Not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for. I have a tile ledge instead of wood or another material and the tile also goes around the sides up to the window. Sorry, not the best picture since the sun was coming through the window when I took it; I can try to get a better pic later. We just have the standard 4x4 white cheap tiles now and I am looking to redo this.

{{!gwi}}

We have had no cracks in the tile itself, however there are cracks in the grout. Not a lot, but most cracks are where the tile meets the countertop and along the edge where the wall turns in toward the window. The cracks aren't horrible and it is 13 years old so I think it's just from normal settling and contraction/expansion.

HTH!

The sun is (oddly enough) blazing right now, and the reflection off the snow is making it even brighter, so I can't take a picture of my kitchen window right now. It'd just come out a big black hole.

Here's a picture of oofasis's window that I used as inspiration.

I found an old picture of my window(obviously everything's green outside) from right after grouting the tile - there's still a bit of excess caulk on the window.

Ignore the stuff in the window. I was using the window to hold the bucket and sponge for grouting.

Ideally, there'd be more room around the window, but I needed storage. There is no cracking of the grout. I made sure to use a matching sanded caulk for every plane change to ensure no cracking.

My old kitchen was like that. It had tile up to and on the sill, and on the sides about halfway up the window. There was older tile on when we bought the house 11yesrs ago. About 10 years ago we took that off and put on new style in the same manner. It never cracked or had any other problems. The window was probably 8-9" off the counter though if that makes a difference.

hi advert...

No problems yet with it...it's been just 9 months. Before I didn't have tile on the sill and the painted surface didn't hold up well to the splashing...This is better in my opinion.

KA:)

We tiled to the edge, but not the sill. The edge is capped with very thin metal trim.
{{!gwi}}

Thanks a lot for all the pictures and info about cracking. I guess I just overthink things... I will probably put in a wood sill/stool and forego the trim for tile.

Thanks again!

Dan

How would I go about putting in a granite or marble sill? The window is going to be a new Marvin casement. sill that comes with the window is maybe 2" in depth max. If I put stone on top of it, it will likely interfere with the crank mechanism. Good idea and it would have looked great, but I think I would have needed to order the window to accomodate the granite. Although, when the granite person comes, I'll suggest it and see what they say.

If you've only got about 2" in depth, the wood sill would probably be better. Sorry, I was thinking that you might have more depth.

Anne

With a granite sill, you can have it built out to form a ledge if your window sill is shallow.

this one is a deeper sill:

and this one is a shallow sill:

Thanks for the pictures of the granite sill. were those windows installed when the kitchen was redone? If so, did you have to specify to the window person that you wanted to do granite sills so that they left a space for the granite? Just curious as to how it would work. I love the idea and will ask the granite person when the time comes.

If it doesn't work out, I'll just add on a 2" wide piece of window stool like I have for the rest of the wndows in the house.

I very much appreciate the photos, folks. Am dithering about a replacement window over the shower/tub. New window, deeper sill because of new insulation and siding. Have wondered about using stone (for its resistance to rot) at sill and finding a tile to work where DH's SawsAll did some real damage along the perimeter edging of window frame.

Gotta show him the photos.

I told my GC what I wanted and the fabricator worked the stone to fit the sills.
Sorry, I can't be more specific. The deeper sill window was already there before the remodel (and had tile over the sill), however, the narrower sill windows went in with the remodel.