Thanks for the feeback so far! dkichenreno- yes, some of the 2x2s were placed at a diagonal (some 1x1s also). I don't plan on using any other accents on the walls mainly because of the outlet placement, the coffee pot and the canisters. We really tried to fit them in, but it wouldn't work. remodelfla- seeing if I follow you on the framing-- do you think it would look better to use the 2x2 glass tiles in place of the 5/8 x 8" glass tile on the inside of the taupish tiles in the framing? blondelle- I understand what you mean about the "diffuseness." .. to many inserts on a small scale. Anyone have any suggestions to help this or more suggestions?

We're going to be making our backsplash grout decision shortly. What kind of tile are you using? We have ivory subway tile and we may choose a slightly contrasting grout colour, possible gray, to emphasize, rather than minimize, the pattern a little. We like the way the tile looks ungrouted and don't want the shadow lines to disappear altogether. I'm going to post a new thread about our backsplash tile (which we're installing ourselves). Artemis, we'd like to hear more about your grout matched caulking. Where did you get it? What brand did you use? And anything else you could tell us would be great.

Maybe he will! Sorry-- I don't always catch all the posts. :-) As for where the stone ties into the wood trim, that should be caulked with a siliconized latex caulk that matches the grout. A for the switchplates, palimpsest isn't kidding. the cheapest I've seen matching stone switch plates is about 75.00 a piece, and that's just for a single pole switch cover or plug cover. The prices go up from there. As for color, there are a couple of things you could do here, depending on your taste. You could go with plain plastic plates (my preference would be cream to blend in as best as possible to the tile), or you could go with paintable plates and paint them to match the wood trim. Or you could either go with wood or again painted plates (whichever is applicable) to match your cabinets. Those would be my choices.

End of counter. My cabinet runs stop a couple of inches before doorways on each end, so I had the counters go all the way to the door frames and then the backsplash dies into the door frames as well. If your countertops don't end at a vertical structure like mine, I think it is a tossup depending on what you want to see on your wall. If your countertop ends in midair (so to speak), then you are going to have a vertical tile edge either way. The decision then is whether it looks better to have a simple vertical drop from the cabinet edge, or to have the tile jut out horizontally, turn a corner and then drop down. I am not so sure I wouldn't choose to end the tile at the cabinet edge in that case. Best thing is to look at lots of photos of kitchens with counters ending where yours do and see which you like better. The only real rule is to make it functional -- if you are going to be pureeing tomato sauce on that edge of the counter, then you would want a backsplash behind it. :)