Eric, that's great that your tiler was willing to take the time and care to rearrange tiles when necessary. I think my tiler did a great job of putting together the jigsaw puzzle that was my bathroom (a couple of outside corners, transitions from half-height to full-height, etc.), but he definitely didn't have the patience to pop off and replace individual tiles. As a result, I have a few places where the border isn't as "mixed" as I would like. I agree with you about porcelain vs. travertine. My field tile is porcelain, and I love not having to worry about it. I liked this travertine random brick though, and I decided I wasn't going to fret about care of a small amount of border tile. I like the way it feels when I run my fingers across it, too - very silky. ;-) If I had seen yours, though, I probably would have gone for it. Your bathroom's going to be beautiful!

I'd just make sure the guys doing the tile install have used Kerdi before. It's certainly not nuclear physics, but I'd be happier if they had done one or two before you. If they haven't done one before, I'd want to make sure they sat and watched the Kerdi video completely...probably a couple of times. I'd also advise you to watch it yourself. You don't need any expertise to watch the video and double check your workers work. Again, I'd advise this if they've never done it before. If they've done a couple, leave them alone. Personally, I'd still watch the video and check up on their work. It would just be long after they've gone. You want a good install, but you don't want to be a pain in the @ss either. Laying the tile over the Kerdi can be tricky. Layering the different seams can make it tough to get a flat plane with the wall tile. Again, an expert should have no problem. My first experience...I'm not a pro by any stretch, but I do know which end of a hammer to swing...definitely had a learning curve.

I agree that it needs to be fixed. The rest of the windows in the house did not have any framing when we moved in, it's just a cookie-cutter suburban house with no upgrades. DH has put the same casing around all four sides of each window in the house, and we're in the process of painting them white. Certainly not the proper way to case a window, but it does add something to the room I feel, especially when painted white. He's not going to like hearing that it needs to change, but I stand at that sink like 95% of the day. The tile ends at the casing, so the tile would need to be redone. I really doubt if he'll do that... What would be the easiest and most acceptable way to fix this? Here are a few more pictures that show the rest of the kitchen. Still in the works- butcherblock island top and beadboard for side of cabinets. Thank you for your thoughts!

I appreciate everyone trying to help me out to make sure we are safe but your dimensions are all off. I had mentioned some in an earlier post but perhaps you missed them. Math doesn't lie, but your brain can deceive you with size perception (sorry I am a vision scientist so I had to throw that in). The center of the arch is in fact 66" from the floor. I measured it. I am not making it up. We do have 9' ceilings which is why maybe your perception of the size is fooling you. Also the cabinets are not standard. They are completely custom, not just the faces but the actual boxes too. They are higher than 18" above the counter- the wood on the side of the hood that protrudes below the cabinets is at 18" and as you can see in the pic, the cabinets are above that by a few more inches). Also the cabinets aren't standard depth, they are 15", which again might be throwing the perception of the size off. I am pretty tall and when I lean forward over the cooktop, my head does not hit the hood at all. I don't know how hoods and measurements work but the wood casing around the hood that you see is not over any burners at all (so even the lowest areas of the arch that are closer to 64" are in front of the cooktop and not over it). The actual inside of the hood, in the area right above all of the burners, has a clearance that is a bit over 66". The house is new construction so it did have many inspections, and passed them all. I am hoping this is all proper and safe now that the dimensions are clarified. We worked with a kitchen designer through the custom cabinet builder. We did not do the backsplash at the time as we were rushing to move in by a certain date and had to focus on other things (the whole house was custom so we literally had to pick every thing). We are now hoping to finish that off and the fireplace stone. The house has been a long process :) Thanks for all of your help and input. And in other news, I spoke to the tile store and they do have our tile in bullnose on the short side, and in bullnose on the short and long side (in case we need to have some of the upper edge exposed too). Hooray! Once I get the tile up and finally add a little decor I will post a reveal.