This is for the top of the curb at the entrance to the shower? If you want a solid piece with no grout lines, then try a stone fabrication shop or stone yard. They'll almost always have odd-sized cutoffs from sectioning a slab. Pieces can normally had for a song, and they'll cut and polish as required for a few dollars more. Worth asking, and they'll have a variety of stone to choose from. Mongo

both of the abover recommendations are good. you do not want to use a backerboard over thinset, however I would strongly recommend the use of an anti-fracture membrane. this is a thin layer that is either "painted" on with a roller or a mesh sheet that is applied to the floor. it will absorb most, if not all, of the movement and keep the tiles from cracking. we use it as a standard on all of our installations here in Souther California, we're on a huge fault line and cracked tiles are very common. the cost isnt significant enough to not do it based on price.

I remember someone posting here a long time ago that granite dust ruined their drawer glides? That is my only concern when ours gets installed tomorrow. Of course, we have 26 yr old cabinets and I don't have any of the new fancy hardware, so we should be okay. My granite is coming with the undermount sink attached but the faucet will be drilled on site. I don't know how you can avoid at least SOME fabrication on site. I will also have an edge they wont even off until they are here because they preferred not to cut the side that will sit against my fridge end panel since it wasn't installed when they templated. I think they said someone vacuums while the other is grinding? Due to the layout of my cabinets and the risk of installing too large of a slab, I am ending up with two seams and it is making me nervous. If I had the opportunity to have the dust vs a 2nd seam, I would chose the dust, hands down.

Hi everyone, Thanks for checking in. I decided to live with my kitchen for a little while. I finally placed my tile order last week. I decided to go with a plain matte finish tile. Too many windows adjacent to the kitchen so I was concerned about the glare bouncing off of the granite and the backsplash. So, that being said, I ordered Ann Sacks elements 3 x 8 (a little variation on the standard subway tile) in the "warm candle white" matte finish. The sales person in the store recommended the antique white grout and the tiles need to be sealed before and after grouting with a product called pourous plus. The downside is the tiles take about 6 - 8 weeks to come in (I swore I would never wait that long) and the frieght charges were very high. I figured I waited this long what's a "few" more weeks. The only concern I do have is cooking without a tile backsplash. I dont fry much but the other night I stir fried and some of the oil splatterd onto the backboard. I scrubbed it down afterwards and hoping when I finally do install the tiles this will not give me a problem later on (i.e. mold, bacteria, who knows?). So my advice to anyone waiting for a backsplash but still cooking is to put a piece of tinfoil behind the stove. I wish I had done this before but didn't think about it until the problem arose. I will start a separate thread on this to give people the heads up. In the meantime, I purchased curtains and am looking into purchasing a light honey colored or natural oak dining room set. I would like to get something that contrasts the cherry cabinet and easily "melds" with the natural oak floors (so, if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears). I also found a very nice paint color for the dining area...its called "Mascarpone"...it is part of the Benjamin Moore Pottery Barn collection and it looks very nice. So, I'm excited, everything is coming together little by little. I will definately post photos when it's all completed. In the meantime, I really thank everyone for their suggestions, support and for posting photographs. It helped me arrive at my decisions. All of the backsplashes you folks have posted came out great! Thanks for sharing them. I'll write soon, everyone please do the same. Sincerely, Melanie1121