If you have something that can be put on the display shelves, that would be really nice.
It may be too high for a bulletin board.

thanks!

yes, was thinking cook books. or photos, or other pottery/dishes.

some colorful artwork; 3 in a row/floral, etc. Great spot
and avoids a cluttered look...are you doing some barstools
there? can pick similar colors for covered seats/or some material that blends.

Great house and beautiful new kitchen! The old tile is wonderful.

I would either do a grouping of large-scale art or very shallow display shelves. I've admired our neighbors' staggered, shallow display shelves (probably a Pottery Barn type item) on which they display matted, unframed enlargements of black and white photos from their travels. The photos lean against the wall and can be easily changed out. You could do the same thing with colored family photos, kid artwork...anything.

I agree with the posters above. That area would be too intense with subway tiles. It would make a great space for some shelving or art. If you did the tiles I feel like it would be too blank overall. Good luck.

Hi kpasso -- beautiful renovation so far. It would be helpful to see pictures of your tiled subway wall from a few more perspectives in your kitchen.

Is there room in the wall for recessed shelves? I'm thinking of the kind that are just recessed drywalled boxes between the studs that are painted the same color as the wall. That way you can put items there without worrying about knocking anything off in the kitchen to-and-fro. It's a lovely subtle look that vanishes from afar, so there's no shelf-y clutter.

Great idea circuspeanut!

thanks everyone.

here's a pic of the wall(pre-reno), well, after we did the floors. i guess i just feel like there is SO much cabinetry on the "other" side/rest of kitchen (it's a wide u shape). i also don't want it to look "too" brown with too much cabinetry...sigh.

we are planning to do stools under the island - that's another topic...can't decide color. i posted on "color of counter stools" if you are interested in that post.

also, to clarify - we are keeping the wall/tile. its original and in great shape. it used to go around the entire kitchen, but when we were taking out the old cabinets it started to crumble down - and we needed to smooth out the walls anyway...so we saved as much as we could, potentially for backsplash/partial splash someday.

thanks!!

here's more pics of the "other" side of kitchen with all the wood (which i love). and, the stool color debate.

Could you do something like circuspeanut suggested, but frame the outside of the boxes in your cabinet material? Does that create more of the "too much brown" you spoke of? Love your kitchen!!! OT, what light did you use over your sink?

I could really see long horizontal inset shelves above the tile with trim in the same wood as your cabinets.

Like this:

{{!gwi}}

Here is a link that might be useful: creating recessed shelving in a wall

I'd hang some photos or art in a grouping. I'd love to have an art wall in my kitchen.

Although I LOVE the look of circuspeanut's recessed shelves idea, given your experience with the tiles crumbling on the other walls, I would be very hesitant to do anything structural like that and risk more damage.

If you go with the black stools, you could put a series of pictures on that wall with simple white or off-white mats and black frames. I'm thinking either prints with whatever accent color you plan to use in the rest of the kitchen or sepia-colored photographs to capitalize on the period feel of the subways.

great ideas -thanks all!

the lights over the sink are rejuvenation, laurel fixture in ORB and classic 6-inch bell shade in opal.

i had another thought. i have some older white shelves (the kind that look like a small mantel, almost?) that could mirror the white molding above the tile....and we have leftover QS oak trim from the cabs.

So, I could make (or have made) some QS oak frames for pics, etc., and put them on the white shelves...

Perhaps a studio wall shelf like these at Potterybarn?

They would give you functional storage; they would not be a permanent built in fixture; they would gracefully let the tiled wall show through behind

{{!gwi}}

Here is a link that might be useful: shelves

I'm assuming that you want to do something above the tile rather than interfering with the tile in any way. If you want something that's a little bit 3-D (as opposed to framed art displayed flat on the wall) it looks to me like your shelves would be high enough to be out of the way so you could go with the framed pics propped on the display shelf using your white shelf/oak frame combo. Sounds like it would look nice. I think they rout (is that the right word) a channel in those types of display shelves to keep the base of the frames from sliding forward.

(I like the black stools :)

I say put up art. I like the open wall area. The traffic pattern looks like it would be an issue if you had projections on that wall. I think a shelving would look odd unless it is recessed (but with fragile tile that's a problem). In my kitchen I am thinking of putting a slim steel picture rail at the ceiling, along one wall for picture hanging. I would be able to change things up without making new holes in the wall with each change.