I would much rather see 12" x 12" tiles or even larger for a counter top rather than all those little ones. Fewer grout lines means less maintenance. It will look great with white subway tile. A black and white kitchen is something that has always intrigued me. I always picture them with bold colored accents...like a red mixer and other small appliances.

I would go with 12x12 or if 24x24 is available, I would go for that. The larget the tile, the fewer the grout lines. You can also roll out pie dough on a 24x24 inch tile without hitting a grout line. I love black and white kitchens. Am looking forward to seeing yours when it is done. Hope you post some pictures. Oh, BTW, if you use black grout, it does stain, so make sure you seal it before rubbing up against it with your clothing (ask me how I know!)

My concern with using subway tiles for the backsplash is that it might be too busy if you mix them with the wrong size and shape of counter top tiles. Using 24"x24" black tiles for the counter would be great, because it would be a calm, uniform surface to contrast with the subway tiles. I can't visualize how it would look with 12"x12" tiles -- I'd go to a tile store, pick out a couple of samples of each, and try different combinations right there in the store. You can get a pretty good feel that way.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone for your comments. I hadn't thought of 24x24 inch tiles. That would pretty much look like the counter was covered with very little grout showing - I definitely will check this out. RE the subway tiles I thought the same thing re them being too busy if the countertop tiles were too small. 24x24 should be even better!

My granite yard sells 24x24 and they even have a little trim piece so you can do the front of the substrait so it reall looks like you have regular slab granite counters. You might ask about that.

I think the kitchen sonds perfect for a little cottage. Black and white is so classic, and so classy :) If you use the 24x24 tiles he subway acksplash will look wonderful, but frankly, I think it could work with the 12x12 as well. Just be sure to use tiny grout lines and to use black grout for the counters.

Kulagal, 24's good set straight, and another option would be 18" set diagonally--can fit very nicely with edging on a standard counter. Using traditional sizes and shapes for the vertical edge and backsplash surfaces will give that cottage look.

I have the black galaxy granite 12 tile layed diagonally and it looks beatiful. Laying it diagonally makes it look like a desighn chose and not a cheap alturnative to slap granite. I think the bigger tiles would look great laid diagonally as well. I don,t see why the subway tiles wouldn,t work beatifully with either.

Instead of ceramic tiles, you should consider porcelain. (Most people are mentioning granite, which you didn't.) That way you have something a lot harder on the counter. I saw an installation with a matte charcoal 12x12 porcelain and it was beautiful.

This one is absolute black granite tiles, and instead of using an expensive granite edging, or paying to have a stone shop bullnose a bunch of stone, I used a ceramic coutertop trim called "v-cap" as an edging:

Much cheaper than doing granite slab. Below is my backsplashes and countertops page for advice on building the substrate:

Here is a link that might be useful: My Backsplashes and Countertops Page

To everyone: thanks so much again! Your contributions are so helpful to me. Living overseas and not close to places like HD (I miss my HD!) makes this project a little more challenging.

Igloochic, Rosie and Madeyna: do you remember how much the granite tiles cost? I like the idea of granite tiles but I just assumed that they were still pretty expensive albeit not like the slabs. Laying them diagonally sounds interesting but would that look okay with the subway tile? Right now I can't play with the different sizes.

Also, would inserting some kind of black accent tile into the subway tile (American Olean-Greenwich Village) make it more interesting or just leave it plain? Also, is this color of subway tile going to go with the white stove and cabs that is shown in Bill Vincent's photo? Is the Greenwich Village tile too bisque looking? I like the color but I'm not sure of the match. What do you all think?

Bill: I just went "wow" when I saw your photo of the B&W kitchen you did. It looks just like mine in terms of the arrangement with the window and white stove on the right. Square footage will be a bit smaller but how cute is this!! I am soooo jazzed! Hope mine looks this good. My contractor can certainly do ceramic tile laying but is it just as easy to do using granite tiles? Would you recommend using black grout? Also, not sure about the cost between ceramic and granite. Do you know approx. the difference between the two? Granite would be nice but I just assumed that it would cost quite a bit more. TX

Ccoombs1: yes, we will have some red accents!

It WILL be substantially more money, but not nearly what it would cost you for granite slab.

My contractor can certainly do ceramic tile laying but is it just as easy to do using granite tiles?

It's a little tougher, but it's not rocket science. it's more important that each piece be perfectly flat to the ones next to it. It's all in the reflection!

Would you recommend using black grout?

Either black or charcoal.

Also, not sure about the cost between ceramic and granite.

I don't know what you're paying for the ceramic, but AB granite 12x12 can usually be found for between 13-16.00 a foot.

With reference to the backsplash, you could either leave it plain, or cut up pieces of black wall tile and insert them as accents as the blue is used in the pic below:

Also, AO has black 1" rope trim, as well as 1/2" pencil liners.

have you considered solid black formica??? I also live in a small cottage and when we first re-did the kitchen we used black formica...it looks great and is super easy to maintain...and it was CHEAP.

I,ll see if I can dig up a good pic of my ganite tile. We paid $14 per tile and it cost us about $560 for about twenty feet of counterspace. Over the years I had to replace several pieces of ceramic tile that got broken in our other house so I though it was well worth the extra monney to put something that is alot more durable in. Because its made for floors it already sealed and I though that was a huge plus as well. I wouldn,t use any tile though if I didn,t have the butcher block island to roll out dough on.

Bill: thanks again for your assessment. We will look into the granite tile. I like what I saw in your photo. If it's close to what you and Madeyna quoted than we might be able to do it. We talked to our contractor and he actually prefers the granite over tile, so we'll see.

Jerseryshoremama: Yes, we considered laminate (Wilsonart) but we like the fact that you can put hot stuff down on the tile and not worry about it. I have seen the laminate and it really is nice looking, though.

Thanks again for your comments!