What about a glass tile that is 1" by 6" or something like that. I see something a little more contemporary in your kitchen.

PS- how did they fix your lovely delicatus?

I take it you have purchased the tile and just want to know how to place it? If that is the case, I think that space can easily get away with stacking them. With all of the vertical appeal of the space, I wouldn't even rule out a vertical back splash if you haven't yet totally committed to the larger tiles.
As for under the shelves-it is hard to see from the camera angle if the height of the bottom shelf is equal to the height of the cabinet on the other side. I'm assuming it is. For my taste, I'd put the B/S there as well. If you don't it seems like that space will become less "married" to the rest of the kitchen and appear almost as a separate space. A BS would unite the space. And, it freaks me out having a coffee maker where no bs is there to protect the wall!

I did order the tiles today. Glass tiles were the first direction but I couldnt find a color I liked in my budget. So next was the very expensive and beautiful glass accent tiles seen in the pic above. At some point in the past few months though I just decided to stick with simple, maybe I got lazy, maybe cheap, maybe decided that nothing should compete with the FIXED (!) granite. I could still probably pick out an accent though.

To answer the how was the granite fixed question....propane tank and oven cleaner of all things.

Oh and I'll post a different angle of the shelves when I get home, I think they are slightly higher than the cabinets so maybe that would make that more obvious.

We used Daltile Modern Dimensions 4x8 (?) tile in two bathrooms (shower surround in one, tub surround in the other). I love the elongated look of our tile, and of yours! I think this shape is very versatile, and lends itself to different layouts quite nicely. We had it installed vertically in the shower, but in a sort of stepped pattern (chevron?), and brick-joint pattern on the tub surround.

You might want to lay the tile out in a few different ways and see what look appeals to you the most.

As for grout, DH and I both prefer the narrowest possible grout lines, and like the grout color to blend in as much as possible, too. If you prefer it to blend, go that route, and if you like contrast, choose that. Again, I dont think you could go wrong either way. My opinion would be to match or blend because that is my personal preference.

I think a grout color similar to the painted walls would be nice. I like a bit of contrast, especially in white tiles so they don't wind up looking like a huge piece of drywall from afar.

Here is a closer pic of the shelf area. Regarding worrying about the wall, we have had that coffee pot there for the past 4 months without so much as a speckle on the wall, so I am less worried about that now. I am deciding now basically just on aesthetics. Sorry the pic is a little dark, took it at night.

I think maybe you guys are right about playing with the tiles once we receive to decide which layout we like the best. For grout, what about a light/med gray like bahacca mentioned? Would that just look dirty? I agree with the smaller grout lines. One of the things that I liked about the larger format tiles was less grout!

Should have them in a couple weeks, yeah!

Hello,

I love your tile! But then, I have something similar. My rectified porcelain is a little larger than yours, 6 x 24. I have added a glass mosaic accent to mine. I also love the slim grout lines. My cabs are more traditional, but my style is more modern/contempory. That was my goal in selecting this backsplash. It's a tad hard to photograph since it is black, but we LOVE it!!!

I love that! I remember commenting on it elsewhere. Now I am rethinking my decision to not do any sort of accent tile. I mentioned before that I like the accent because I wanted a bit of bling! My original plan was similar, but just one linear row of glass tiles.

I may have to just take a look at some glass accent tiles, even if I don't get the Sonoma Tantrum ones that I fell and love with.

I really love your kitchen cabinets. Looked all over the forum for your details. Can you share? The finish is a great color.

So glad your granite issues were resolved! It is simply lovely.

I would love to see a running bond pattern in the tile with a closely matched grout color. I think stacked would look too modern. And with those floating shelves? I'd tile from the countertops to the ceiling! I love that look. Sorry to totally blow your budget.....

Your kitchen looks great. With that pretty wall color, I'm not sure you need a BS from a strictly aesthetic point of view. I would do a running bond pattern, either horizontal or vertical -- stacked is too modern for your space IMHO.

I would not tile under the shelves, as I think it reduces the floating effect. My second choice would be to tile all the way up to the ceiling behind the shelves (rather than stopping under the bottom one), but I think that technique works better with small mosaic tiles than subways.

I would consider just tiling the sink wall, but not the range wall, as there is already a full height guard behind the range. I like when tile dead ends at an adjoining wall.

Mugsy - the cabinets are Kraftmaid Sonoma, cherry wood with Kaffe stain. We are very happy with them. We had a couple of minor problems (they shipped us the wrong pulls, we didn't like one of the doors) and got replacements quickly, no questions asked.

I had not considered tiling all the way to the ceiling on the shelf wall, very interesting idea and definitely food for thought. Pretty sure I didn't order enough tiles for that, but I could always get some more!

Regarding not doing a BS at all, we have quite a bit of wall damage from pulling down the existing one. I am ready to cover it up. It is particularly bad over by the range wall, so I don't know that going without is really an option.

I can't wait to get my tiles and play with layouts, I may even venture out this weekend and look at options for accent tiles. I think I am getting excited about it again after getting kind of lackadaisical since so much time had passed.