Nothing personal but I don't like the tile at all, too darkish, too neutral. I really don't like tile backsplashes because they require that you either hang your paper towel holder (and any other countertop type item) from the bottom of the cabinet above or that you use up your countertop space to hold stuff that could be wall mounted but isn't....yes you can drill through tile and hang it on the backsplash but no one wants to do that because it may wreck it for resale....and the newer painted glass backsplashes are beautiful....but...for reasons unclear to me, people hate installing a 4" or 6" backsplash in the same color as the counter tops (so water does not drip behind the cabinets) and using just paint on the wall above it. That being said if your kitchen sink does not meet the window I would put bigger tiles between the kitchen sink and window (less grout lines to get yucky from the water) and if you are not using a stainless backer above the stove and if the stove isn't in an island I would put a backsplash there too (although probably not tile as grease in grout lines is just plain ugly to clean)....a firm vote for as little backsplash as you can get away with.

Okay, I'll kibitz. I'm at retirement age and would find your choices hopelessly dated to the 90s. The red or gold color palette is my least favorite and I know it's unpopular with the younger buyer. Our furniture has camel, red, and olive tones, so we had to work with warm tones instead of the popular white and gray. We went greige. I have natural cherry Shaker with a lightly patterned greige quartz countertop and a porcelain tile floor with gray and warmer tones. No backsplash yet, but I feel it's important to have one so your finishes don't look builder basic. A mosaic is much too contemporary with your finishes and too busy with GO. Some say mosaics are dated, but I like squares as accent tile in bathrooms.

I have GO in my guest bath, but it's the light version with a cream base instead of gold. I have it on dark stained cherry--no red undertone. The floor is Armstrong Alterna Multistone in White--a gray/cream/caramel quiet pattern. Their beiges and bisques are much too pink. I would take the warmth out of one of your choices--by that I mean the ginger or the red tones in the cabinets or the gold in the granite. Look at Alterna in the gray family. I like Multistone in Gray Dust. Anything busier than that in the stone imitators and it looks fake to me. It pairs well with a quiet countertop like a solid quartz.

Well the cabinets are in the garage and the granite has been bought.

I cannot go chasing what other people's taste is. I realize that maple shaker may be 90s, but in a year and a half, espresso cabinets with frosted glass and concrete countertops and those ugly glass mosaic backsplashes with the long rectangles are going to look dated too. This is why I had decided not to chase whatever is the "latest" or whatever "younger buyers" are saying they're buying now based on HGTV programming, where every redo looks the same. In a year and a half, that could change. Today's "contemporary, sleek, modern" kitchen is tomorrow's "OMG, that's so dated."

If I had chosen white cabinets, someone would say they hate white kitchens. If I'd chosen linen, someone would say they looked like dirty white. Dark cabinets in a darker kitchen are horrible. Everyone hates oak, unless you are in a Craftsman bungalow and you buy quartersawn cabinets from Crownpoint.

My kitchen is smallish and narrow, which is why I chose the Alterna bisque floor....it leans more towards the gray end of beige and less toward the reddish and is not at all busy. My contractor felt the Alterna white would look TOO white under the high-hats.

There is no window over the sink so a backsplash there isn't really necessary there if the counter is caulked to the wall. Right now I'm leaning towards NO backsplash and letting it be a blank slate for someone to customize as they like.

but no one wants to do that because it may wreck it for resale....

This would be a first for me - suggesting you not do a tile backsplash because drilling through tile would inhibit resale opportunities. Find me a buyer who would even notice it! I agree with your sister - no backsplash if you don't want one. No buyer will even notice (I think it will look better painted in a color that gives some pop rather than an ugly tile).

"I think if you can get "Well I don't love it but I can live with it for a while and the house is in a good location", everything else is gravy."

If I were a potential buyer I'd rather choose a house with an old, outdated kitchen I could remodel to my own taste, than a recently remodeled one that wasn't at all to my taste. My frugal conscience (and bank account) wouldn't allow me to rip out a perfectly good "new" kitchen. I'd probably keep looking.

If you plan to move in a couple or so years, perhaps you would be better off making some cosmetic changes instead of a major overhaul?

As far as a backsplash goes, that can get very taste specific. I find most to be either too banal, or too busy. If you plan to sell in the not too distant future, that may be a decision to leave to the next owner.

I don't like that tile at all. I'd keep looking or just leave it off and let the next person do their own.

I'd paint in very neutral tones.

I'm voting for a painted backsplash.

Putting myself in the shoes of DD/DS & peers (homebuyers w/ young families) I think the cabinet choice you made is good. Some will never want painted cabs and those who want them could do a lot with only paint & hardware if the base is maple in a basic Shaker style.

Backsplashes are among the most subjective components and you can't change them out easily once installed. Why put one in if you don't need it or love it,

Just a thought...Someone here posted in spring/summer a kitchen with light granite that had only a one or 2" piece of her countertop stone around the perimeter. Just enough to offer protection from water spills, etc. But not enough to be a feature. Many commented that it was functional without appearing dated. If someone is pining to do a BS, they can tile above it instead of having to demo.

This post was edited by amck on Sun, Jan 4, 15 at 13:37

I didn't realize you had already purchased the materials for your reno when I wrote the comment above.

So yes, leave the backspash up to the next owner so they can personalize the space for themselves.

FWIW, I live with an original 1991 kitchen as do many (maybe even most?)people in our development. I don't think your choices will make your place harder to sell.

I was an HGTV addict at one time. Stopped watching the channel when I realized I just didn't like most of what was "IN". I'm old enough to remember when avocado green and harvest gold were "IN". This too shall pass, became my mantra regarding HGTV.

I hope you enjoy your new kitchen while you're living in the home hackwriter. Eighteen years is a hella long time to live with kitchen you hate.

I currently have a backsplash that looks very similar in color and tone in my white kitchen. It has a way of darkening the room.

I vote for no tile backsplash. I've done this before in previous homes. I couldn't make up my mind. I've successfully sold the houses.

I think the idea of the 2" band around the perimeter is an interesting idea. Have your contractor cut you a piece. Place along the counter and see what you think.

Hackwriter: Are you doing beige because you like it, or because you think it's good for resale?
The way I read your posts, it looks like you just like beige.
So that's fine.

If you want "classic", a painted backsplash is classic (and since you don't care about resale, it doesn't matter if someone thinks it's "builder basic").

Also classic is 6x6 squares, 4.25x4.25 squares, and I'll throw 3x6 subways in there (and wait for the complaints ðÂÂÂ). Again, I'm pretty sure that 6x6 and 4.25x4.25 sizes are dated, or "builder basic", but they are also classic.

I think ceramic is more classic than tumbled this-and-that, or glass, or marble, or stone of any sort.

Hope that helps!

Get a backsplash if you want one. A basic cream colored tile that matches one of the lighter creams in your granite would work too.

If you like the idea of a two inch backslash, I would consider one that is more like a decorative trim. Not just a band of granite.

If you are concerned about your choices, than hold off on the backsplash. You are right that you cannot think about what a future buyer would want in your house, in your location, in your town etc. etc. You don't have anything offensive and peculiar to your taste only.

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.

zorroslw -- I disagree that white will be out in a few years. It has already stood the test of time and will continue to do so.

Here is a link that might be useful: Timeless White Kitchens

We did a 2" backsplash and LOVE IT. Good luck with your choices.

You sort of contradict yourself saying you want to do what will appeal to buyers, but that you're not going to chase other people's tastes.

As a Kitchen designer, I will tell you your cabinet and granite choices are good. Your floor choice is not good, but may be ok depending on where you live. Most people nowadays do not want vinyl flooring.

As for backsplash, do no backsplash in the granite, and go with a nice neutral travertine tile in a subway pattern, 2x6 pieces not 2". If you put in 4" or 6" of granite, it's tough to remove if someone doesn't want it. If you do tile, it's not too difficult to change. Be sure you seal the backsplash tile, and be sure your granite is sealed also.

Good luck!

Regarding the flooring: I considered all of the following:

1) hardwood - not practical, problems matching to other hardwood in the house that will be uncovered when I pull carpets up after the kitchen is done.

2) laminate - Sorry, just don't like it. It looks like, well, laminate.

3) cork - didn't much care for how it looked.

4) Tile of various kinds -- ceramic, tile that looks like wood, etc. All rejected because they are hard and cold underfoot.

5) Linoleum (real linoleum, not the vinyl we call linoleum). Trade name: Marmoleum. I just didn't like it.

Friends of mine had this Alterna grouted vinyl done in their kitchen and it looked amazing -- like the real thing, only softer underfoot and easy to clean. That's why I chose it.

These same friends advised against travertine because gunk gets in the indentations in the stone and it's hard to keep clean. I love subway tile and was considering just a plain cream tile, but now I'm leaning towards bagging the idea of a backsplash completely.

Dear sjhockeyfan...I can tell a sad story about the wrong drill bit and too visible broken tile...But the correct takeaway is: if you buy tile, buy and keep spares and use the special drillbits for the kind of tile you buy if you intend to drill holes through it....and hope that your tile is not so old that it was sunk into cement rather then installed in the normal fashion.

Just want to add:

There was a post a few weeks back, about how you should vary the depth of colour. So if your countertop, cabs, floor are all mid-tones, then you should do a lighter backsplash. In other words, a mid-tone red or green will look too 'blah' because there is not enough contrast. That was the gist of that thread, and it seems to ring true to me.

The backsplash you linked to is another mid-tone, so I would avoid it. Plain cream subways would look better, IMO, but then you have to be careful about the undertones, and make sure it matches your counter.

A light creamy paint might be easier to select as there are more colour options.

edited to add last sentence on 1st pp.

This post was edited by Hydragea on Mon, Jan 5, 15 at 9:41

Its very difficult to anticipate what buyers want. Kitchen designers are constantly coming up with new trends, to entice us to remodel and buy. I think your cabinet and counter choices are good too. Some say neutrals in the beige tones might be boring, but I disagree. Too much color can get tiresome much more quickly than a neutral. And you always do better when selling a home if you stick to neutral colors. You can add pops of color with accessories, window treatments, etc which are much easier to change out than a green backsplash. If you don't feel the need for a backsplash, don't put one in. If I was looking at a home with nice cabinets and counters, lack of a backsplash would not deter me from buying it. If anything, I think it would be more appealing, because I could put in a backsplash that was my taste, not the previous owner's.