the thing is, it's "everywhere", but how many of your friends and neighbors actually have it? i have all of one neighbor with it, and it looks fantastic.

that said, eclectic can be great* so follow your heart.

*(if done well, or a hodgepodge if done poorly.)

Tall soapstone backsplashes might look nice

I can't figure out how to link pictures

http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q569/Swentastic/Misc/02-hbx-dark-brass-schoolhouse-lights-huh-1112-lgn.jpg

there may be "just nothing special about it", but the question is, what else is going on in the space? i've been cooking in my new kitchen for two years now, and the whole thing is pretty amazing. i've pretty much decided on some kind of subway bs because there are already enough stars in here. as i've learned from the kitchen forums and four years of design school, every star needs a backup singer.

thank you all!!

swentastic, that soapstone looks really sharp with the blue cabinets. i debated a seagrass green for the island (shiloh), but will probably wimp out...

gardens, i like the idea of different-sized tiles in rows. saw one that was subway-set, but one row was vertical. another used a stripe of black, and that looked good too...

food for thought! we've got a space on the front of our vent (drywalled) where i'm thinking about putting some sort of decorative something (have an old Sealtest metal sign, maybe a decorative arrangement of cutting boards) and we're painting an old ladder teal and using it as a pot rack, so yep, there will be other "stars" in the space. like the 36" culinarian we'll be putting in. :) and even if white sb tile is all over HGTV and Houzz, you are correct, it's not all over Dayton (at least not yet, that's for sure.) so to your points. cheers!

Larger scale tiles. Check out this link to
Scandinavian kitchens

When you scroll down and click on the respective pictures, you'll get to each individual house.

Or a favorite color? Or wood look?

I am going with a plain white subway tile in my kitchen. The thing is, as someone said above, I don't need absolutely everything in my kitchen to be "special." I'll have beautiful quartz countertops with lots of movement, a colored island in addition to white cabs (Shiloh! They will do a Sherwin Williams custom color for not much $$), pro-style range top, etc. I'm ok with the backsplash just being there. And a good point, it is everywhere but I don't know that I've ever seen one in any of my family or friends' homes.

Even in white subway tiles, you can find something a little different. Our tile store had so many options of white ceramic subway tile. Crackle, bevel, different sizes, glossy, matte, other unique finishes (my fave had an almost metallic finish - sounds weird but was really lovely)... The list goes on and on. And these were all $10/sqft or less. Of course you can also get a beautiful room with the $.25 tile from the big box store. I don't think white subway is boring at all!!

I used "white" subways, but my white are Calacatta marble. I love the plain white ones too but if you want just a bit more going on marble is a possibility.

As others have mentioned while we see a lot of white subways on the Internet How many are actually in your neighborhood? I haven't seen a single kitchen or bathroom in my area with them yet. If you love them, use them!

The white subway tile is everywhere in my area. I went to a Christmas home tour and almost every home had it. I wanted to do something special and bought a glass mosaic tile. It looked horrible with my granite so down it came. Guess what I'm putting up now? Gray subway tile! I would love to have something like the look above but after one mistake I decided to be happy with something simple.

biffytreeroot, your post made me lol! Maybe because in the other thread you said you just ripped it down. Sometimes you just hate something & have to get rid of it and move on.

I love subway tile. I don't care if everyone on the planet has it, that's what I am doing in the kitchen i have been waiting to redo since I bought this house 14 years ago :) subway tile are simple & timeless & classic. They make me smile.

This thread made me smile because 9 years ago when we did our kitchen, I was worried about the same thing. Granted you do see them more now than you did then, but to me it just shows that you should do what you love.

I ended up doing what others have suggested and chose large format subways to make it a little different (I think ours are 4 by 12). After living with it for years, i still love it and will probably do it again now that we have to redo our kitchen.

Here's one from houzz ... largish tiles laid horizontally with a mini-subway vertically between them.

https://www.houzz.com/photos/kitchenlab-eclectic-kitchen-chicago-phvw-vp~56680

And this one with different widths, laid like sedimentary rock.

differing widths

I love a black and white kitchen! Nothing wrong with it, if you like it then don't worry about what anyone else has. I agree with the posts who said to accessorize, and you can always paint the walls in color if you think its too stark. Colorful window treatments, etc. I like white subways with grey grout, I am not a fan of white grouts, after dealing with white grout in my bathroom, looked great when new but a PITA to keep bright and white. Although its impossible to say something will not become dated, I think a black and white kitchen is as close as it gets to timeless.

We just put up our BS -- 2x4 " white subs -- on Sunday. Not grouted yet but will be gray as the tile on the floor. There is a lot going on in this kitchen and this tile looks best, IMHO. It is a farmhouse; new build. Gray quartzite and leathered black granite CT.

I have never liked most BS as it seems to me to be the first thing in a kitchen to date it and distract. The scale of the smaller tile seems good enough here.

Just because it is something that has been "done" over and over doesn't mean it's not the best thing for your kitchen. It was what I originally planned for this house going back about 10 years - just now getting the house finished. It's been a four year build :(

Here is one of my main contenders for my white cabinet black laminate kitchen. I think it would go nicely with a farmhouse look. It's golden white quartzite, I believe MSI, but I can't seem to find the 3 by 6 size online. A local showroom by me (in NJ) has it.

Here's another sample board.. for my kitchen, I would leave out the reddish tiles.

I also really like ayerg73's backsplash if you like color.. Debris Tile from Fireclay Tile. 2x6 subways in Kelp Green with swirl accents. She has white cabs and soapstone.

<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7211/7289614280_22920139f2_z.jpg">;

I don't think what you see on Houzz is the real world. Do all your friends and neighbors have white subway backsplashes? Are you competing with one another for most unique and special? It's not like when everybody shows up at a photo op in the same dress. When all's said and done, this is YOUR house and when you walk inside and close the door what you like is all that matters.

FWIW, nobody I know has white shaker cabinets and white subway backsplashes. I'm sure they've all seen them in magazines and on Houzz, but so what?

Go for what you like. My kitchen is standard 'Houzz' - white cabs, light granite counters, grey subway bs...but it's what I love and I would have regretted not getting it despite it looking like hundreds of other houzz kitchens. Because in real life, no one else I know has a kitchen like mine. However, FWIW, I do LOVE the look of gray stone bs with white cabs and black counters, like this.

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tracie_erin...where was the tile store in Jersey with the 3x6 subway tiles..that is exactly what I'm looking for!!!