or am I completely colour blind and those tiles in my inspiration photo are grey/beige with white grout?

Rubyclaire, I was trying to find your finished kitchen pics, but couldn't. Could you post them? We have White cabinets and leathered Black Pearl granite, and we are trying to decide on a subway tile. Would love to see yours.

I think the tile in your inspiration photo is white. I would take this photo to a good tile store and ask their opinion.

If you're unsure of the samples you have you may want to look at other whites...Ivory, ecru, etc. I can't tell you how many tile stores I visited and samples I took home before I finally settled one the right tile...I about lost my mind. Be sure to set a max budget for your backsplash before you fall in love with something that's more than you want to/can spend.

Ivory:

Ecru

Thank you banana suit. Yeah, tell me about it! We've been working on this kitchen now for nearly 5 months and my husband keeps telling me to just pick a tile already! Lol!

I've brought home at least a dozen samples of white/ivory subway tile and various samples of marble tile to date and the three colors I've listed up above seem to be the closest I've found to my inspiration photo. At this point if I found the perfect tile I'd be willing to pay anything for them because I just want my kitchen back. It's so funny that you would list that first image in your most recent post because that was another one of my inspiration photo's that I had come across.

I feel as though the three subway tiles in my second photo are probably the closest to my original photo but now I'm just second guessing myself because I'm scared to make the wrong decision after all we've put into it. Even though they are white, they definitely present more so on the warmer side...almost antique white to be exact. Not sure how well you can see that in the photo but then my next dilemma is what color grout to go with? A pure white or a light "greige"? The tile store I went to last suggested pure white.

Do any of you think I would be making the wrong decision to go with the color in the middle? It's just I was supposed to have my backsplash tile picked out and purchased over two weeks ago, so the pressure is on!

kelleg69, yes thank you...I think I'll do that tomorrow morning.

designsaavy, I don't have a great photo of the kitchen. This was for our future retirement home about an hour away so I'm not there to take better photos right now. I am happy with my choices although the color is off in this shot. I'll share the photo I do have but it really is kinda pitiful - but comes with glimpse of cute dog :)

rubyclaire, wow that is also a very pretty kitchen. What type of backsplash did you use? The one in your photo almost looks like handmade porcaline because of the different variations in color. Thanks for sharing! Oh and the dog is really cute too! :)

jadylane, thanks so much! Our backsplash tile is Encore Crackle in Silver. They have wonderful colors and all have beautiful variations in color that make them very special. Worth a look - good luck, you have a lovely kitchen!

Oh we painted our cabinets Simply White 2 years ago, and I picked the white Interceramic subway tile from Lowes- it went perfectly. But then we decided not to do a BS because back then we just wanted a facelift - we were planning for a real renovation which we are now finally in the midst of.

Of course the lots may vary so you should get samples from the lot they have available and buy enough to have overage. I don't know why their website makes it look pink-ish, it was not in real life at least 2 years ago.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_118679-88283-769695335063_0?productId=3465730

I don't want to jijack the thread, but Rubyclaire, can you give me an idea of how much Encore is? I love your tile! Your kitchen is lovely.

kelleg - I used the 3x8 field tiles from their Bravo line which is a bit less expensive. It's been awhile (2014) but I believe it was approximately $20 sf. Thanks -I do love this tile and would do it again in a heartbeat!

Looks really nice, Rubyclaire. I haven't decided whether to use white or something similar to yours. I'll definitely checkout the Encore and perhaps order samples from a couple places.

Rubyclaire - so glad to hear you love your Encore Silver.

Designsavvy - I also have the Silver & it is my favorite "decision" in my kitchen. Here 's a small pic of mine - another iphone pic. I'm waiting for someone on GW to do Cirrus. It looks like a beautiful color.

I did a beveled white subway and arabesque tile above the range. Just another possible suggestion when going white on white. The arabesque are Allen+Roth at Lowes.

I love the herringbone accent above your stove, but I am doing my entire backslash in herringbone, so I may be a bit biased!

Rubyclarie, thanks for the info on the price of Encore. It is really pretty. Romy, can we see more pics of yours? I will do a search. It is lovely. More than I was hoping to spend, but may be worth it...I have seen the sample board, but it has been a while. May have to check it out again!

johnsoro25, Oh my goodness that looks so beautiful! Do you mind if I ask what color grout you went with and where on earth did you find the framing trim...I can't find it in stock anywhere!?

Jadylane- our tile is a brighter white than the simply white cabinets. But between these 2 whites and all of the different shades of white throughout the kitchen (wall paint, pottery on the open shelves, etc.) the kitchen is full of lots of whites and they just kind of blend together. More like texture vs. subways that make the cabinets look dingy. Your kitchen is beautiful, BTW. Really lovely. I don't have any good pics of mine that show the color variance well but here's one more in case it helps you.

We can drive ourselves crazy with small details, but lighting will vary in each house so the whites will appear different in each kitchen. Best to pick what looks best in your light. As far as the range accent tile, any pattern looks nice as long as it's the same color tile. I've noticed that there are so many gorgeous white kitchens on Houzz that at the end of the day it comes down to preference because many look so great!! Ceramic tile that is beveled, crackled, glossy, matte, etc. With a white kitchen, the beauty is in the details and subtle textures/variations but also the accessories…I am choosing Simply White cabinets and can't decide between London Gray or Organic White countertops, will likely choose beveled or crackled subway depending on the slab I choose :) Beautiful kitchens everyone, thanks for sharing.

jadylane123 , the alpine mist is beautiful…I was considering that as well, but decided on the London Gray. Have you picked a tile yet? I do like the middle one best, but honestly feel any would work.

klcharles, your kitchen is gorgeous! I love how you pulled some warmth into your space with the natural wood tones...so pretty!

I think I've decided to go with a regular subway tile and a really light warm grey grout for some interest. I also intend to bring some more texture and warmth into my kitchen by adding a few vintage and wood toned accessories. I would have loved to keep searching for the most perfect backsplash tile, you know... something with some more texture or a crackle finish but I'm afraid I've run out of time. However, the plain/simple subway tile that I picked up from Lowe's seems to be a pretty good match color wise and I think it will be hard to go wrong with it since subway tile is such a classic.

I have to admit, I'm now a little afraid to commit to a grout color/hue. The "Warm Gray" by Mapei matches my countertops and my wall color almost perfectly but would that be a mistake? I'm just worried if it comes out any darker then what I imaged in my head that I might not like it or that the backsplash will look too busy. I mean, I want my countertop to be the star of the show but find plain subway tile with white grout a little boring and almost too modern looking. Plus, I'm not fond of how some white grout can look a little yellow. What color grout did you go with?

I quickly did a mock up in photoshop of what my end result will somewhat look like when completed and I was pretty satisfied with the end result. I just hope the tile and grout color present somewhat the same in a real application. Oh, I've also decided against the herringbone pattern above the stove. Instead, I will be using a thicker framed boarder and 2 by 4 subway tile in a brick pattern as well for what I hope will be a subtle detail.

Please excuse this picture, I know it's horrible quality...

I was thinking even Frost or Biscuit by Mapei might be a little lighter but I think the frost might be a custom color that needs to be ordered in and as I mentioned up above, I have no more time to wait on getting this backsplash installed. After all, we're waiting for the backsplash to go in before our faucet can be installed to our sink because it's very close to the wall and it would be difficult to apply the backsplash afterwards. So I've been without a sink or dishwasher now for close to 5 months!!! It's been awful!

You'll have time during the tile install to do a sample board with the "Warm Gray" grout. Make your board & let it dry overnight. My tile installer made me a sample board with a couple of grout choices. I'll dig up oldbat2be's post on creating a sample board.

jeweledangel, London Gray was my first choice but then just happened to see an entire slab of the Alpine Mist and fell absolutely in love with how realistic it looked in comparison to real Marble. I mean, if you look at it really closely the veining actually looks like real veining, even though it's grey with white veining instead of white with grey veining. It just captivated me! I also really like how you can not see those tiny little fragments/specks of glass in it like you can with some other quartz products/colors. Either way, they're both really beautiful man made products...that's for sure!

Anyhow, I think I've decided to go with Lowe's American Olean white subway tile with a gray grout for a few different reasons. 1. It matches my Simply White cabinets beautifully under my warm white lighting. 2. You can't beat that price (even though that's not why I decided to go with it in the end) 3. Lowe's here in Canada is having a 15% off special if you spend $300 or more right now and I found that the Daltile from Home Depot was near identical in every which way to the American Olean tile that I picked up from Lowe's. 4. I really wanted to go with a slightly darker grout line then white and I though that maybe going with something with texture and a darker grout line might be too much (plus I ran out of time to keep looking) 5. I was dead set on a crackle tile that I had picked out a while ago but decided against it for a few reasons: a) it was not only fairly expensive but also a special order b) my husband and I are health fanatics and don't like to use any more chemicals in our house then we absolutely have to and our initial tile shop said, "some people where having problems with them because they didn't realize how often they needed to be sealed". So be careful when installing the crackle finish because they recommended that they be sealed prior to grout and then again after grout. They also told us that they would recommend sealing them again every couple years which I think was a bit much...but what do I know? Still love the look of them though and would prefer them over the plain old white one's but I'm trying to stick to my guns on my final decision so that my husband doesn't kill me! Lol. :)

Oh, here is a closer picture of my island slab. Again, the colors are off because my camera is not that great but just to give you an idea of the full slab. Not sure you can see all the detail of the veining that great...but I tried!

romy718, thank you. Yes, I've thought of that but are they difficult to make? Also, can you buy sample pots of premixed grout or would you to buy a whole big bag of it?

Gorgeous kitchen and I love the alpine mist too…I just like the darker veins on the London Gray…now I'm torn! thank you for sharing :)

Wow - the Alpine Mist is beautiful. I'm guessing you'd have to buy the whole bag. I couldn't find the exact post but here is a pic & OB2B's instructions.

Thank You! Maybe I'll pick up some grout tomorrow and give it a go. Thanks again!

Jadylane- looks like you have made your decision on the grout, but I wanted to answer your questions above. My grout is Powergrout in brilliant white. The frame around the arabesque tile is half round tile- also Allen and Roth from Lowes.

Good luck on your project!!

Romy, do you know who makes that tile you posted in pic above?

Jady, your kitchen is gorgeous!!

Designsavvy - that is a picture of a sample board that I believe Oldbat2be made. Might be Heath Ceramics. Hopefully she will stop by.

kelleg69 - here's a link to my reveal.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3144159/after-much-procrastination-my-reveal

romy718, I think your kitchen reveal images may have just become my new inspiration photos. It has everything I have ever wanted and more! I am not going to lie, I literally just called out to my husband to come and take a look at your photos and then quickly said, "In our next house, this is exactly what I want our space to look like!" I'm so jealous of you right now. Lol! It's absolutely stunning and I can't even imagine what a transformation like that could possibly cost. Wow! Great job and if you designed this space on your own, you are an amazing designer!

Thanks jadylane. I'm definitely not a designer but I spent enough time online to earn my TKO badge. I had many inspiration pics, great advice from GW & an excellent KD.

romy - I agree with jadylane. Your kitchen makeover is nothing short of amazing and has served as inspiration in ways big and small to many of us!!

Ok, so I finally did it! I ordered my tile today...Yeay! And you are not going to believe this but I completely changed my whole design direction at the last minute. I went with this tiled backsplash below just hope I made the right decision!? :/

It's going to be really white against all my cabinetry but I figure the texture will add interest and I can always accessorize with one or two punches of color.

However, I have another question to ask all of you...

I feel as thought I should extend the backsplash beyond my cabinetry to somehow incorporate the sliding glass doors that are in my kitchen. When I mentioned this to my tile guy he thought that that was an insane idea but when I explained my reasoning he seemed to think that that might make sense. This is my reasoning behind wanting to tile around my sliders; when I re-designed the layout of my super tiny kitchen, in order to create a somewhat substantial island space (that would also act as both my breakfast area and dinning room table) I had to extend the island way past my work space cabinetry in order for it to make any sense. However, in doing so the island at first glance and when you walk in through my front door looks a little disconnected from the work space area. I figure that if I extend the backsplash it will create the illusion that the workspace in my kitchen extends beyond my cabinetry and along the whole backside wall. What do you think? I did a rough mock up a few hours ago just to take a look at it (which at this point I've already ordered my tile but I ordered plenty extra to do either design). At first I was going to do the whole wall but as you can see I have a bulk head above my sliding glass doors that could not be removed due to duct work. Sorry again, the image is really horrible and my place is a disaster right now but I told the tile installer I would let him know by tomorrow afternoon what I've decided to go with...does the decision making ever end! Lol!

I think tiling around the sliding door will look nice and help to elongate the feel of that wall in the kitchen. It's going to look amazing! :)

The pictures are tiny on my moniter. Can you post the pictures as 3 separate pictures? Also, I would start a new thread with a title that reflects your question. There are multiple people on GW that can give you excellent advise about this but they may not read this thread.

Thank you designsaavy, I just can't wait to see it all done. The excitement had died down for a while because I spent so long looking for the perfect tiles but now that they will be coming back to continue the work I am super excited again! Lol! Thank You!

romy718, Here they are a little bigger...I was thinking of either going half way up the wall to create a wainscoting look or all the way around the sliders, I feel either of those would look best. I'm really not that crazy about stopping the tiles right at the cabinetry and that's only because my island is so off center. However, if I go all the way around the sliders and stop at the bulk head, do you think it makes the bulk head and the space above the window stand out way too much? My tile guy suggested that if I go that rout I should probably paint it out white as well because if not, the ceiling will look low and to be honest that was what I was afraid of? I would have liked to tile both above the window and my bulk head but I think that would be asking a bit much from my tile installer. Here are the pictures again...

I like the color contrast between the grey paint and the white casing around the sliding glass door. I would end the tile at the cabinets & not tile around the door. Your island position doesn't bother me at all. It's a pretty room.

Now that I can see it better with the different angle and larger picture, it will look just fine without going around door, as Romy says.

If you leave the paint around door, the area above sink window could be left gray as well, as an extension of the door gray area; although I'm partial to kitchens that are able to tile all the way up around windows. ;) Wish I were able to.

Ok thanks! But what if I were to go half way up the wall to create the illusion of wainscoting? I get what both of you are saying about leaving some of the grey paint, I think I like that too. If I end the tiles at the cabinets I didn't purchase any finishing pieces of tile just yet or even a ceramic crown piece. However, if I do the wainscoting look on the lower half with tile I could always finish off the edge with some wood trim but again, I'm not sure if that will look weird? I think it's safe to say going all the way around the door in my kitchen just won't work if I can't go all the way around the window and because of my bulk head, so that's out.

I really think you should just end at the cabinets. Why bring attention to your slider? The grey paint and matching molding on the top of your window & slider joins the two areas. As far as finishing the edges, there are other options if the tile you purchased doesn't manufacture those pieces.

For more opinions & solutions to finishing the tile edge, start a new post. This is an old thread and people will not open it versus a new post with a heading related to this issue.

Yes, I'm really starting to think I might just finish the tile off at the edge of the cabinetry. Thanks romy718.

So, I think I've decided to stop the backsplash at the upper cabinet and finish the edge something like this...

And then I'll either hang some curtains or decorative shutters around
the sliders in the same color to draw the whole thing together. Does
that sound like a good plan? Thanks again for all your advice it really
helped to narrow down my decision.

Let the tiling begin!!!

It sounds like a good plan Jadylane. I am looking forward to seeing tiling pics. Please do post pics!

Will do! :)

I'm just embarking on my kitchen remodel and would love to see your finished pictures. I'm doing simply white cabinets and have yet to pick my countertops and backsplash so would love to see how yours turned out.