Here's the best thing about it: after shopping for white subway tile and finding many choices, we went with the american Olean tile at Lowe's . The field tile was 26 cents each and the chair rail pieces were $3.50 each! The labor was expensive because the walls had to be rebuilt,but we would have had that expense regardless of the type or cost of the tile. There were more expensive options, and some of them were fabulous, but we achieved the exact look I wanted with these! Happy dance! :)

Thanks everyone. I'm all smiley and giddy hearing your kind comments. It melts me heart. I'm glad to hear people like the backsplash tile. It is pretty bold. I was also THRILLED with how the stain on the island turned out. Interestingly, lots of people say the kitchen has a peaceful look and feel to it and that wasn't necessarily something I was aiming for but my kitchen mission statement did include "casual but sophisticated/elegant" which might boil down to "peaceful or tranquil". We feel very blessed to have been able to do such a large scale kitchen remodel and are thrilled with how everything turned out. It also means we won't be moving for the next 15+ years! I can't wait until the bar stools are in and I can start serving snacks to my kids there. We are borrowing one bar stool right now and it gets a lot of use. clarygrace and others - I'm glad to hear you think the colors are coordinate b/c I was in a quandary about that at one point. I can't wait to see your kitchen and island. We love the shape of ours but did it b/c it worked within our constraints. We didn't want to mess with the existing deck outside the bay windows and we couldn't push right much more either b/c of the powder room. And speaking of the powder room - here are pictures of that which was also part of this remodel: tea4all - the pantry is pretty small as far as walk-in pantries go. Finished dimensions are 5.5' long by 46'' wide. We weren't originally going to do a pantry but it made sense with the rest of the layout (it brought the oven closer to the rest of the kitchen) and I am really glad we did! It was actually framed larger and had to be redone b/c large aisles were more important to me than a few more inches in the pantry. The other detail I forgot to include - the grout color on the backsplash is Custom Grout Light Smoke and on the floor it is Lacrete Parchment (just in case someone really wants to know - ha!)

April - Love your countertop and your cabinets and can't wait to see the final reveal. When you finally find the tile - it will be love at first sight! I really wanted a glass backsplash. I had those same tiles in my kitchen plus others. I also considered back painted glass but the cost was way out of budget. I also could not get the glass to talk to my kitchen no matter how hard I tried! Some others to consider - there were a number of Jeffrey Court tiles that were close seconds. I also loved Heath tiles but was too far away to find a match (I was too embarrassed to ask them to send me a third set of samples especially when I said I didn't want crackle and ended up with crackle LOL) Here is a picture of the Grazia Rixi Crema that I used It is probably a bit lighter than this picture but my little camera had difficulty with the light. I also put small accents above the cooktop. The accent row is called Beach - not sure who actually makes it but it came from the Tile-Shop (not Tile Shop) Again - probably a bit lighter in real life. PS - Ellen - I think you are my "fan" club! (of course, you have the same tile as well!)

Hi Helene, my kitchen is only 11' 4" wide, so I couldn't fit in an island. I kept the peninsula for the added workspace and storage, but removed the larger overhang and stools that we used to have. That gave me more room on the table side for a larger table. I also added the wood hutch piece for more counter space and storage to make up for not having an island. I struggled with where to put the microwave as I didn't want to put it over the range. I decided to put it in an upper microwave cabinet to the right side of the refrigerator. That's the one cabinet I had to have replaced which is why I don't have a picture of it. The microwave that I bought is the GE Spacemaker that you can use countertop or hang under a 12" cabinet. I'm putting it on a shelf. Once the cabinet is installed I'll post pictures of it. Good luck with your kitchen!