Joanie - Thank you for your opinion and your nice comment. I appreciate it! The woodwork in the home definitely comes into play. Cran - Thank you so much Cran. I have thought about adding blue tile... like a border or something. But I am also completely open to ripping out the hood tile. Linley posted some photos below that have a lot of texture. Is that what you are thinking too? As for your tile... take it from me... post a few photos here and let the guru's help you! They are wonderful! Sweeby - It looks like all arrows are pointing to more Spanish tiles (with or without some crackle tiles) Hey... I guess it confirms that I was on the right track in the beginning.... LOL Love the pictures! Dutchy - Wow...now that is a great mix of elements there. I visited the link and they said that the tiles were original to the house and that they salvaged them from around the windows. Nice! More were custom added from Mission Tile West. Igloochic - Hey now! That is a major switch! I can't believe any picture of mine is being used as an inspiration photo! Thanks for your dissenting opinion, but it sounds like you would vote for the hood tiles to stay, so... looks like sticking with Spanish is your vote too! :) Linley - Thanks for the pictures and the built in links! The antiquity Mission tiles are gorgeous! It is a very interesting way of adding color, especially combined with such an amazing texture. Remodelfla - Oh boy... have I ever checked them out! We even took a road trip to San Diego to see them in person. They are beautiful! We might have to go back there soon. I didn't use them initially due to a hood issue... it was due to the fact that we needed 4" tiles and their tiles were 4 1/4". Since we wanted to use the same tiles for the backsplash... I kind of stopped there. Sorry for the delay in responding. I was out of town this weekend. Thanks again for the ideas, links, and leads. We are hoping to go to a few more tile shops this week. In the meanwhile we are continuing on with our final inspection process. Thank you all!

Another couple of thoughts, FWIW. All of your "social spaces" are facing north or east, while your bedroom is facing south and west, the hottest part of the house. Personally, I like to sleep cool, and have my living areas warm and sunny. You could do this simply by flipping the plan. That way your kitchen, dining room, and living room are getting sun, and some sun should penetrate all the way into the "hearth area" in the winter. If you eliminate that back hall and turn it into closets for the master bedroom, you can make the master bath and the office bigger. The office could then have a seating area, and serve as an "away room" a la Susanka and Chris Alexander. I would center the fireplace on the living room wall-- just plunking it down anywho will not look good. The big opening between the kitchen and the hallway needs development-- if it's just a wide cased opening, it will need a lot of support. One thing you probably don't want is a huge beam there that is lower than the rest of the doors and windows-- in a traditional design, most of the windows, doors, cased openings, wainscots, etc. will "coordinate" and harmonize with each other. To achieve that effect here, you could break up the wide opening with columns, or even columns and half-walls. I can't see any good reason for a wall between the cubbies and the laundry. It's really one big mudroom, and that extra wall costs money, even though it serves no real purpose. Personally, I hate the sound of HVAC/HW etc. so I would never put that stuff near a bedroom or office, where you are presumably trying to concentrate on some brain work. Nor would I put it in the garage, unless the garage is heated and you have a backup generator, because you don't want the pipes to freeze. In some jurisdictions, you can't put that stuff in a garage anyway, or only under strict rules. it's a safety issue. Why not build a small storm cellar, which should come in handy during the next tornado, and put your mechanicals down there?

You would have to work the dimensions of this out to make sure it works, but what about something like this? If the island doesn't fit, you could do a peninsula instead.You could also flip the cooktop/sink walls and the island orientation - I went back and forth about that, but I thought that since you can see the back wall from the front door, the cooktop there probably looks nicer than the sink. But it could go either way. If you need more clearance for the walkway the hutch could also go where I show the green, or it could go on the wall between the bath and the

Well how nice to be called an angel today! Made my day. The soapstone does not have any green in it- charcoal grey with caramel & white veining. I chose it for the color but it is VERY soft. The scratches kind of go with the age of the house so I don't sweat it too much but it does chip very easily. I had a much harder variety in another house that did have more of a green tint to it. Love the drain runnels for both looks and practicality- since the sink wasn't centered under the window we did the runnels to offset the imbalance. The glass doors open to a walk-in pantry and access to the AC behind the fridge/micro run. I think that door is new but previous owner installed it so not sure- the glass is frosted to hide a multitude of sins. The front of the house was built in 1924 and the addition (in 2000) starts right around where the sunflowers are on the counter. Previous owners added a family room and back staircase down and master up. We used Pale Oak throughout the downstairs and second floor landing. It's a great neutral color. It looks more taupe than grey in my house but is chameleon like. I would definitely get a sample, paint it on a poster board and try it in different places in your house. It offers just enough contrast between trim and walls. Hope your reno goes well- I'm always jealous when I hear someone starting a renovation, then I think back to the reality!