I was surprised to see this back up again...it has been awhile since I had posted! But anyway we still haven't picked yet. But after visiting every tile store and ordering multiple samples off the internet, I THINK we are leaning toward going forward with the black subway and glass. My husband did make a mock-up right after I last posted and I think it looked beautiful with the granite but I still wasn't sure about how dark the kitchen would be or, as Caroleoh pointed out, if the style was right. But we haven't found anything else that really calls to us and we keep finding ourselves coming back to it. I have had the mock-up sitting next to the stove since he made it and the glossy tile really does reflect back the light and the overall look may not be as dark as I think. I will try to get a picture tomorrow when the light is better and post it to see what you think. I also have 3 more samples coming in the mail Monday (including a black glass subway) but I am thinking if none of those work, we will go for it. As far as style, I wish I knew what I wanted! I am having that problem throughout the house. That is part of the problem. I have leaned toward traditional in the past but the few new purchases I have made for the house have seemed to be more contemporary so now I have this hodge podge thing going on...and then I will pick up a decorating magazine and see a well done cottage room and drool over that as well. Right now I have 5 colors painted on the greatroom wall...sigh... Anyway the table and bar stools came from JC Penney catalog. We wanted a counter height table set for the breakfast but needed bar height for the stools and wanted them all to match. None of the local furniture stores had that available but I just happened to find the set on closeout PLUS free shipping even though it was heavy furniture. It was a great deal and we are happy with the quality. Thanks for all the help and bringing this back up again. Can I post all my other rooms too for help???!!! :)

I can see why it might be advisable to remove the left/rt portions of tile, but I would be inclined to wait until ithe kitchen is completed before deciding. If, as your gut tells you, it "needs" to come down, nothing is really lost except a little more time with it up. Perhaps knowing you are not "locked-in" or committed to it, will help give the perspective to view it more objectively while deciding for sure. This way you will not only have the chance to see it with everything else in place, but you will also have the opportunity to get used to it, before deciding if you truly dislike it, or just haven't gotten used to it being there. As subtle (in color) as our tile is, after months of looking at white painted Sheetrock, it still looked "different" and stood out when we looked at our kitchen. Once we became accustomed to it, we couldn't imagine our walls without it. That's how I am with many things--after living with a blank wall or empty space for any period of time, even a long awaited piece of furniture or decor item jumps out at me, and almost seems like too much, until I get used to the vacant space being filled. Thanks for the compliments on our backsplash Laura and andreak100! It's the Opera Glass tile from Artistic Tile (Stilatto pattern) in Wolfgang White. It does read greenish-blue(-grey) in certain lights or times of day. We had to think about that one while deciding if we wanted to use it, and obviously decided to go for it! Good luck Laura! Honestly, whatever you decide will look terrific!

So tired of hearing " but that will make it look dated" or "it wouldn't be good for resale" Everything is going to be dated at some point, the kitchen designers, cabinet companies and appliance companies make sure of that. Example: stainless steel appliances were just coming on the market 15 years ago when we gutted our kitchen for a remodel. It was hard for me to find stainless in my area at that time, I live in a small mid western town. So, have you noticed in the past few years appliance companies have been trying to bring out new colors, grayed looking stainless, now ice white etc. they are trying to make people think their stainless appliances are soon going to be "dated". But I have read in several articles that stainless is still the number one choice. I chose a cinnamon stained cherry wood for our new build. I thought about white because that is the trend right now, but I reasoned cherry cabinets will always be in style while the white trend Has just a few more years. I won't be a slave to trends. Just my opinion.

Thank you for the tile info. Your kitchen looks beautiful! Are you loving the sea pearl? How durable is it? I put a similar quartzite called Taj Mahal in my current kitchen last year. It's nearly bullet proof. My stone yard told me to expect the Sea Pearl to be similar in durability. I hope to have the same experience in my new home with the Sea Pearl as I do with the Taj Mahal. Thanks again for the tile info!