Hello Karen, Sorry it took me so long to find this thread. Bill left a trail of breadcrumbs though and that's helped me along. :) So, from what I see in the photos it's a textbook Bay Area "single-coat mortar installation". He's got a moisture barrier of Aqua-Bar asphalt-impregnated Kraft paper and he's used 1" galvanized chicken-wire for lathe. His float looks to be a nominal 5/8" thick at the exposed edges and he's been pretty dang clean judging from the surrounding walls, so I don't think he's a hack. Now for the not-so-nice news. I can also tell from the photos that he's got quite a bit of lippage on those walls. It may be that those large porcelain tiles are not "rectified" (re-milled at the factory for flatness and squareness)and so he's made the best out of warped materials? Ann Sacks, and many other boutique showrooms, sell beautiful tile but it isn't always a guarantee that it's also flat or square. The best test will be to lay a straightedge across the tile (front and back each)from corner to corner and from side to side. Can you see daylight between the straightedge and the tile? Does the straightedge teeter and rock? If either of these is the case, then your installer did his job. If the tiles are flat however, he's ruined some very fine material. Without a better picture of the return-walls, I can't tell you why he chose the cuts he did. It may be that he allowed the niche's dimensions to dictate his layout, rather than the other way-round? All-in-all, it's not a terrible job and grouting may shine it right up or it may make things worse? A good grout job is like **magic** though so I think in this case I'd share your concerns with the installer and emphasize how much you HOPE he can make things better with a spectacular grout job. He should take the hint and screw his wizards cap on tight for the task. Best of luck, Shaughnn

Thanks for the input and advice Stonetech & Mongoct. LOL on turning the burners down! I still consider myself to be on a learning curve with this pro rangetop!! I was looking at the tumbled stone we have and it's interesting--its like they took a honed tile, laid it out flat and chipped away at the top layers. The bottom layers are still intact & smooth. Any more thoughts on the grout getting stained by grease and tomato splatters? How easy should it be to clean? That's probably DH's biggest concern. Grease splatters are much more common in our house than tomato sauce (we don't have a grill yet, so all grilling is done in a grill pan on the rangetop). I definitely want to make sure that we won't end up with dark grease splotches on the grout that I can't get clean. I am so not feeling the sanded grout, so will do everything possible to make sure whatever tile I choose can be set with 1/16" or narrower grout lines. Any suggestions on what brand/type to buy?

Bill V - I found one of your comments in an old GW post from 2008. I copied and pasted below. So I'm thinking unsanded. If I am wrong, please let me know! Thank you so much for all of your help! As for the explanation of the different grouts, I just posted this in an FAQ thread on the gallery side of the bathrooms forum. Here it is, copied and pasted: Although there are others, for all intents and purposes, there are two kinds of grout-- portland cement based, and epoxy. The portland cement based grouts are the conventional grouts that have been around for millenniums. Although in the last few decades, they've been modified with latex and other polymers to make them stronger and more resistant to mold and mildew, they're basically the very same grouts that have been used since Greek and Roman days. There are two kinds of portland cement based grouts. One is sanded, and the other unsanded. The only difference between the two is, as their names imply, the sand. The ONLY thing that determines which grout should be used is the joint size. NOT the glaze, NOT aesthetics, NOT the material (ceramic vs. glass or polished marble), NONE of those. I'll repeat-- the ONLY thing that determines which is used, is the joint size. Anything under an 1/8" takes unsanded grout. Anything 1/8" or bigger, you use sanded grout. If you use unsanded grout in larger joints, the cement in the grout will shrink way too much as the water evaporates out of it, and the joints will end up shrinking and cracking bigtime. If you try using sanded grout in smaller joints, the grains of sand will literally clog the top of the joint, and not allow the grout to get down INTO the joint, and the grout will flake off in a matter of days.

kgolby, sorry I didn't mean to lump you in with the other comment, I realized they were separate. mpagmom, I was probably over reacting being sick and exhausted... and having just recently spend hours deciding to go with tile instead of beadboard after finding the affordable 23 cents/tile ($1.80/sq ft) HD and Lowes tile, I was a bit dismayed to hear it called horrible! I am sure it would not work out for every kitchen - the HD tile has a definite warm tone to it, while the Lowes product at the same price point is a purer white. With these 2 choices, probably one or the other would work for most kitchens. If your backsplash area is large like mine, the difference between $1.80 and $10/sq ft is $100 vs $500, which is the entire budget for my kitchen facelift! This post was edited by tinan on Tue, Mar 5, 13 at 23:53