Thanks everyone. I'm all smiley and giddy hearing your kind comments. It melts me heart. I'm glad to hear people like the backsplash tile. It is pretty bold. I was also THRILLED with how the stain on the island turned out. Interestingly, lots of people say the kitchen has a peaceful look and feel to it and that wasn't necessarily something I was aiming for but my kitchen mission statement did include "casual but sophisticated/elegant" which might boil down to "peaceful or tranquil". We feel very blessed to have been able to do such a large scale kitchen remodel and are thrilled with how everything turned out. It also means we won't be moving for the next 15+ years! I can't wait until the bar stools are in and I can start serving snacks to my kids there. We are borrowing one bar stool right now and it gets a lot of use. clarygrace and others - I'm glad to hear you think the colors are coordinate b/c I was in a quandary about that at one point. I can't wait to see your kitchen and island. We love the shape of ours but did it b/c it worked within our constraints. We didn't want to mess with the existing deck outside the bay windows and we couldn't push right much more either b/c of the powder room. And speaking of the powder room - here are pictures of that which was also part of this remodel: tea4all - the pantry is pretty small as far as walk-in pantries go. Finished dimensions are 5.5' long by 46'' wide. We weren't originally going to do a pantry but it made sense with the rest of the layout (it brought the oven closer to the rest of the kitchen) and I am really glad we did! It was actually framed larger and had to be redone b/c large aisles were more important to me than a few more inches in the pantry. The other detail I forgot to include - the grout color on the backsplash is Custom Grout Light Smoke and on the floor it is Lacrete Parchment (just in case someone really wants to know - ha!)

Jeanette Vey, My apologies for the delayed response, Houzz has not been sending us alerts/notifications. You can go down to your local hardware store/Home Depot or Lowes and ask the tile department for a bottle of cleaner and grout sealer. Clean the tile and grout according to the specs and directions. Follow through with the grout sealer- there should be step by step directions posted on the back of the bottle. Sealers come in spray bottles for an easy DIY project. We always recommend sealing the grout, especially if it is white. As I think of it now, I can't remember us never not doing the sealing process with our backsplashes. Hope this helps! from our team here at The Couture Floor Company. The Flooring Blog The Couture Floor Company

Hi, I need help with my kitchen backsplash. Its a transitional to contemporary style home currently under construction. The cabinets will be omega white uppers and smokey grey lowers. CS London Grey countertop. Here are two backsplash choices I have so far. 1) The flooring we have selected is seen in above pic. (and) 2) I am also open to other suggestions. I initially considered glass sheet, but those are not going to work well behind my cooktop. I also do not like subway tiles. Prefer minimal grout lines. The tile in the second pic- the tile would go all the way from the countertop to the bottom of the uppers- so I won't have any horizontal grout lines. I don't like the backsplash looking too busy. Do you guys have any suggestions for me? I am finding this super hard and I think my brain is fried after all the decisions making thus far! TIA.

White, white white!!! You have quite enough going on in this room already!