see this Dargonfly, do you have any recommendations for tile pros in the Madison area? I see you guys are based out of Milwaukee, but I might be a tad bit far from you.

Alanalinette, if I skipped the glass tile do you think there's anything I can do above the stove as an accent piece? Or would you stick to just subway tile throughout?

Also, if we did just stick to subway, where would you recommend cutting it off? Right at the hood? At the same level as the rest of the tile?

Personally, I love plain subway tile but my SO thinks that it is too plain for our kitchen. Do you have any suggestions on how we could jazz it up?

When you go to the tile store, bring accurate measurements for the area over the stove. The tile store’s head salesperson or manager will be able to help you choose the right size glass mosaic, and then will suggest what size subway will look the best with the mosaic.

I would not use that accent tile. It's a great idea but that is dated. Keep looking at options. And I would still not use dark grout for the subway. Consider silver shadow (light grey) for a subtle contrast but that can be decided after the accent is determined. There are a million glass or other material mosaics that could provide that interest. Just don't jump too fast. You will hear on these forums to eliminate a feature altogether. Not always true if properly chosen and in tune with your style. Madison area has many good tile craftspeople. Might check out Kyle at "Tile Smith". https://www.houzz.com/pro/tilesmith/tilesmith-llc Does decent work. I trained him as an apprentice. But there are others as well. Good luck with your project.

IMO the stove and the hood already are the focal point and I would not use glass mosaic behind a stove ever. I like larger format glass subway tile in a stacked patteren so I would probably go the largest ones . BTW that mosaic and that counter do not work together at all.

I also think the mosaic is a distracting and “not good” choice for your white/navy kitchen. The longer stacked tiles look more modern. And then the mosaic kills it. You will “dress up” your kitchen with accents that can easily be changed.(Like a KitchenAid mixer, towels, bowls,metic.)
Tiles are forever and your SO needs to listen to better designers. Your hood is a focal point on its own.
If he insists on more tile near the stove, you need something else. The one you chose isn’t going to work.
(Lets’s hope BethH shows up to help you.)

I really like the idea of subway tile done in this way

Would something like this work for our kitchen?

That is a much better option than your first one, but I agree with others that you can just use a plain subway tile and you will still have the focal point on the stove/vent. Since you have an island, find pendents you love to add the interest you are looking for there.

I like the 2nd Option and agree - that mosaic clashes and takes away from the other focal points. We did a stacked large white glass Subway Tile w/ a light grey grout and grey quartz counters and we love it. Cleanup is breeze too

I did a final example picture with standard 3x6 subway tile brick stacked. I have to say, I think it looks pretty great, but I'm not sure if I should stick to white or go for a very light off-white. My kitchen is very grey (the walls almost match the cabinet color).

Stick with white since you have so much of the grey in other areas.

My choice is to ditch subway tile...way over done and it really is a fad...choose an interesting granite pattern for your counter top (a real pattern not plain) and run it up the wall from the counter top. Always classic and eye catching at the same time.

Barbra, honestly I’m not a huge fan of granite. It may be timeless but I can’t really picture it in a modern home.

I would consider running the quartz up as a full backsplash, but I think it would be quite expensive compared to a traditional tile backsplash. Plus I imagine it would look a bit too white and bright.

I agree with others, skip the accent tile. If you are going for modern you have to 100% skip that dated tile. Yes quartz is nice, but have you looked at quartzite? Quartz should not be used as a backsplash behind the range. I would go with a large scale subway everywhere.

Yup, I think that the accent tile is officially out. If I stick to just subway tile or something similar I can go directly through my builder and not complicate things with removing my chimney hood after construction just to lay the tile.

As far as quartz vs quartzite, I’m limited to an assortment of granite slabs or the entire Hanstone quartz line without having to get custom quotes from my builder. I’m already pushing my upper limit on costs so I’m happy with sticking to the choice I made for countertops.

It’s still a toss up between 3x6 vs 4x16 as these are the two sizes of subway tile included in my build contract. I’m a fan of the larger tile but it is a fairly small space so I’m not sure if it would be a good fit.

A herringbone would be nice. What are they charging for the backsplash? It's always something you could get a credit for, then get it done yourself later. I can't imagine having my backsplash wrapped up into my 20-30 year mortgage.

It’s $1100 for subway tile, stacked or brick pattern. A few hundred more to do herringbone.

I’m not a fan of having them do it, it seems a tad pricey and I don’t really have a lot of options. Anything custom has a huge markup. Unfortunately, it’s combined with the chimney hood installation. Since I want tile going behind the hood and up to the ceiling, doing it outside of the build is quite a hassle (I had another post asking for opinions on this).

In that case I would go with the 4x16 staggered on 1/3 & do not take it up above the bottom of your hood.

4”x16”

don't take the tile up past the top of the cabs. it's a personal preference if you stop under hood or level with cabs.

here's your white, longer subways in a herringbone ( pay the extra and have them do it) stopping under the hood

(and why plain white subways? there are so many other good looking tiles. subways are so overused)

at least try them in a diff layout (2x8 vertical stack/offset)

if SO likes glass, why don't something in glass subway or bar tile like this?

taking it up level with cabs (yes you would have ceiling/wall above yours)

stopping under hood. (I would have taken this level w/cabs)

Do you think going to the ceiling is a bad idea when my cabinets don’t go up to the ceiling?

I feel like stopping at the cabinets is weird place to cut off the tile. I’m really having a hard time figuring out how to deal with 9ft ceilings.

stop level w/the cabinet tops

stopping under the hood. to me this looks unfinished.

OR do the entire wall to the ceiling.

other Tile ideas

if SO likes a glass design, then do something cool like this one. yes, it costs a bit more, but you could do it after you move it and have a private tiler do the job for you. Buy the tile yourself.

(subway tile is cheap. like .25 a piece. (your builders prob pay .10 for each one but mark up the price you pay)

or look at something a bit diff

found this pic where they went to the ceiling w/just the tile over the stovetop. I may have liked this better even w/cabs. this design they had no choice. stopping midway would have looked weird)

Beth, you are amazing! All this inspo you posted is great, it really helps me visualize things much easier.

I really like the look of the herringbone tile filling the entire wall above the cabinets. I think this would do a good job to contrast the cabinets, considering our paint color is practically identical to our cabinets. Do you think something like that would work?

found one more. this is the similar to the first glass tile you picked out, and taking it to the ceiling. see how, um, kind of dated this looks? Don't the other options look better to you?

(this is a natural stone, but you get the idea of how that glass bar tile you got would look)

and yes, I love a good herringbone. use a 2x8, 3x9, 2x10, 3x12 size tile.

if using white tile, then go with a soft gray grout. if you use white, you won't be able to see the design

CleTile modern farmhouse brick