Wow, Steve, that is beautiful! What is it made of and who did it for you? I love it!!

I really like the sample tiles that you have up in the second picture. Or, how about a tile that mimics the proportions and texture of that great hood?

Your space is really coming together! Congratulations!

Sandy

Agreed - I like the tiles you have up on the wall. Maybe add a metal accent here and there for a little sparkle and I think you're good to go.

we are faily certain we will go with a natural stone for the backsplash and have been toying with the idea of an accent 2x2 piece - either glass to pick up one of the colors in the quartzite counters or possibly a metal. The concern with the piece we show here is that it may be to "busy" and take away from the counters - same question on the accent piece

i like a simple backsplash that mimics your hood (like busybme suggested). how about some sort of terracotta as your accent tile instead of metal or glass? i feel like i like the natural feel better than glass or metal.....

someone one sent me this link and i thought about when i saw your kitchen....maybe you can get some ideas here....

Here is a link that might be useful: rustic, country kitchens...

salmon slayer...let me apologize....i got so excited when i saw that beautiful hood and kitchen that i just had to say my two cents worth. i forgot to mention that your kitchen is a stunner!

Beautiful kitchen, and I really like that tile sample you have by the hood. Who makes it?

Very pretty. I think your tile should either be natural stone or a hand glazed ceramic. Great job. What is the quartzite? It looks very pretty.

Nice pendents! I really like them.

Your sample back splash goes with your cabinets and hood, IMO. Maybe you could move the sample down to the top of the counter and snap a picture. Let's see what in looks like there.

If you are possibly thinking about doing glass, I would suggest you research about installation, especially if you plan to do it yourself.

Some answers:

Busybe: the hood came from metastone.com, it has an abbaka insert and an external blower. I'm not sure what they use to make the material but it comes out looking nice and installs reasonably easy. If you can tile, you can install it. The corbels were heavy and required some additional support.

ggkls: will look into the terracotta. we put u some 4x4" samples of traventine, tumbled marble and a procelein tile that "looked" like marble and all the natural materials liiked ok. the "tumbled" looked more consistent with the old world look we are working towards.

morton5: the tile sample comes from a local contractor supply house. I saw a very similar tile at HD as was promoted under a designer name (forgot who but I am there way to often and can get the name if you want)

kelleg: one of the granite folks can explain better but it similar to granite but harder. My fabricator indicated it took him 2-3X longer to cut the material. We were looking something unusual and "old".

chuckg: I have never installed glass tile before and have been looking into it. we have a few samples of a gold and metallic silverbronzeish and they are in the tradespace. I want to look into a burgundy glass as well to pick up the color in the counter. But again, am afraid its getting too complex.

I'd like to see a slab of the countertop material behind the cooker. Then plaster & paint on the rest of the backsplash.

I agree that the tile sample you have on the wall is too busy.

i did a search for french terracotta tile and you can find a lot of examples.....here's one from ann sacks...

Here is a link that might be useful: ann sacks french terracotta tile

I love the sample of tiles you have and I definitely don't think it would be too busy.

Laurie

Sorry, I wondered what kind of quartzite it is--the name. It really is pretty.

That quartzite is stunning! In general, how does it's price compare to granite? Thanks!

Where did you get your lights?

I like the versailles pattern very much: the multi color helps give a balance of colors going on:
did you know you can get quartzite 4x4 6x6 and 12x12 in different colors? Quartzite is stunning material!

(A rock formed from the metamorphism of quartz sandstone:
Quartzite (from German Quarzit[1]), not to be confused with the mineral quartz, is a hard, metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone.[2] Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to grey. Quartzites often occur in various shades of pink and red due to varying amounts of iron oxide. Other colors are commonly due to impurities of minor amounts of other minerals.

In true metamorphic quartzite, also called meta-quartzite, the individual quartz grains have recrystallized along with the former cementing material to form an interlocking mosaic of quartz crystals. Minor amounts of former cementing materials, iron oxide, carbonate and clay, are often recrystallized and have migrated under the pressure to form streaks and lenses within the quartzite. Virtually all original textures and structure have usually been erased by the metamorphism.)
fun facts!
~Happy Holidays~

This may be too busy for your stone but here is a pic of Golden White Quartzite in a brick pattern from Stone Locator. It's beautiful.

{{!gwi}}

Kelleg: the quartzite was called white and gold and we bought it from Petra Fina (SF Bay Area)It has shades on red in it as noted in the description Petra Granite posted

crazyhouse6: it was quite a bit more than most standard granites we looked at and is considered an exotic. There are exotic granites that cost as much and more. We rec'd the fabricators price and it was $4x.00 per square foot when buying a slab of the 3cm material.

fancypants - we bought the pendants and undercounter lights at EXPO

Petra/Remodelfa. I did not know we could get the small sizes. another option to consider. :-(

To all: Would the answers change any if we are putting a mural over the stove ? I forgot about that small detail.

*waves to neighbor*

Pietra Fina is a granite yard that was on our list and the only other one in the area that carried the stone we got (Arcobaleno). We never made it there, though as their prices were considerably higher than where we went (Bella Pietra) and they were closed the days we had open. Part of me regrets it, though as from their website and your kitchen it looks like they carry some awesome stone.

To answer your question: If you're doing a detailed mural with lots of colors I'd do a single color with some accents for the rest of the splash.

can you explain the mural to us???? i think that would look great in your kitchen!

pbjisjar: Hi neighbor. I'm afraid we did not go to Bella Pietra. Not sure how we missed it though - we went to at least 20 places from Monterey to Oakland and several 3-4 times. Pietra has quite a few exotics to select from.

gglks: I put a link to the mural. the mural we are getting is 28x20 and will have a 2" border around it.

Here is a link that might be useful: tuscan poppies mural

That's a gorgeous mural. With that as a centerpiece, I'd say get a tile that compliments the background tile and add in a few metal accents.

Bella Pietra is out in Contra Costa county, so that's probably why you missed it. It's actually the only one close to us. Everything else was a drive.

how about these with your mural???? i think i'm obsessing over this terracotta!!!!!

Here is a link that might be useful:

LOL, they might be a bit big and rough for the backsplash. The mural is suppose to be here Monday. I'm interested in how its going to look in real life. we rec'd good news today: bar stools should be delivered tomorrow but the trims for the recessed lighting - after christmas :-( I really wanted to be done by then. Got to figure out what type of lamps to order......