karen, FUN! great look with the color mix. awesome kitchen.
and thanks ashley for posting beautiful examples too. =)

It's quite the 1920s things, when yes, it was popular to be sanitary. You do have to be careful and make sure your place will work with it or it CAN look like a basement morgue. That won't happen here!

One of my favorite kitchens is in the house of Edsel Ford. It is pretty much a commercial kitchen but darn is it pretty and classy and functional. Tiles all the way up? You betcha! But glass cabinets and windows all over.

I bet if tiles cost less and labor as well, we'd be seeing mostly tiles to the ceiling in kitchens!

It can look wonderful and dramatic. I've also seen it look classy and straightforward. It depends on the layout, tile and colors used.
I vote you go for it and make sure you post lots of pix ;)

Sometimes "less is more". I struggled with the same decision, especially when I was going with that yummy arabesque tile. I felt I couldn't get enough of it. I'm very happy I didn't go all the way up the wall. Photoshop can help you visualize your wall with the entire thing tiled, or only a portion of it. Maybe start a thread with "Photoshop Help" in the title. There are lots of experts on GW.

Pre-Arabesque Tile, when I was considering a subway (a 2x6 tile to be exact) I was worried it would look like a shower if I did the entire wall. But lots of people on here helped and encouraged me to go for it if I liked the look.

I chose to not do something "special" behind the range, just the tile. That is the look that worked for me. But I always felt if I did do something different back there, I wanted it to be monochromatic, and just have the pattern be what made it different. Maybe a rectanglular area of the same tiles arranged in a herringbone pattern, etc.

Fori ~ going to look up the Edsel Ford house, great point about the look. Mine will have sconces on either side, some scrumptious fabric for roman shades and the shimmer of crackle tile will add as well. I second guessed this whole thing when DH gave the one eyebrow up, one down look as I described it to him. he's very cute that way (uh huh). anyway, after hearing everyones thoughts, ideas and seeing the picture posts I feel great about it. Promise to post pics as progress is made. Beekeeperswife, I love your kitchen! love the tile, and I will def post Q re: photoshop as I am so visual every little bit helps me. Thank you all!

I like tile walls. Subway or not they look pretty.
~boxer

Fine Lines Blog

North West Peach Farm Residence

Black grates on window white Kitchens

19 Butternut Blog

Here is a 1/2 wall this is pretty too.

Urban Victorian

That's going to look great, so perfect in your house.

Just had to jump in and see what all the excitement was about.

honeysucklevine, absolutely stunning! in every way!

I think in your old house you should go for it. Here's mine. Stay warm!

Our kitchen still is under construction (window sashes and shelves still missing in this picture), but I love the look of tile going all the way up, or most of the way up. We stopped just above the window trim, to create more of a domed effect around the kitchen so that the ceiling, in a contrasting, pale color, would sort of float above it all -- sorry that the pictures aren't more professional, but maybe you can see it -- have really enjoyed seeing the pictures posted on this thread. "Institutional" in the sense of an English great house, or a French bistro? I like that look. And I love painting as little as possible!

Lynn

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I have rectangular, subway type, neutral glass tiles that go up to the ceiling on two walls -one with a window and the other above the cook top with shelves. No crown, but fortunately the ceiling is relatively straight. I love it!! The color is so neutral that it changes with the light, picking up the green of the outdoors, or the grey/green in the granite - it just depends. I like that the feeling of the kitchen changes, and I feel confident that I could change paint color in a heartbeat and it would still look good. I personally don't care for the white subway tile as much as it can feel a bit institutional and cold - no judgement - just my preference. Your space will feel bigger, I believe, with the tile continuing up to the ceiling without interruption.

We're going to the ceiling with 2x6 or 3x6 tile behind the range and the hood. As someone else said, it sort of channels the 1920's and so it works in our house. I think it is a great look and I'm starting to see it in lots of places now. It would work really well in your kitchen!

Lynn/farmgirlky: what a wonderful kitchen you have created. The fridge is amazing in this space, and stove, and I'm loving your soapstone ~ so beautiful, you must be so excited! @lucy: lovely description of how the colors change with light or time of day. I can't wait to get this going. thanks for the feedback. GW posters are just terrific!

I love the simplicity of tile heading to the ceiling. Here is my inspiration picture with side sconces and simple tile. I don't find it cold or austere. My one hesitation is I love changing out color. How hard is it to re-tile- ;D ???

I think the risk of looking "institutional" depends on the mix of other elements in the room. Where there is only SS and white, especially if there is lots of SS, the "institutional" feel can be triggered. Most of these gorgeous posts on this thread have wood or color or some other element to warm up the room so there is no such risk.

Excellent point Water. I am having wood counters so the warmth of the wood will definitely off set cold and sterile.

Different design styles will set different tones within a room. It's all about the totality of the entire design not just one element.

Can you see it..."Yes KD. I want white tile, walls and ceilings. Stainless for my appliances and counters, but I'm not sure if I want all fluorescent lighting for my fixtures or if bare bulbs hanging for the ceiling will add more warmth! =P

honeysucklevine, is that your kitchen? Beautiful! What is the name of the subway tile?

Donna, I think your crackle subway will look great. The eye candy on this thread has me drooling all over my keyboard!

go for it, it will look fantastic. And, it will bring out the notch detail on your window trim.

I love the look of tile all the way up. Some other interesting variants are tile walls in the back of glass uppers, and a tiled fridge. I tried to do the latter but Subzero said their doors cannot hold the weight.

Of course the look is from the early 1900s sanitary movement and so fits your house. But I think for the look to work, all of the other elements should read utilitarian, sanitary. No frou frou, no edge detailing, etc, imho. The beauty comes from quality craftsmanship and quality materials. No 'designs' per se --- there would have been none used in the original. For this look in particular, nothing special behind the range. A restrained hand is very important to the look.

I also think you should use either reclaimed old tiles or at least the handmade ones. It would be an important feature of your kitchen. My former nieghbor and football star Michael Strahan did this in his kitchen, omg my absolute fave kitchen. I can post a photo if i can find it. But the attached article talks about employing staff to reclaim the subway tile used in his home (the bath is also one of my all time FAVES)

Here is a link that might be useful: salvaging subway tiles

I found a picture of our 1926 house with the kitchen we redid in 2003. Sorry the pic is small, but I was amazed I was even able to find it many years later. We had to make a decision how to handle the range wall and decided to go with a height that got it above the range, so a bit higher than the BS on the cabinet wall, but not all the way up. It seemed to work out. Just thought I'd throw it in there because I haven't seen many like it.

ashleymking and boxerpup- great pictures. Now those are "institutions" I'd go to willingly. Lock me up!

Hi again, thanks for the recent posts regarding subway tile. I am posting a few more pics....mtnrdredux, my kitchen won't be too fussy., mostly strong elements with the lighting, stainless, wood island, etc. wanted to post the cooktop wall with modernaire hood, haven't peeled off the tape on the mirrored bands yet. thanks jakabedy for the picture, love the cheery colors. the subway sample is in the picture under the vent hood, it matches the cabinet color perfectly.

mtnrdredux - I think your link was to a different article than you intended? I was reading along and was understanding how the h.o. loved her chandelier, but when she canceled the family's vacation in order to buy it, she lost me. Things are nice, but the memories and focused time spent together would have been better. Kids are only kids for a while and that was an opportunity lost. She sent the message that her light fixture was more important than the rest of her family. I am sure she could have spent half as much and still had a wonderfully decadent and beautiful chandelier.

Donnaclover - Just had the chime in and say "Absolutely Gorgeous!!" What a light-filled, classic, and beautiful space. Can't wait to see your big ol' Stages sink in there. Enjoy!!! laura

I think a subway-tile-to-the-ceiling can be very nice in a 1920's vintage way - or it can look commercial which can still be very nice - or it can look commercial in a cold not-so-nice way. I would lean toward tile-to-the-ceiling, personally.

It depends on how it is handled. You might include a horizontal accent strip of black tile to add a little interest and break up the expanse of white tile a bit. I would probably try to Photoshop the wall with a subway tile pattern to double-check the look - try different sizes of tile, different tiling patterns and spacing, with and without accent strip, different grout colors, etc.

Tile is expensive and hard to change - you don't want to realize after the fact that you don't like the result. I would also take a piece of wallboard and actually tile it, grout and all, to further check. Grout colors are deceiving since you actually see the grout in thin strips against a white background. I would check how straight and square the ceiling and walls are.

Finally, I would study a DIY tile book to get educated on what a good tile guy should do, and then make darn sure that he does do it. I mean - require and approve a detailed tiling pattern that is symmetrical with no narrow slivers or other bodges, specify the required gaps, specify how the courses are required to line up with the windows and ceiling, everything. And during the work I would measure those gaps and verify the levelness and evenness of the courses yourself. Be a pain in the tush about it. The tile is going to dominate the look of that wall, it needs to look really good.

Functionally, a tiled wall does make it harder to hang pictures, pot racks, knife holders, etc. I don't see that it really has any functional advantages - upper walls without a range don't get particularly dirty anyway, and modern paint is easy to clean, and you can probably paint that wall 50 times over and still be ahead of the cost of nice tile. It is an aesthetic decision.

laura in lincoln....I can't wait too! Just talked to my stone fabricator about the importance of how the sink fits in the space as it needs to function with sliding cutting board and containers.
johnliu....wow, you gave me things to think about that I hadn't considered. number one, I doubt any wall in this house is absolutely straight, especially the sink wall since half is original to the old house and half is brand spanking new. I am typically a pain in the tush with every sub, but I am getting weary with all this management...my GC is not all about these details that are important to me. I got 3 bids to install tile, two were the same, and one was nearly 3x the amount (he has the rep as the best tile guy around). He probably pays attention to your above stated detailing necessities.
I so appreciate your thoughts on this. Thank you. I need to get an inservice on photoshop soon so I can create on paper what I'm imagining in my head. Thanks again

Donna you are going to enjoy your kitchen so much! Great space, great ideas. Looking forward to the pictures when you are done.
lynn

Sorry, it is on page two, where they talk about relcaimed subway tiles ...

"Ms. Strahan, the ex-wife of the star Giants defensive end Michael Strahan, has been a relative purist in the seven-year restoration of six period bathrooms (one still being finished) in her Georgian revival house in Montclair, N.J. All the bathrooms were decorated using vintage pieces made within a few years of 1905, when the house was built. She said she is especially pleased with a set of sinks that are stamped 1905.

"I really loved the idea of a museum-quality restoration," said Ms. Strahan, also a stay-at-home mother. "I love the idea that the sinks in each bathroom use hard pipe, not flexi-hose, that even the tiles are 100 years old."

She used 70,000 vintage subway tiles in the bathrooms ("We had a little factory in the basement" for removing concrete and bathing the tiles in acid), along with tubs made of four-inch-thick porcelain, an antique urinal and matching 100-year-old toilet bowls. The mahogany water tanks and toilet seats were made from scratch, but the pulls are antiques that came stamped with the name of the English company that made them more than a century ago, Crapper."

I have a photo of her kitchen, but its in a doc file. I have think about how to get it here?

Here's the article. Click on the tiny photo to pull up slideshow:

Here is a link that might be useful: link to NY Times article

Yes, Allison, I gave her that link already but it was confusing because it does not talk about using reclaimed subway tile until page 2.

And the article is about bathrooms, but I was talking about the Strahan's kitchen. Which I have a photo of their kitchen in a massive doc file that I have been using for all inspiration stuff, but I dont think it was published anywhere. But I dont know how to post it now that it is no longer a jpeg...

Hey, circuspeanut has subway tile to the ceiling, but i dont see the kitchen on FKB?

I just saw the slide show I had missed before from the 2nd page (which I had read). The Chicago bathroom floor is jaw droppingly gorgeous. I love inlaid patterns and putting it in marble was divine.
The picture of "the chandelier" that woman had to have, and the master bath it went in, were so over the top it was silly. I can't believe her bathroom took 2 years to do and she spent a large fortune alone on that chandelier. On her deathbed, will she want to say good-bye to it or her family?

YES!!! your kitchen is looking so great and i can't wait to see the finish. YES, tile the wall! GL.

mtnrdredux...by doc file, do you mean a Word document? If so, just right click on the image and "copy" the image which will put a copy of the image into the clipboard. Then open your photo editing software. On the menu under File there should be an option of "New from Clipboard" or something similar. This will open a new file containing the image from the clipboard. Then save it as a .jpeg file. Should work.

I'm sorry...I totally forgot! I love the idea of going all the way up the wall. Really like what your are doing with your cupboards and the entire look. It will be fantastic when finished. Can't wait to see it complete!

Very pretty - go all the way and then add the cabinet crown at the very top. Its not going to look institutional at all.

Your kitchen would be hard pressed to look institutional. I think it will look awesome with subways to the ceiling. We did white subway with gray grout to the ceiling above our big sink, no crown. It just looks...clean.

Yes, Allison, I gave her that link already but it was confusing because it does not talk about using reclaimed subway tile until page 2.

Sorry, this thread is so long I missed your earlier link. If doing what Mary Lu suggests doesn't work, if you have a Mac you can "grab" the photo. Windows laptops usually have the same feature, but I don't know what it's called.

Actually, here's a link to the house listing when it was on the market.

Kitchen picture is small:

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Larger, but it gets distorted:

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Here is a link that might be useful: 126 Lloyd Rd Montclair, NJ

I think it would look beautiful in cream crackle. The light from the window will bounce all over that wall. Here's some more wall tile (not necessarily window wall) inspiration pictures from Rebekah Zaveloff:

All...so...beautiful! Giving me the kick in the a** I need to get started on my own project. This forum rocks!

Donnaclover,
I'd love to know what you decided about your subway tile. Will you do the entire wall? We are going to be making the same decision very soon. Our home is an 1889 Victorian, and we used a huge amount of subway tile in the master bath. We want to use the same subway tile in our kitchen (from Country Floors, but now discontinued), but we may only have enough to tile part way up the wall without going to a different tile. I love the colour--an off white they called candlelight. So my choice will already be made. we plan to use a pale gray grout in the kitchen rather than the matching grout we used in the bathroom. Will you play up the pattern of your tile with a slightly different grout colour, or match the grout for a more subtle finish. I'd love to see pictures if you've gone any farther.

Dear Sandn, My tile guy starts tomorrow! Everything takes longer than planned, of course. So, I will post pictures by end of week hopefully. My grout will be a linen color, very soft so everything melds together. One glitch I learned just recently, my ceiling is painted mesquite green and is sadly casting greenish hue on cabs but not on concave crown mold. I will have to repaint the ceiling the color of the cabs to avoid this strangeness. The effect looks as if my crown is white and cabs are greenish cream. ewwwwhhhh. sounds worse than it is, but it just looks unfinished. One step forward, two back. The soapstone is in and it is beautiful! Donna

We did ours all the up and around the windows. The ceiling is vaulted and shelf connects the top of the cabinets, so the tile goes up to the shelf.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Donnaclover,
How exciting for you! We are looking forward to seeing your pictures at the end of the week. We're familiar with that two step renovation dance. I hope everything goes perfectly with the tile. Your kitchen is already beautiful. We recently decided on our soapstone for our perimeter counters, and so we especially look forward to seeing your tile paired with the soapstone.

We went all the way up and I'm so happy. Go for it and you'll not regret it.

I think it looks nice with the open shelving showed in some pictures above. I'm not quite sure why but think it's right that the mixture of textures matters. If there isn't much variety then it starts to look institutional. If there's more movement in color and texture, then it looks more homey.

Sherriz. I absolutely love your kitchen design, color, lighting, faucet, hardware, hood! It is so so so beautiful. I was just in the Circa showroom drooling over your island lights. I wanted to use them in my upstairs hall but this size too large, and small too small. Perfection in your kitchen though. Love every square inch! Thanks for sharing this pic. I haven't been on GW in awhile so I missed your kitchen if you recently posted. awesome!

Sandn, new glitch re: when tile goes in. My builder built a scaffolding over my soapstone so the tile guy wouldn't have to stand on stone, which would mean he will have to start 4 inches above the counter since this "thing" is screwed into the wall. I know GC meant well but it is too obtrusive to work around and tile person would have to come back and do the bottom section next day, adding another day to labor etc. So he is upcharging $400 for another day. Searching for another tile person and retro fitting the scaffold to work better. thanks y'all! d