I think the first question is: do your tiles look dated? Be honest. Unfortunately tile looks don't seem to stand the test of time. We had the 12x12 tile in our kitchen demo-ed. I would say that it is VERY awful...we were moved out while that was going on. The demo-ing only took a couple of days though. In our case the tiles were extremely bonded to a concrete subfloor so I would guess it was worse than usual. OTOH, floors are too often neglected in kitchen renos. It's sad when people spend crazy money on cabinets and appliances yet leave dated floors in place. It's not good when you can *tell* that they left the old floors in place. My flooring budget (replacing the kitchen tile with hardwood and refinishing the hardwood in dining/living/hall areas) ended up being 25% of our kitchen reno budget! It was a huge hassle as we had to move everything out and we are a family of four. We had to find alternative accommodations for a week because the flooring area included our home entrance. But I would say it was a critical element to the kitchen reno and I have no regrets now that I'm on the other side. I don't imagine that grout refreshing will be simple or cheap either. $3000 sounds like a great price to me if it includes demoing the old grout. I would add to that budget the cost of moving items and staying out of the house during the demo part. I do love a white kitchen. Personally I would not choose a white floor to go with that - I agree with comments that a mid-tone would "ground" things better. I think earth coloured ceramic would look great if they were VERY good quality - some are quite vulnerable to chipping. I also love this look: If you're considering resale, do consider alternatives to tile if you do not live in a warm climate.

Arlosmom - I hope it is not tacky to ask, but do you remember how much your liner tile cost? I have been thinking about it ever since I saw your pics. I also wonder how a black version would look. I hope it would be gray at the lighter parts and concentrated black in the crevices. I will be meeting with a tile person at a fancy schmancy tile store next week because they are the only ones who carry Mission Tile West near here, and they may carry Pratt & Larsen as well. Luckily, we had decided to splurge on the custom 2" figure 8 liner from them as our big extravagance and then later that day found out our builder is the neighbor of the manager and has done work for her. He called her and she told him he'd get a discount on the tiles, which he is passing on to me. This is a crude attempt to mock up our backsplash. The plan is to put a 1/2" plain black liner on each side of our custom ones (as seen in the mockup), but after seeing your tile, I wonder if yours as the 1/2" ones would be much better. The egg and dart may soften up our geometric edges a little. Or, we could do the style that has the top 2" cap with the egg and dart built in, therefore combining the 2 inch top planned with your liner. That would mean only doing 1 pricier upscale "line" instead of 2 (2 x a lower price may still be a higher total). In any case, the pattern is really cool and I am hoping to work it into my design somehow.

Nope Enduring. The sink pic is upside down no matter which way I turn the iPad. However, it is just fine on my Mac. I thought it was just a fluck yesterday and figured things would straighten out today. It's been a crazy day with our senior dog at the vets. I got on GW for some sanity tonight but "New To Kitchens.." just continues the craziness. I think I should cut my losses and go read a book. ;) Big BUMP to get this baby off of pg 3.

For some reason, the "Edit" feature is not working for me, or I would have fixed the mistake in the last post. The model for that last painting was Kitty Fisher, not Lady Mary Leslie. (There is a huge difference in these!! Lady Mary Leslie would have been scandalized to have been confused with the courtesan Kitty Fisher.)