When we were starting out with our home plans a year ago we visited them several times and were almost going to use them. My inlaws used them (they have same builder as us)they went with in oak 4" in an ash or smoke stain. Our builder said it doesn't line up well sharp edges shows cracks. We haven't had our flooring put in it yet but we are using 3 1/4" X 3/4" Savannah Pecan from Sovereign flooring from a local dealer that the builder knows..

Missleah, I just went through the same thing. Check the thread titled "for those of you with white cabinets and white subway tiles..." I was in despair because I held up a (very) white subway tile we had used to tile the bathrooms next to our white-until-you-see-it-against-something-really-white cabinet door sample. It looked terrible. Little did I know there were many options out there. Luckily a lot of people on this forum came to the rescue with suggestions of tile companies with different shades of white. So far, I have gotten samples of Anchor Bay and Subway Ceramics; both have off-white tiles that look great with our cabinet. I also discovered that our local tile shop carries Irongate (Meredith) tiles; they have a crackle that goes well with our cabinets and some nice decoratives for a backsplash. Samples are definitely the way to go.

Yes, Marti, I realize a slab has no crawl space. I live on a slab! I just don't know what you live on. There is the issue of a using a vapor/moisture barrier when installing the engineered wood on a slab. That is important. Did your installers do that? (if you have a slab.) Also floating the boards over the slab rather than glueing can lead to more noise and uneveness. Have also read the boards need to be absolutely straight Techniques may be open to debate, but your installers need to be mindful of your needs in this regard. Slab and what grade it is, & use of a moisture barrier need to be considered. ( None of this may apply to you.) Good luck! I wish you could get the floors changed that you're not happy with, and I think the installers should be held accountable for shoddy workmanship on some level.

We are putting in a pale green subway tile from Sonoma Tilemakers; ours is the Star line in color Trellis Green. I'm not positive you'd call it sage green; it's more what I'd call celadon but it is a grayish green. And Sonoma makes various other greens, both in matte, shiny and crackle. The Star line is their low end at about $11/sf (shipped from California to Texas) and the other lines are a bit more expensive. Our backsplash should be in within a few weeks. I can post pictures then if you'd like (we're using an accent band of Sonoma Tantrum tiles in color Tazo in 1x2 tiles). Here is a link that might be useful: Sonoma Tilemakers