Adjust your grout lines, not your cabinet height, please.

Measure your tile. Allow for grout lines.

Nira, I want to be able to have full tiles and not have to cut a row. I was just looking for some guidelines. I know 18" is standard, having worked for a cabinet manufacturer years ago, but if I use 4" tile I will have to have thick grout lines. Ick. Just looking for suggestions from people who have been there before.

IMO 18” is the minimum and I prefer higher so take your tiles measure how many to fill a space also allowing for grout .I would suggest not 4” square tiles .

leslies1952, I'm in your same position and like you I don't want thick grout lines. We are thinking of doing a solid sheet to avoid that issue. Will be interested to hear all the suggestions.

Since we already had our tiles purchased we were in this same dilemma and wanted to install the uppers so we wouldn't have to cut a tile.

Even though it was a pain, we installed the lower cabs first, found out the thickness of our granite then laid our tile with the spacers we were going to use on the floor and measured. I think it came out to just under 18 inches with the granite. We installed the uppers at the correct measurement (taking into account the granite) and when we installed the tile, it fit perfectly with no cut tiles.

One other tip, make sure the lower cabinets and granite are installed completely level.

Consider using a single 4" bold solid color tile as your backsplash and paint the remainder of the area between countertop and overhead cabinets

That would make it easier to hang a shallow spice cabinet,

colorful/useful trivets, a rack for hooks for measuring cups/spoons, etc., that you've set out for the food you're about to cook (and/or leave some of them hanging if you use them regularly)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/247246436/walnut-wooden-spice-rack-modern-design?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_a-home_and_living-kitchen_and_dining-kitchen_storage-spice_racks&utm_custom1=510c3e39-2ce1-4b57-b5fa-28eb727e12c7&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzcbWBRDmARIsAM6uChVbeyv-tl50ccIiyT4Up8bgb-V6mQ42XHNXVlw8au7Tegtn6VtFZS0aAp3kEALw_wcB

or a magnetic bar for the knives you use most,

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/458382068306516424/

a small floating shelf or two for your S&P and/or cream & sugar -- floating shelves you can actually reach!

or even a place for your grocery list -- blackboard paint on a wooden cutting board you no longer use, a white board or cork board or clip board for your grocery list )perhaps even a note and pencil holder) -- whatever you need and use most often.

You can use your backsplash to put what you need close to where you need it and, importantly, you can change your mind and change what you have hung on your backsplash much more easily than with tile.

Thank you, everyone. Just the guidance I was hoping for!

If you change the height of the upper alignment, then they will no longer line up with your tall cabinets. And it will look way goofy.

There is zero issue with cutting any tile. You’re going through an entire yoga class of bending over backwards to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.

Show off your skills and craftsmanship a little and cut the tiles.

Like Sophie says, it's a non issue. How do I know?

At the header height of my windows and doors, I have a "hatband" detail running around all the walls. That detail was supposed to start 96" from my finished floor. Well guess what? When they did the block foundation and put in the headers for the windows, they put them in 2" too low so now my windows are only 94" off the floor.

Not only did it screw up my door heights but it also screwed up my kitchen tile since I used a 3" tile on my backsplash. My counters are 36" off the floor leaving me what should have been 60" to the top of the header. Nope. It's only 58.5" because as I said, they put the headers in too low. (They were able to fudge it about 1/2" in the kitchen area.) So my top tile is not a full tile like I had wanted or expected. Additionally the windows created a situation where there's a 1" sliver underneath instead of 2 full tiles underneath. Again a problem with the headers being lower than expected.

But guess what? If I hadn't told you, I'm guessing you and anyone else coming into my kitchen would have never ever noticed it. Of course now that you know it is there, you can't not see it.

Worry more about the overall look and feel of the space than whether or not a tile is a perfect fit.

LOL Mark Bischak! In my case we had just spent a solid week tiling 3 bathrooms and a laundry room and I was sick of cutting tiles! Of course we still had to cut some tiles on the edges.

I agree cpartist, probably no one would notice if a row of tiles had been cut. And, I probably wouldn't have cared if someone else was installing the tile. But, since it fell to me, the less to cut the better :-)

BTW cpartist - Your kitchen is GORGEOUS!

But, since it fell to me, the less to cut the better :-)

Well first I agree with you. If I were doing the tiling myself (I have in the past), I too would try to avoid cutting tiles as much as possible. LOL. However my comment wasn't directed to you but to the OP. :)

Trust me I did agonize about this snafu. (One of hundreds as you know)

BTW cpartist - Your kitchen is GORGEOUS!

Thank you. It's not done yet, like everything else in the house I should have already been in. LOL.

Do a solid surface backsplash with inlaid "tile" and they will fit perfectly no matter the size. And no grout.

I have posted a picture that shows the layout, and sorry I didn't think of that earlier. The picture shows why I asked the question.

I have 9' ceilings, with nothing at the top to align anything with. The kitchen is a U and the stove is centered on the "bottom" of the U. The wall cabinets do not go over to the hood on the back wall. I am not sure yet how high the tiles will go by the stove, but I want them to line up all the way around. So if I can adjust the height by an inch or so, I am good with that!

Thanks to everyone who graciously took of their valuable time to give me such good suggestions.

We used subway tiles and 6 fit perfectly stacked without needing a cut. However, on the tile behind the range between the 2 cabinets, 2 tiles needed to 1/2" longer. Thank goodness we used fairly cheap tiles from Menards, because they had some that were 3" X 9" and he could cut two of those to fit. The color is off just a smidge, different lot numbers, but it is in the shadow of the hood and no one notices it but us!!

Get rid of those blind corner base cabnets in that design! Super Susan’s rock. And add more drawers. You might want to post the rest of the design in the overhead measurement view. I’ll bet there are other changes that could make it even more functional than ditching those black hole cabinets.

I love my lazy susans. I had a helluva time convincing the cabinet maker to build them!!

You have not taken into account the tile bullnoses; they are part of the whole design. Unless the tile is already selected and you know the trim sizes. How will you finish the tile work on the stove wall? at the sink window? I would not worry about tile cuts; good installers know what to do.

Yes if you want this to work as shown you would need bullnose the same size as the tile

To add another complexity, you may want to plan your outlet locations to fall within whole tiles.

May be a stupid question, but if you move the cabinets up wouldn't it make it more difficult to reach the shelves in the cupboard? I guess it would be ok if you were a tall person, but a short one, not so much.

An inch or two in one direction or other does not usually make a significant difference.

Skippack, I used pencil tile to border the edges for a different look.