what did you end up using? looking for counters to go with my carrera backsplash!

We had them. I threw them all out and would not get them again. The sticky things are basically clear stickers that you apply to the underside of the tiles. They hold reasonably well and do not stick to the floors. You can buy extras in case you need to replace some of the tiles. I did not like them because the tiny gaps between tiles were big enough for dust, dirt and sand to filter though. My floor under where the tiles were is scratched up--I do have kids and they definitely tracked in sand despite my efforts to prevent that. Also, they are not very cleanable. Ours were mostly and oatmeal color and they showed grime and dirt quite easily and I could not get them to come really clean, not even when I took them outside and scrubbed them with dish soap and a scrub brush and then tried folex.

I've never had barstools ruin the wood floors....add felt pads to the bottom of the stool legs and you shouldn't have a problem. If you want to do the tile, make sure it spans enough floor space (ex: since a typical barstool is about 16 inches deep, allow at least 36 inches of tile to pull the stool out).

Yes, I did! I feel like this pic is pretty accurate on color.