We used tumbled travertine marble and wanted a more golden color. The tile lady said to use an enhancing sealer which would make it look like the tile color when it was wet. Our tile installer used 2 coats of enhancing sealer. You can also use non-enhancing sealer if you do not want to change the original color of the tile. I'm not sure how the enhancing sealer will change your gray tiles, but if you wet one, that should tell you. Also consider that the grout will usually spread across the tiles and fill in the holes and irregularities. So, consider the grout color you will use. There are some threads relating to spreading the grout vs. not spreading the grout. Before grouting and enhancing sealer: href="http://s753.photobucket.com/albums/xx174/susie1010/?action=view¤t=BACKSPLASH020.jpg" target="_blank"> After grouting and 2 coats of enhancing sealer: target="_blank">

Bill - can't a tile person do it this way? Can they be set almost touching, grouted WITHOUT filling the pits in the marble?? If the marble is sealed, how would it then be a breeding ground for bacteria? You CAN NOT set tumbled marble that close without culling through alot of stone to get the proper sized ones you want. I'm about to do a wall hanging project where I bought literally three times the entire square footage for just this reason-- to be able to cull through and get the stone I want for it. That's 45 square feet for a 15 square foot project at 7.00 a foot. Tumbled marble varies so much in size that to set it tight like that would end up in misalignment of the tiles pretty quickly, and then the whole thing would end up looking like hell. appears to be mostly contractor types with will intentioned advise but laced with poor opinions of kitchen designers. Actually I'M the one with a poor opinion of MOST kitchen designers. Many of them don't think things through. So long as they can create a piece of eye candy that THEY like, they're happy. Now, NOT ALL of them are like this. I know of several good KD's. But I've also heard more than my share of horror stories about them. I feel that contractors objectives on a backsplash job may be to get in and get out as quickly as possible, and to do at least a good enough to not get called back for rework. If you'd gone through my gallery AT ALL, you'd never make that statement. They may not want to do a project with grouted joints but leaving the aesthetically desirable voids of tumbled travertine/marble unfilled because it would be hard to do and take too long. That's simply ludicrous. If someone's willing to pay for my time, I'm willing to do what they ask, no matter HOW crazy I think it is, so long as it's not detrimental to the installation. There's a project I've posted many times here and at John Bridge's forum of a roman tub, deck, and circular floor that I did years ago-- total about 150 square feet, and it tooke me three work weeks to install because of the way the homeowner wanted it installed. So don't tell me I'm not willing to put in the time. Concerning some earlier questions, the tile are spaced at about 1/16" +/- You've got two courses of the same sized stone together. Try doing an entire backsplash with that small a joint!! and are set in white mastic. This one speaks for itself.

Sully, I'm pretty sure it's tumbled noce. There are other names for the same stone, so I can find them out for you if you like. It just looks a lot different with the light grout. It is hard to picture which is why I sent the pic to xoxosmom. I don't think it would look right in her kitchen. Darker grout would look better with the darker cabinets IMO! I don't know the name of the grout color but it is almost white and changes the look completely. But thanks for the compliment!

With most stone tiles you typically do put a coat of sealer on the tile before installation to serve as a "grout release" (keeps the grout from sticking to the suface when you grout the seams). However, with tumbled stone which typically has rounded and uneven edges, if you put the sealer on, it's very hard to keep the sealer from going too far down the edges. If this happens you could have trouble getting the grout to stick later on. What I typically do (which takes more time) when I don't want the holes filled (what you are calling crevices) is put the tiles on without any grout release. Then when I grout it, I do it seam by seam with my finger (in a latex or rubber glove) and have a water spray bottle handy which I use to flush out any grout that inevitably gets in some of the holes (keep paper towels handy to absorb the water). After a few days when the grout has had a chance to dry thoroughly, I put a coat (or two) of any good quality stone sealer. It's slow going, but you will end up with a good result and no filled holes.