I don't think that any of the travertine you have shown is right for the countertops, sorry. The cabinets and countertops are both great finishes and work well together but the travertine falls flat--keep looking and do without a backsplash for a while, if necessary.

No, No, No, to travertine with those gorgeous counters!!!!

I love the solid ceramic tiles already posted and esp the crackle tile (but that is a personal bias). You bs should be a quiet backdrop for your beautiful stone counters.
I think a white, off white or celery/celadon ceramic tile would be ideal. If subways are a no go, try 4 x 4s or 6 x 6s. If you do an accent tile in the same color as the field, it would all just sing beautifully together ;)

I have to disagree about a light color not being right. I think a light field tile would make the dark dramatic parts of your stone stick out more. I also think that with a rich toned wood (lovely!!!) and a dramatic counter, a dark tile would make the look too heavy.

Your already chosen elements are so wonderful, that you need simple to tie it all together. You can see by the feedback you have already, that the travertine is not a beloved choice with your combo.

Thanks everyone. You have helped reinforce my reservations about tumbled travertine, and why the only travertine I've seen that appeals to me is honed and not tumbled. If I can't find the right color, it might be time to let go of travertine altogether. I think part of my problem is that in my mind's eye travertine looked great at project start - before the cabinets and granite were installed and before the cabinets were stained.

Yes amac514, the color in the pictures is just a tad off. The camera flash seems to bring out the red in the cabinets. By the way, the cabinets are a satin finish. The honed travertine sample I have is a little less glossy but not by much.
The suggestion of using a crackle tile is interesting. It will invoke some old world charm which is a sort of vibe throughout my house, and I assume I could find it in a number of colors. I will need to give that some consideration.

Palimpsest, I have been coming to the same conclusion - I might be better served to become extremely patient with the backsplash. This granite deserves a suitable companion. Besides, if I wait until everything else is done, then I will have proper lighting to help examine interesting alternate choices in colors and materials.

I have now replaced the protective plastic & paper over the granite so the stain guys can finish up over the next few days. I think the drywallers will return for some ceiling work and then the ceiling will be painted. A little finish electrical work later and I will have a chance to try out some new sample tiles in a kitchen that actually looks like a kitchen.

Any additional ideas are very welcome. I just hope my head doesn't explode.

Thanks as always,
Jon

Please don't use either of them! Your cabinets and granite deserve a more elegant tile. I wish I knew how to post pics, but I don't.
One of my favorite kitchens is by a designer named Jean
Stoffer. If you google her, you will find her.
I love the kitchen she calls Textural Tudor. You will see a tropical green granite paired with dark cabinets. The tile she used is by Gainey Ceramics. I have seen this tile and it is amazing. You need to do something amazing!
Good luck! YOu are off to a great start!

I will add my voice to others and say I don't like your choices. I also think the backsplash is the hardest thing to get right and many folks screw it up - myself included. If you can wait, take your time.

Hey Michelle. I took a quick look at Jean Stoffer's website. Yes, beee-utiful. The tile I think you are pointing me towards looks great in that kitchen. I have dark-ish floors (golden mountain hickory), darker cabs, and mid to darkish granite. The one thing I'm pretty certain is that I want the tile to help lighten up the room, or at least avoid making it darker.

I'm starting to think that once I find a tile color that works, the way to make sure the tile space adds its own beauty without trying to compete with the granite is to let the granite talk with color & movement, and let the tile talk with texture and design. Yeah this is going to take a while.

Thanks,
Jon

By George...I think he's GOT it... ;)

dianalo, you are a hoot lol!
Jon, best of luck with your picks...you have some wonderful cabs and granite to work with.

My vote is also for something in green. Who?? Pickle2?? who had the green and cream subways?? The color combo was just right. Maybe you could do diamonds? in shades of green to match your counter? Glass tiles? I don't know what that will do to your budget ;-)

pinch me, the budget was shot to hell a while ago. I only have 25 sq-ft of BS, maybe less if I don't continue the just-under-the-cabinet height of the BS on the wall with the sink. I could do $~30/sq-ft installed and be OK, heck I'd do $50/sq-ft if it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and keeps me out of the GW blooper hall of fame. (What price range are you fine folks pushing me towards anyway?)

Chicagoans...I forgot to answer your question about my granite. It is actual quartzite, and the shop that had it named it Lemonella. They said it came from Italy.

I visited close to 20 stone yards here in Southern California, many with vast inventories and selections. I never saw anything close to this stone. The place I bought it from is a relatively small shop. It was close to home and it was the first place DW and I visited. She fell in love on sight. I loved it too but was concerned that the slabs were only wide enough for one cabinet run each, and the slabs did not match. So we kept looking but eventually came back to it. The seems are noticeable but we couldn't care less.

Jon

Hi Jon, I think most of the idea's given are just idea's, there are always things you can find similar but for less. I know that often if you send for a sample tile you also get a discount coupon in the packet. When I sent for my sample I got a 20% off coupon. If you call and ask for a better deal or more off sometimes it's there and they will give a code. The price isn't always the price. However, if you had to go without a backsplash for a while your kitchen will still be beautiful!!!

Hi! I am the one that pointed you to the Jean Stoffer website. I am also in the process of picking out a backsplash for my kitchen. I just love your cabinets and granite. Have you thought about a mural that ties the colors together? I love the stoneimpressions website. You do have to click on everything to get the colors to appear, but they have some awesome products. I am also partial to Walker Zanger and Jeffery Court, but I am pretty sure I am going to order a mural this week.
I am so excited to see your kitchen come together!

If you want to go mid-range in color, try these in linden. For a lighter color, the apple may work:
http://statusceramics.com/colors/crackle-glazes/

the willow could also work, but it may be too dark:
http://statusceramics.com/colors/clear-glazes/

These tiles are by Status ceramics and I can tell you the field in crackle finish is in the $40 range. I bet the others are less. They are specially made and gorgeous, but you can also find colored tiles in the $20 range if you look around at other mfrs. They only reason I ended up so high scale is I could not find the color or look I wanted anywhere else at any price. Lucky for me, someone ordered custom tiles exactly as I want them and they have the overstock left, so that saves me the custom setup fee.
I thought I'd toss these in because there are a few choices that could be great for your counters.
I never imagined I'd be in this price range either, but we are doing a very small bs, so the extra is not exactly killing us (and I have pinched pennies until they screamed everywhere else).

This is some of their field tiles in a concept board. The colors are so pretty....
http://statusceramics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/c-Crochet.jpg

I tried to post this as the link, but GW would not let me :(

ahhh...so beautiful! It's looking wonderful!

The cabinets are the perfect tone with your counters. The backsplash is the tricky tie in part though. I want to like the travertine, but like all of the others I can't make it work with the other elements. Along the more natural stone lines, I am curious how a limestone backsplash would look. I love the little fossils and its subtleness. From afar, it would appear more single tone. You'd have to get samples, of course, to see if this were even an option. It could go either way.

Other than that, I think I like creamish colored tiles best. Sonoma Tiles have a lot to look through, but you are going to have to have samples to physically look at against your counter and cabinets. Some tiles have a watery glaze appearance to them and I think that would work well too.

It's really looking awesome! I am very excited for you!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sonoma Tiles

For clarification, I am thinking about large polished light warmish colored limestone tiles with very minimal grout lines. Like I said before, maybe, maybe not, but I am intrigued.

Sounds like you've decided to look past the travertine, so I won't bash it (but the colors are way too rosy on my monitor). I also see a glazed tile or possibly glass in your kitchen -- but not a mosiac (too busy for that granite). The pale greens above are in the range of what I immediately pictured. I could also see a metal with those materials, but maybe not with your style.

Your Limonela (which BTW does not show itself by that name in any searches I have done online) is the most captivating stone mass I have ever seen. It's like looking down on an intricate natural landscape from about 15k feet up.

The performance criterion for your backsplash seemingly has to be to not-shine politely as your counters bask in adoring glazes. Your cabinets are a very good foil for the quartzite in their color and their mass, and I don't think there's room for competition from a backsplash that wants to call attention to itself.

Your stone is so wonderfully idiosyncratic that it has to be worth your while to do some fairly elaborate testing in situ. That is, get a few samples along the lines of the greens, grays, or golds, and try them as you have the earlier samples, in your kitchen and with both installed and natural light. Be open not only to subtle differences in color, but also to how various finishes from tumbled stone to crackle tile work with the counters and the light. (For instance, as lovely as the tumbled stone is, the natural variations in color of most stone tiles are likely to make a pattern on the wall that does not work very well with the glorious swashes and detail of your counters.

The Sonoma site doonie linked to is a good place to start, because you should be able to find a fairly local showroom and because Sonoma does a pretty wonderful range of subtle subtle variations in non-primary colors. I would think that even if you find a couple of promising candidates, you should try a critical mass of whatever color in situ to see if it really works. Even if you have to live without a backsplash for a while, it is sooooo worth fussing about until you get the right one for this stone.

Best of luck.

Thanks everyone for the great advice!

DW returned home late last night after an all-day pet adoption event held at the La Brea Tar Pits (not sure if the irony was intentional). We are both in agreement that tumbled travertine is out and that we need to spend the time necessary to get this right. She says she has a friend who spent a year deciding on a backsplash. That's a bit excessive, but we're both comfortable taking our time.

I have only glanced through the above suggestions this morning. I'll take some time to study them later.

You folks are great. Thanks so much.

Jon

I finally had a bit of time to explore the wonderful tile suppliers' websites mentioned above. Talk about eye candy.

dianalo, I can see what attracted you to Status Ceramics. I liked the Apple and Linden you mentioned. I am intrigued by the Pistachio crackle glaze.

I do love green when it is the right green. Not so much when it isn't right, and that's my worry. The wrong color green with this stone would be kind of yucky. I need to share two more pictures with you in case you have not seen the pictures I posted in an earlier thread. These pictures show how much color variation exists. The green of the stone between the sink and range is much more muted, and dare I say muddled with a cream color. The green on the island is yet again different.

Let's say I chose a light green colored ceramic tile. The junction between BS and granite may look pucka in some spots, and yucka in others. There is something else I'm wondering about. With a medium colored polished granite (and dark in some spots), and a light colored glossy backsplash, would I not see the backsplash reflected of the polished granite, and would that not take away from my ability to appreciate the granite? Maybe I'm over thinking. But I have an idea that may solve both concerns.

Maybe the BS design should begin with a lower course of some sort of dark colored tile. Perhaps 4x4s in a burgandy color to pick up the spots of burgandy-ish in the stone, or even a dark brown to play off of the cabinet color. To add interest, line the top edge of the dark tile with an interesting trim detail in the same color. That would reduce tile reflections in the granite somewhat, and it would create a bit of separation between the green granite and the green tile. OTOH, I would not want to create a racing stripe that only looked good on paper.

Any thoughts about this?

TIA,
Jon

I think a border at the bottom in a non-green, coordinated with the top edge of the same color would be great. Like you said, it gives a little distance so that the greens are not too close in case there are parts that match less.

I think your shiny counters will reflect the bs no matter what finish the bs is.

Seeing even more of those amazing counters is a treat ;). I have been hitting the slab yards again and nothing is a stunning as yours. We will probably have to go more subdued to go with our backsplash feature, which is the diva of our kitchen, but I do yearn for a wild one like yours.

I hope you get some samples of tiles and post some more pix. I don't think I'd ever get tired of that stone!

Jon,

Ultimately it is your kitchen, and you get to live in that lovely space, and these are only my opinions. So, with that grain of salt (or 2)...

Green tiles. First of all the stone has so many greens in it I think you are correct that getting the perfect coordinating green
is not going to work because somewhere it will have a clash in tone. Will that bother you? For me, it's too much green, although
I love green and green backsplashes, with your stone, it would be too much of the cool tones for me to live with.

Racing Stripe Divide. I am balking at the idea. Once again, it's only my opinion. Your stone has swirly curves in it. No straight
lines. The first thing I would see, walking into your kitchen would be the strong horizontal lines in the backsplash and I would
be wondering, the entire time, why that unnatural division.

It looks like your granite has some creamy tones to it. That is my favorite for a backsplash. I don't think you'd ever get tired of
it. And I think it would pull the warmer tones of the stone.

Elizpiz has a uniform looking Limestone floor that is gorgeous. It is closer to the idea of the large format tonal limestone
backsplash I had in my mind's eye. There is a limestone color called Amun Cream that I am wondering how it would really look next
to your counter. It would be different and might be really neat looking, or not so much. I hope you get some samples to really see!

Right now, these are purely mental exercises. We need some samples juxtaposed to your lovely elements to figure out this intriguing puzzle!

I'm terrible at the backsplash part, but just wanted to chime in that this is one of the most beautiful stones I have EVER seen! Wow, I can't wait to see it finished, though I am in the camp of take your time to find the perfect solution. Once you have several possibilities, maybe one of these photoshop gurus can put some pictures together for you. I am worried that the darker BS, with the green above will draw your eye to that line, and it might take away from the stone, but maybe in real life that will not happen? Anyway, can't wait to see what you choose, it will be gorgeous!

Beautiful Granite! Took me 9 months to pick a backsplash, so I feel your pain! You definitely need a backsplash that enhances the granite, not competes. Is reflection of the backsplash a big concern of yours? Then a matte finish without a big contrast in grout lines would be great. I love Eastbaymom's Seagrass Limestone backsplash, it is low reflective, but with has that special "wow" factor when you get up close. Once you get the cabinets stained and the floor uncovered, it will help. Crazy, but I found it useful to enlarge the tile pictures to actual size (not all will do this) tile my screen and put the laptop up in front of the backsplash. Tiles might be fuzzy, but you will get an idea. Good luck!!

Not to hijack, but I wish you'd tell me all about your cabinets (maker, wood, stain, etc.). Your kitchen will be glorious. I'm drooling here. May we see a photo of the cabs that show more of the style? You mentioned "old world" and I'm trying to imagine something consistent with that that's also light. I can see how you focused on the fairly smooth, quiet, stone originally, and, frankly, I'm not as opposed to the idea as everyone else, especially considering your other requirements. However, ceramics are luscious, too, and a light, but saturated colorway, perhaps trending more toward the golds of your quartzite, would provide enough contrast with both your counter top and your cabinets without detracting from those.
Just an FYI, when I used Dunis Studios five years ago, their prices were lower than Status Ceramics, so perhaps that is still the case. They do have showrooms in SoCal. Here's a link.
Also, when you say DW does not want subways, does that mean she does does not want anything rectangular? Does she want squares? Or does she want gingkos, fantails, etc.? Do you have an Architerra near you?
One thing to consider, kitchens in old world homes are often newer additions or contain new additions to old world surroundings, so even a glass backsplash may not be strictly out of place. Okay enough of my disjointed ramblings.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dunis Studios

Who did your cabinets?? and what is the name of the stain??

Have you also thought about your wall/paint color??

Tks

There is such a thing as too many opinions, but I will give mine anyway. :-)

My gut tells me that you should try to pull out what looks to me like a beige color in your granite and use that for your backsplash. I would stay away from a green backsplash; I think it would be too much green.

Your granite and cabinets are both exquisite, btw. The wood especially is sooo rich-looking. YUM!

I agree that the travertine does nothing for the kitchen. They are too peachy and the wrong tone to work with the granite. I would add a pale golden green handmade tile. Maybe one with a bit of the red clay edges showing as shown. A row 4 x 4 against the granite and then a decorative liner in the same tile and then 4 x 4 tiles on the diagonal on top of that. You don't want anything too busy to detract from the gorgeous granite. A pale green on the backsplash won't add too much extra green, and will lighten the kitchen. Make sure the green has a golden undertone though.

Hey everyone,

Again, thanks so much for the comments. I only have a quick minute, so let me answer the questions about the cabinets and stain.

Cabinets are custom by Woodie Woodpecker's Woodwoorks in Canoga Park, Ca. I am thrilled with the quality of build and installation. I was not thrilled with their up front help with design and layout. My engineering background and need for detail, and some tremendous help from the GW community overcame their deficiency in this area. The cabinets were finished by Dick Plumb and his artist-worker Pedro. Some of the faux samples they showed us were amazing, but ultimately did not go with the granite. So they made several custom stain samples. We went with a walnut (not sure if it is a pure walnut stain or a mix), and a dark brown (Van Dyke?) glaze with a satin finish. The island was finished differently - it was stained very dak, it was distressed, and has a matte finish.

I think the doors and drawers will be installed today. It is dark when I get home from work nowadays, so I won't be able to take pictures until Saturday. Hopefully the cabs won't be covered while the drywallers and painters finish the ceiling!

I really appreciate ALL of you comments. A big thanks to all of you.

Jon

Messing around here, trying to see how a bronze looks, etc.

kitchendetective...

My appliances will be SS (DW, refer, range, hood and speed oven). I had thought earlier about metals in the backsplash but wondered if the SS would clash with something like bronze.

What is the make/color of the light colored tile on the right?

Thx,
Jon

Don't know why some of the repros are coming out so much larger than in my file. In the interest of conserving file space, I'll just mention that that the Michael J. Smith Diamonds in (color) Linen on the Ann Sacks site looks like a possibility, too. I'd love it framed in a beveled enclosure of your quartzite.

I believe I was posting during/before your post showed up. The one on the right is a Dunis Studios field tile. I think the color was "candlelight." Of course, the colors show up differently on every monitor, and sometimes on the same monitor, depending upon time of day or something. ;(

Here is a link that might be useful: Dunis Field Tile Colors

Oh. My. Goodness. Kitchendetective, those are some of the best looking field tiles I have ever seen. You have done very well at your detective work! I am sitting here drooling over the colors. (I am bookmarking this site!)

Here's some that I'd like to see/try against the counters...

Sunlight Crackle

Matte Ivory

Blonde Crackle

French Cream

I glanced at the Dunis site - hadn't seen that one before. Yummy! I'm liking the cream colored tiles. I need to get some home to try out.

Let me ask a silly question - is a matte finish on ceramic tile more difficult to wipe clean compared to a gloss finish?

Jon

I think the best way to get information about Dunis tiles is from the source. Call the company in Bulverde, Texas. It's a family-run outfit. DH and I enjoyed our visits the studio and mostly dealt with the daughter, who is a ceramics artist. Her name is Sienna and I would recommend that you ask for her. Hope that helps.

I love those Dunis tiles as well! Very pretty and I love all the options.
I realy like the green kitchendetective put up and think it might be a great accent tile if you want to downplay the greens....

"I have to disagree about a light color not being right. I think a light field tile would make the dark dramatic parts of your stone stick out more. I also think that with a rich toned wood (lovely!!!) and a dramatic counter, a dark tile would make the look too heavy."

I must explain myself better. A light green color or a light color that is in the granite would work, but not so light as he was showing. Plus as everyone else has mentioned, the travertine, just doesn't work. A soft green crackle tile would look super, or something similar.

Love the green on the right that kitchendetective found. That is what I was thinking. Doonie, I think the 2nd and 4th ones are too red for the counter. The other two might work, but might look too yellow and light? Of course the best way to know is to try them. :)

So I wandered around the house checking out tile, and only a portion of it comes from Dunis, and some of the matte is more difficult to clean than the shiny, but some is not. So, again, I'd ask Sienna about specific glazes. You might mention that the lady from five or so years ago who made the, uh, interesting remark about the fig tiles and then worked them into her backsplash design referred you. She'll probably recall. For reference:

Well, I've spent lots of time at a few large tile stores, and I've looked and looked on-line at bunches of tile makers' websites. I've brought a number of samples home, and I keep going back to stone as what I think would look best.

I found a 12'' tile that DW and I really like. It was from a local shop and they called it Premium Italian. It is honed and filled. It is light in color, kind of like other tiles I've seen called vanilla. It does not lean toward rose shades, so the hue is good with the stone and cabinets. Color variation is relatively subtle (at least on the 6-tile sample board they had), and it has a more refined look, especially with square cut.

But here's the issue. It is a 12'' tile. I know others have used larger field tiles and had them cut down but usually for a subway variant (e.g. 3'' x 12''). Remember, DW says she doesn't like subway tiles. Is it possible to have the installer cut down 12'' field tiles to 4'' squares? How uniform in size would the tiles be? Because we're looking for a small grout line, consistent tile size is important. I have not yet had this conversation with my GC's tile guy, and I certainly will. I'm just wondering if anyone has some experience with this.

TIA,
Jon

Wow your countertops are exquisite! I thought maybe bamboo granite, but it's quartzsite? I need to learn more about quartzite! Jon, can you please tell me where you purchased your stone? I love green and I love that stone!

For your blacksplash. I wish I had a specific product to recommend, but I don't. However I do agree with the others that the tumbled and honed stones don't fit. I think that product is too matte. With your rich cabs, gorgeous countertops and stainless appliances you need something with a little light reflecting sheen. A crackle ceramic subway was the first thing I thought of too or maybe glass, but sandwiched between 2 strong elements I'd keep it simple. I'm not against a light neutral color that's pulled from your countertop, but not sure what. Have patience and take your time because your choices should become more apparent once the countertops and stained cabs are all installed. That countertop is the star and I can't wait to see your finished kitchen!

Bill Vincent hangs out more on the Bathrooms Forum and is an extremely knowledgeable master at all things tile. You could ask for him over there. Also, you could ask over at the John Bridge Forums. My old tile guy said this was doable, but I never actually asked him to do so, so haven't seen the results. (I have honed Botticino with a bit of enhancing sealer atop it, mixed with shiny ceramic on the backsplash and shiny granite and shiny Thassos on the counter tops here in my main kitchen. Originally, it was a default choice, but I've grown to love it, which is why I wasn't so opposed to your idea to start with. You do see those textures mixed together with apparent abandon on European surfaces. Some of us have a higher tolerance for mixed textures.)

Thanks kitchendetective. I too am OK with mixing materials, if done properly. If I stick with a honed and filled travertine for the BS, it would probably be with a lower base of something decorative and I might incorporate some dots of the granite in the field.

I currently have no other ceramic tile in my entire house. The only tile I did have was in the kitchen. I'm sure in the not-so-back-of-my-mind I'm looking to do something different in the kitchen.

The link below shows one of a few styles I am considering. I would place this at or near the base of the BS, as long as the green is compatible w/ the coutertop and the tile is compatible with the field I use.

http://www.walkerzanger.com/catalog/popimage.php?mat=Decorative+Stone&coll=Firenze&tab=Products&page=14

Jon

Island - forgot to answer your question.

I bought the stone from Agoura Marble and Granite in Agoura Hills, Ca. They only had ~6 slabs, and two of them did not have near this excitment. I visited 20 other stone yards, saw lots of amazing and unique slabs but never saw anything like this. My GC and the installer (who has been in the business for a long time) has also never seen anything like it.

Jon

Oh, my. On my monitor, that green and that gold look perfect! How thick is that liner?

I'm entering this discussion late, so I don't know where you are on your splash tile decision. Just wanted to tell you that my splash is a crackled one too but it's slightly irridescent where the crackles are which makes it unique. It's subtle but still has some pizzaz. I love it. It's by Walker-Zanger and it's called Mizu. If you're near a Walker-Zanger showroom, they had it showcased in several vignettes.

Hard to describe (I'll try to post photos later).

I have darker wood stained cabinets like you do and my granite is busy. My designer recommended this tile so that it wouldn't compete with everything else. My splash is cream colored, but it comes in different colors.

KD - The Walker-Zanger Firenze line has several options with those colors, thin liners and wide, even square tiles. I think you can find the line under decorative stone on the W-Z site. The color seems to work and it could be a nice element to incorporate. I'll need to bring some samples home.

time4tea - I have been to the WZ showroom in North Holywood (?), but that was back when I was looking for granite - I wasn't even thinking about BS at that time so I only took a quickee walk through their wonderful tile showroom. If I'm really thinking about using the trim piece I mention above, I may head back soon. DW isn't too hot on crackle finishes - I like them, but hey its got to work for both of us. I'll check out the W-Z site for the Mizu tile. I'd love to see your pictures if you can share.

Jon

itsnorocketscience - I'll try to upload...my first timeto post photos on GW. So let's see how this goes. And I don't know how to resize per instructions on this site. So not sure if it'll work.

I don't know if this is the look you're after, but it'll give you an idea.

Thanks, the pix are perfect. I did look at the Mizu tiles on the W-Z site. What color did you install, ''rice'' perhaps? I'd like to see a few of the light green colors they offer, too bad their website does not refresh the picture when you click on the little color deellyboppers. Very nice and clean, and as you say the crackle adds a bit of interest.

Jon

Hi Jon,
The color is Pearl. It's basically a cream color. I saw it at the WZ showroom in OC--maybe the city is Tustin. I wouldn't have thought of it on my own...my designer chose it. Actually she first brought a honed natural stone tile, but I nixed that one.

Good luck in your search! There are so many nice tiles to choose from.