Backsplash

Have you ever selected a backsplash for your kitchen? I haven't. At least not until now, that is. I wouldn't have ever guessed it would be so terribly difficult to make what one would think would be a pretty straightforward decision! But I feel like the entire look/feel of the kitchen will be based solely on the backsplash I choose, and that is a LOT of pressure!

For example, I can't pick out the mini-pendant lights that we'll put over the kitchen island until AFTER the backsplash is selected. If I were to go with a white backsplash as I had originally thought I would, then my pendants would need to be white. However, if I go with a cream/beige color (as I'm currently leaning towards), then my pendant lights would need to match. I never thought so much would be riding on the simple decision of selecting our kitchen backsplash.

So the past several weeks I've been mulling over what I think I want. As far as material, I had initially thought of stainless steel to give the kitchen the "commercial/industrial" look I wanted. But then the thought of a stainless backsplash competing with all of the stainless appliances seemed waaaaaay to overwhelming, and I didn't want the backsplash competing with the appliances. I want the backsplash to be muted/quiet -- NOT a focal point -- so the appliances and dark cabinets have a sort of "pop" (if that makes sense). So once I decided against a stainless steel backsplash, the only other option I wanted to consider was glass.

Don't get me wrong -- I looked into other materials, but nothing seemed as simple, easy to care for and beautiful as glass. I've been ordering samples from online retailers and visiting every local tile store I could find, but still was unable to find "The One" I wanted for my kitchen. Until yesterday...

I went into another local tile store and met a super sweet young lady who was very knowledgable and very interested in helping me find exactly what I was looking for. When she first suggested these new, HUGE porcelain tiles, I wasn't at all on board. I had been thinking of something larger than a typical 3x6 subway tile -- perhaps 4x12 or 6x12 -- but the 8x24 tile she busted out was not at all something I thought I'd want. Until I thought about it more and tried to imagine what it would look like.

Here are some pics from the company's website that shows these ginormous 8x24 tiles used as a kitchen backsplash. They are beautiful!

These first ones are (I think) the exact color mine would be. Only I'm pretty sure with the space I have between my cabinets and counter, I'd only have room for 2 rows of tiles, not 3:

Here's another example using different colors of tiles. I love the simplicity, clean lines and soft reflection (similar to glass):

One more pic -- if you imagine the 3 rows of darker tiles on the top are actually cabinets, then you'd have a pretty decent example of what it'd look like in my kitchen:

So the color of this pic is totally off (I blame bad lighting and my iPhone 4 camera... can't wait to upgrade to a 4S!), but here's a sample of our granite with one of the actual porcelain tiles. I promise the color matches very nicely, and gives a warm tone without being too gold-y:

So I'm curious what you guys think! I love the larger tiles because it means less grout lines, which means less "busy-ness" -- which is exactly what I'm after. I can't even tell you what a relief it is to finally be this close to making a decision on the backsplash! YAY!!!!!!