Okay, I have to say, you guys are AWESOME! @remodelfla - looks like that eBay seller is the same as the Amazon seller -Oracle, and the same price. Will have to check on whether shipping makes the difference. Just got notice that the sample has shipped so hope to get it this week. Trikeenan is out and Sea Turtles are in - love the glass but had to decide quickly and the turtles spoke to me (the Honu is sort of our family emblem). @fouramblues - that is the post I was looking for, and you got the name of the tile, too - Yay! (somehow "Bell" turned into "Beth" in my mind overnight - no wonder I couldn't find it). I think my flooring is American Olean so that was interesting....will research that tile when I get back on the desktop - search limited on iPad here. And I'm not sure what makes it "rustic" - mostly interested in low color variation (the "camel" looks like far too much) and the tile sizing/pattern - random, and more honed, smooth. But not polished/glossy. And not pitted. Interesting, but not to overpower the turtles. And I should mention, the backsplash on the other side of the kitchen is just under 3" tall and abut 20' long, so we don't want to cut a zillion tiles to fit, so multi-width will certainly make that easier. I was just at Home Depot buying dripper irrigation supplies and saw an interesting one called Bamboo something that I had seen online a few places in my search - it's all 1/4" strips and $15sf, but I get a military discount there and it's in stock. Thank you for all the help! Open to more ideas!

Well, we're back from tile shopping and I think we may have found our tile for both the backsplash and the floor. The combination is remarkably similar to what I originally posted in my Kitchen Forum post on the same subject (I posted here b/c I wanted to here from the "decorating people") See the link below and the "Tue, Oct 23, 07 at 13:12" post for the floor.... The floor tile is a darker blue-gray with a few splashes of orange that complement my door color perfectly...the orange in the tile "pops" but since there isn't a lot of it it's more of an accent than an overwhelmingly orangey color. The backsplash is a creamier color with some very light orange highlights (I don't know how else to describe it!) We haven't, though, picked out any detailing for it yet...I don't know what I want...well I do, but I'm afraid it will blow the labor cost out of the water! I like the black galaxy granite dots and I think I'd really like to put those in the backsplash, but I was told that would significantly raise the labor cost...all the extra cuts and more careful laying of tile, I guess... If you look at the same post I mentioned before, you'll see the dots. But, rather than 6x6 tiles I would probably do 4x4 with dots every 3 or 4 tiles. We will have about 20 linear feet of backsplash + the cooktop to vent area to tile, so it's not a small area. Any thoughts or ideas about the backsplash? They didn't have any decent size samples of the 2 tiles so they're ordering samples for us on Monday and they should be in by the end of the week. When I get them, I will take a pic with our door and the Back Galaxy and post it here for more opinions, comments, thoughts.... Nothing is set in stone yet ;-) ++++++++++ Speaking of Black Galaxy granite, if we stick to our choices it looks like the Black Galaxy will look better than the Diamond Black (our first choice). The Diamond has silver speckles while the Galaxy has coppery speckles. ++++++++++ Amysrq: Our "bling" is our cabinetry so I want the backsplash to "gently complement everything else". That doesn't mean I want it to fade into the background and not be noticed at all, but I don't intend for it to be "center stage". Yes, I've checked out the FKB and the Finished Backsplashes Slideshow, but nothing jumped out at me....some I just didn't like..like mosaics. I don't like the look of all those 1x1 tiles--they look too busy and, in many cases, have too much color. Our budget is mid-range especially since our cabinets are costing more than we had planned...cherry wood + a glaze + some custom cabs + glass (2 cabinets w/glass doors + shelves)...definitely our "bling"! Here is a link that might be useful: Opinions Needed (please!) Cabinet + Backsplash + Floor Tile

I agree about the subways. They give such a simple sophisticated look without detracting from your granite and other design elements. I have a similar color schemed kitchen and DH and I went back and forth about our backsplash. Finally, decided to go with the matching subways (to our cream cabinets) and we LOVE them! Behind our range top we chose to set them vertically and we love how it gives it just a slight twist or custom feel. Anyways, I will post some pics of mine today or tomorrow to show you. Perhaps, you can show him pics of people with coordinating subways to change his mind. That's what I did!

You should lay out everything to decide how many tiles you need for your finished layout - not just square footage. In Bill's link above, notice how her tiles start and stop on a whole one (perfect spacing!) - but yours might not lay out that exact same way. Same thing on the edges. How do you plan to finish the tile/drywall edge? Also, if you have an inside corner to "wrap", it is ideal if you can "wrap" the cut tile around the bend - it looks like it is "folded" into the corner - that is advance tile setting, but it looks great. It also requires more tiles. Once you know how many "fancy cuts" you have to make, you can judge more accurately how many extras to order. All depends on your skill as a tile cutter! Those are beautiful tiles - can't wait to see the final result. Here is a link that might be useful: tips on inside corner tile wrap