Oh, so sorry - my pic has somehow turned on its side :-(

http://americanolean.com/series.cfm?series=182

this is the link to the tile I saw at Lowes. It's American Olean Glazed Porcelain Mirasol Series.

I hope the link above works.. it's 10 by 14 wall tile. Will it look all right with the white subways in the rest of the kitchen, if I were to use it for the cooktop alcove?

I don't think I would do White Corian.

I would look at some of the lighter grays or not quite whites that are in the antique brick, or a lighter tint of the mortar.

If you did a piece of stainless perhaps it could be behind the cooktop only and shaped on the top like the cambered arch of the brick and at a height that left a similar amount of space on top as there was on each side.

palimpsest: thank you so very much.

Chemetal is new to me and I was fascinated by their website. I wonder if it's more expensive than ss? I'll contact them. The stainless they have *is* more muted. I know that ss generally is more expensive than ceramic or other tile.

I did think of doing the stainless piece behind the cooktop only... and I *really, really*, like your idea of replicating the arch on top and leaving equal space all around. Any suggestions for filling in that space? Same subways as rest of kitchen? And what would you do then for the ceiling area? I'm desperate for ideas!

Yes, White Corian was throwing me off, too; I only put it in for DH who thinks anything "plain" is good :-).

What do you think of the Olean wall tile?

Thanks, again! :-)

I might be tempted to line the whole thing in something like Chemetal Moonscape.

Its a metal high pressure laminate not a solid metal, some of the offerings come in an all metal option. Alu Light, a softer medium gray than stainless, comes in a full metal format.

This post was edited by palimpsest on Wed, Aug 14, 13 at 22:55

I'm not sure what the issue is with grout cleaning for a backsplash. If you seal the grout well enough, it should not be a big deal. Our family would often make spaghetti (family tradition) and there would be sauce splashed all over the tile backsplash. Clean up wasn't hard and there was no staining.

Chemetal has some very cool looking products. My MIL loves her Corian BS for ease of cleaning, but she has an island cooktop. I would be nervous using Corian in a high heat area.

You mentioned large format tile, so I am going to throw out another idea -- really large format tile. I don't want to clean grout in the shower, so we are using large sheets of Kerlite Plus on the 2 side walls. Each of the walls will be done in a single piece of material, so no grout lines!

Kerlite is a porcelain stoneware tile that is 3mm thick (3.5 mm for the plus version which has a fiberglass backing and is recommended if you need to do cutouts, like for faucets). We paid $200 per 100x300 cm (39-3/8"x118-7/64") slab (about $6.15 sq ft) for the Kerlite Plus in Via Tornabuoni from the Elegance series (one of the more expensive color series they offer). It is a really pretty medium gray that looks like limestone. They have several different different series that have patterns that look like different types of natural stone, wood, concrete or solids. Our color was a special order from Italy that took several weeks, but the local distributor also had some colors in stock.

The Buxy and Colors lines have some lovely cream, tan and gray shades that would probably look good in your kitchen, depending on the countertops, and my local distributor had several colors from those lines in stock and they were less expensive than the Elegance line. You could probably do the back of your enclosure with a single seam, and the sides and top with no seams. Kerlite can also be used for countertops with a mitered edge over a plywood base. It is heat resistant.

Kerlite comes in the following sizes:

• whole slab, 100x300 cm (approx. 39-3/8"x118-7/64");
• slab, 40x100 cm (15-3/4"x39-3/8");
• slab, 100x100 cm (39-3/8"x39-3/8");
• slab, 50x50 cm (19-11/6"x19-11/16");
• border tile, 4.9x100 cm (1-59/64"x39-3/8").

Our shower should be tiled in about 2 weeks, and I am really excited to see how it turns out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kerlite colors

palimpsest: I had my eye on the Alu Lite, too! I'll have to go back and look at Moonscape.

gpraceman: it's not just the grout but the tile as well. After years of dealing with white tile, I just want to be able to swipe once and be done, hehe. DH also cooks but he will leave the tile uncleaned after splashing stuff all over - he gets away with it because he makes a mean "anything"! Guess who has to confront dried stains next morning?

kaysd: First time I've heard of Kerlite - I'm learning so much on this thread/forum! Thanks for the link. I'm off to pore through their site now. :-)

Yeah, I've nixed Corian now. Looks like nobody thinks much of my ss tile border idea!?!

Thanks, all!!!