Marvelous! Thank you, dlbkelly_cfl_rr_com and the rest! I used Bostik Dimension diamond urethane grout which I’d used before with little issue, but I apparently waited too long to wipe AND since I had varying tile thicknesses this time -- I had the clever and time-consuming idea of combining 3 different styles/brands of tile sheets -- there was more residue to clean off. My glass -- regular, polished and frosted -- and stainless/polished steel mosaic tile looked horrid. Sadly, I used the manufacturer’s suggestion of Windex and that made the area’s grout I tested just a tiny shade of bluish white instead of brilliant white - only noticeable to me but still annoying. A half-vinegar/half-water concoction worked with the bulk of the thinner residue and I finished off the thicker bits with a razor blade/glass scraper (only on the glass); the glass scraper was necessary for the frosted glass tiles but I will go over it again with a pumice stone or magic eraser as was suggested elsewhere for matte tile. The brushed stainless tiles are giving me a hard time and the polished metal tiles did get scratched by the grout/ocelo no-scratch scrub and wipe sponges but a huge improvement! If this hadn’t worked, I’d have to run out and get the Bostik Blaze which is also good for urethane grout haze clean-up.

Well, I finally settled on a plain 'ol sheet of brushed stainless from my local IKEA! I did like how the tin helped the new stainless range hood look less out of place, and I liked the contrast of having something different behind the stove - there is A LOT of beadboard in the rest of the room. But after you all pointed out the "busy-ness" of the pressed tin and the tile, I needed some kind of compromise. For $15, I'm happy and will have no regrets about ripping it out if I change my mind any time in the near future. When the range finally dies I will almost certainly replace it with one that does not have that "lip" with the dials running 6" up the back, but one that is just counter height. At that point I can tile, and since I have an indefinite amount of time to prepare I can start gathering ideas and photos. I can't believe I did my first DIY tile install and my first DIY tile tear-out in the same afternoon! Duh! Live and learn. Bill V., I'm glad to know I got the grout right (well, my local tile supplier got the grout right!). From now on every decorating decision in this house gets run through Photoshop mock-ups first! Thanks all for your help! Your input really helped me clarify things and make a decision. Pics to follow when I get to it. :)

Ok...so let me get this straight. You laid a VINYL tile floor and added VINYL TILE GROUT to the seams (to give it that realistic look). You were unable to clean the grout haze off of the tiles and now, several weeks later, you are looking for a fix to the haze? The vinyl tiles and vinyl grout products are different (in chemistry and in use) than a 'regular' grout. You will want to reach out to the manufacturer of BOTH products (tile and grout) to find out what can and CANNOT be used to deal with this issue.\ For each chemical (like the vinyl tile grout) there is an 'undo it' chemical. The tricky part is when the 'undo' product is NASTIER than the first chemical. In other words, the cure may be worse than the disease. Please reach out to TEC and ask about a stripping chemical. Then reach out to the vinyl tile manufacturer and ask if that chemical is allowed over their tile. Go from there.

That's not the way renting works. When you own your home, you can redecorate, repaint, reconfigure, and renovate to your heart's (and wallet's!) content. As a renting tenant, you have certain legal rights, including rights to peaceful enjoyment of a healthful environment. However, I don't know of any city where a tenant's legal rights include decor which matches the tenant's furniture. I'm a landlord. I'm pretty easy to get along with, but if that were my house and you were my prospective tenant, I'd respectfully and politely suggest that you should look for a different place to live. I'm amending this to say that I didn't mean that to sound quite as callous as it does now that I reread it. I might tend to such reactions because I've had tenants do truly amazing things to my rentals. One drilled a hole through the wall between the garage and the kitchen, and spliced his welder into the electric range receptacle. Another Sharpie-scrawled a bizarre message to a former boyfriend or girlfriend on a wall. I could go on for pages. So can every other landlord, I'm sure. You can't make this stuff up. So I think it's good that you're asking whether your idea might cause permanent damage (which there's a pretty solid chance that it will). How about this. Maybe you can find a nice folding screen at Ikea or one of the import stores, and set that up in front of the fireplace. You could even commission an artistic friend to paint an attractive scene on the screen, in colors that work with your furniture.