Several people here have used them and posted some beautiful pictures. Do a search for igloochic - she has a beautiful, fun, large mosaic behind her range.

I selected a ceramic mosaic for the backsplash behind my cooktop. IMO, it isn't as busy as some of the marble mosaics.

Here is a site that shows a few options: www.cerasue.com

I ordered both a floor mosaic and a backsplash mosaic from this artist and had no problems whatsoever.

You can see pictures of my kitchen at www.kitchenandbathbuilders.com/gallery.htm , Galleria project.

Good luck.

I really really wanted one, but this is my forever house and I was afraid I may get tired the mosaic in 10 years and be stuck with it. So I chickened out and went with a simple mosaic design and a stainless steel shelf instead. Here's what I came up with.....

Before grouting:

Thanks for the responses... Love the mosaics!

We are going to be using 3x6 marble subway tile as a backsplash, and I was thinking of just putting the tile in a vertical direction behind the range. Has anyone done something like that? I think any kind of decorative mosaic would be too much for our small and simple kitchen.

dinajo, we just installed a marble mosaic behind what will be our range. It is round and we built a square frame around it. Some of the pieces are slightly smaller than other pieces and so there is still some grout that needs to be scraped out and then we still have the color enhancing/sealing to do so that it will stand out along with the frame but I do love it. I'll post a picture and before I post again I'll try to figure out how to make them smaller! Also, I'm not much of a photographer which may explain the glare...it really isn't so shiny and the greens really do match.

here's ours

gailrolfe and jejvtr,
Love your mosaics... would you mind posting where you found them? Big "wow" factor!

Just a thought: if you cook a lot, you will be getting lots of sauces, oils, etc. on the backsplash--it just happens, even to neat cooks. That's a lot of grout to keep clean. For this reason, we made the rest of the backsplash interesting and put sheet stainless behind the range. Every time I clean the backsplash, just spray cleaner and wipe with a miracle cloth and it looks as good as new, I'm so thankful I did. I even went into mosaics as a result of doing our kitchen, and I *still* am happy we don't have a mosaic in the most used area of the entire backsplash.

Dina
I looked in local shops & got sticker shock - so, being the good lil shopper I am, I started looking online - Ebay seemed to have the best way to look at many - I saved each one that I thought worked with our kitchen. Then I posted my top 3-4 here & asked for votes -
Back to Ebay I contacted the seller - in Lebanon, and asked if they would do a custom one for me. I had the design from one of his pieces & just needed him to make it in different dimension - which he obliged.
This custom mosiac came in sooner than my order for the subway tile for backsplash - I think it was 10 days fr. when I placed the order - well packed & with extra little tile.
now If I could only remember the name ....
I just searched my entire eBay acct - I'll try again later

gl

I've been trying to figure out what to do for a backsplash for some time.
One place I've looked that has a large selection and not very large prices, is Mosaic Marble

-Bob

I have two mosaics (thank you for the compliment by the way lagrant) :o) One is installed on the floor in our entry hall and the other is behind our range. The two mosaics, which are really important design features in each space, were also among the cheapest items in the space by far! I ordered them from Phonecian Artists on ebay. The chickens were made for me in a larger size than they normally sell. I ordered 3 mosaics, they combined shipping (90 bucks for all three and they're HUGE and heavy) and they showed up super super fast! I will do business with that seller again I'm quite sure :)

This is before I did an enhancement on the entry "rug"

enhanced:

(we had to enhance twice because the stupid contractor let in the drywall crew after...right after, it was finished by my tile guy the first time, despite having to move the "Do not walk on tile" tape and sign to get them in...)

The issue of staining for a busy cook...it's not really a problem at all :) My husband is the chef in the family...and frankly, his food is fabulous, but his technique...it's like watching five monkeys attempt to both climb the kitchen walls and dance the momba at the same time...the man's a pig LOL. He gets spots on the back splash all the time. It's a mix of travertine, granite and marble and of course lots of grout, but I sealed it very well when it was installed, and a quick cleanup every once in a while and another enhance and seal and it's good as new. All the spots go away :)

This pic is a bit blurry but shows the finished mosaic and trim after install:

here are a couple of construction pics:

The mosaic is actually glued to a thin board with liquid nails, then it was allowed to dry flat (with weights on it) and after that was hung and grouted. I don't believe in forever homes, so personally, I don't shy away from fun design because I'd tire of it...but I also don't mind a little bit of demo if I do feel it has to go :) But because of the possible issue of future bordome with the mosaic, I'd suggest going with something fairly obscure or classic, pretty much like the ones you see above from the other posters. If you do something crazy like lizards dancing with the pope you might tire of it pretty quickly!

We did for ohhh maybe fifteen mins consider doing a mosaic of the pope for the carpet...just for the fun shock value :oP We could take pics whenever someone walked in and then sell them to them like in disneyland heh heh (sanity won thank goodness) ;OP Instead we bought the Medusa...

Thanks for the responses... I went to the mosaic marble website (thanks, Bob) and saw some cool stuff. No igloochic, we're not going to do the mosaic of the pope, but they did have a Mona Lisa, which could be... uhh, different. Then if we splash spaghetti sauce on the backsplash, it would kind of fit with the Italian theme. My husband, who is half Italian, would love that!

My backsplash behind the range consists of mesh backed sheets of 1/2 inch by 1/2 slate tiles, with four raised rosette's(on the diagonal) in the middle. I also used picture frame tiles around all four sides. The tiles were hand made, and they're not exactly straight or even, but they seem appropriate for the space. The rest of the back splash consists of a single row of 4 x 4 inch field tiles, topped by three rows of the same slate tiles I used behind the range. The rest of the back splash is 3 x 6 inch subway tiles up to the bottom of my upper cabinets. Somewhat plain looking, but the rest of the kitchen is rather "old fashioned", so it all ties in(I think).

I haven't had any problems with splashes on the tile, but I don't make sauces on the back burners. I can't imagine what it would be like to clean the grout between all those little slate tiles!

Rich

Here is a link that might be useful: kitchen pic's

Jejtvr's is my all time favourite mosaic, and I wanted the same one, but my husband is all about plain- so not mosaic for me.

Jejtvr, wasn't the seller Phoenecian Arts or something like that?

alku - thank you! I searched forever yesterday in my Ebay acct - it may be, PA I'm not sure

dinajo, I'm sorry to have been so slow to respond (we're driving ourselves crazy with the last decision: paint color!)...but it looks like you may already have been to the website. I got my mosaic from marblemosaic.com. They do sell on ebay but I ordered directly through their website. They have an Atlanta-based rep who is very helpful and we actually changed out the color of the background of our mosaic. I have to say I was really impressed with the quality of both the piece and the service, especially given the reasonable prices. We thought we might have to follow igloo's procedure of gluing the mosaic but we sat it on a table outside with heavy boxes of tiles all over it for almost 2 weeks and it flattened out nicely and we set it using the regular high-quality thinset that my contractor uses. It has set up bautifully. Good luck with your choice. It's one of my favorite parts of the kitchen.

Rich,
I love the detail on your backsplash, especially the raised pieces. Would you mind sharing what they are and where you purchased them?
Thanks!

Can someone tell me where I can buy a mosaic of The Pope? That would give my kitchen the one-of-a-kind flare it's lacking.

Dinajo

All of the tiles(except the slate) are from Sonoma Tilemakers. It's their Artisan Series in a color called "Java". Since they're hand made, they're not straight or even, and I really like that look. The raised rosette's are also by Sonoma, and give the space a more three dimensional look. You can see everything they make on their website, including local places where they can be purchased.

Good luck with your decision-for what it's worth I found the back splash design to be the most difficult decision of all, and I designed the kitchen myself without any help.

Rich