Please don't let there be a "Sea Pearl needs a backsplash III." I hate being so indecisive! LOL

Two new tiles today. I put them with Cirrus and Aquarius(not a crackle).
I think one of the four might work. But I will be on the road tomorrow to pick up encore samples.
Will post when I get back home.
Left to right...
Aquarius, Cirrus, Woodward, Washington. Woodward may be too beige. Woodward and Washington are from McIntones Ceramics-Legacy Series. The crackle is so much prettier than on the other two.

When I look at this picture I can see aqua tones. Maybe it is mint tones instead. I swear my eyes are getting bad. Either that or GW changed the web site. Since today I have to enlarge the posts to be able to read them. Did GW change?

Peke, good luck tomorrow. Be sure & look at Celery. Strange name for it as it is not at all green like the vegetable, but a pretty aqua. It may be too much color, but take a look. The Bali & Ice have been propped against my counters all week.

Here's the Encore silver. Looks dark beige.

Encore mint. Tan with green tones.

Encore Ice

Encore Celery. Green with beige

Encore Cashmere. Cream and green which is much better than beige and green. This one has possibilities.

Encore Moonlight. Cream.

Encore Storm. Green, but looks gray here.

Encore Stream. olive... yellow green

Encore Bali.I need to paint the wall. I like the right tile better, but I know I will get a mixture.

Encore Sky. Looks cream and gray-green. Another possibility.

Encore Lagoon. IRL it works with the green in the counter, but geez, what color would I paint the wall??????

Encore Riviera.

Encore Slate. Slate was the prettiest with Sea Pearl. Green-gray in the middle of the tile with blue.

But again.... what color would I paint my walls?

Potomac. Tile design guy liked this one. At the store it was perfect... with my unsealed piece of slab.

The large tile is growing on me!

Yukon. There were four colors that were so close. I could only tell these two apart.

Yukon and Potomac.

All pictures were taken at night. Will take more pictures in the morning to compare.

One thing to think about when you are envisioning these tiles is how much the grout is going to change the look, in a good way. This is Marthastoo "Mint".

Here's another pic of Marthastoo. I had a hard time envisioning what theb grout was going to do to the tile. Totally lighteded up the look.

Your Encore tiles look dark in the pictures. I had same problem when trying to show them to you. For example, the Ice is practically white, and Mint and Celery are paler than shown.

I like Storm & Cashmere, and I actually like the Lagoon too, plays up the green & looks pretty w your cabinets and is a nice contrast with the counters. I guess you could just paint a neutral cream wall color.

I love the encore tiles!!

Okay, I'm adding on a few pics to this post. I realized that except for that really dark picture in Sea Pearl 1, there are no pics of your kitchen. The pics that really show off the beauty of your cabinets are before the Sea Pearl was installed. I also am posting a couple of the Sea Pearl.

Peke, your cabinets are beautiful & I love the light floors

How cool are these ovens. Gorgeous wood! Love the pulls.

This post was edited by romy718 on Sat, Mar 15, 14 at 13:08

Seapearl on island

New Sea Pearl on perimeters. Okay Peke, we're ready.

The kitchen certainly doesn't lack interest that needs to be compensated for with accent tile, fancy tile, or more color. The same tone of crackle accent just disappears in the crackle subways, so it wouldn't be worth the expense to me. Any ceramic tile that matched the lighter cream or gray tones of the counter would probably work fine. Not sure what more I can add, but I'll stick around for Part III. ;)

lcskaisgir, as you said, the gray with blue or green tones work.

Bookworm, I love your floor. I wish I had a room to put it in. The tiles look darker for sure. This time I picked tiles that I didn't think would work. LOL

Homebuyer, I think I like them too. We started out looking for a cream color that didn't look yellow or too tan.

Romy, thank you. I guess I should have added them. III here we come! Here are some more.
May_flowers, I have seen some light countertops with plain subway tile, and all I can see is the subway tile. It is so plain by itself. I don't want it to be flashier than the sea pearl, but I don't want it to be plain either. I think the crackle tiles will be my choice, for sure.

Oh that horribly ugly floor! It will have to wait. Shoot, I still haven't stained my new oak stairs. Well, they have been in over a year and are still covered with brown paper. We are afraid we'll screw them up. LOL We finally took the plastic off the fridge and freezer.

Eventually we want to get a table made for the other side of the island sort of like in this picture.

I meant the crushed glass doesn't stand out enough to make it worth the expense. I called it crackle by mistake. I like the crackle tile.

What do you think about the size of these tiles? I think they are 4x12. Too contemporary? I was planning on putting stainless steel behind the rangetop, but there is the problem of how wide to make it. 36" like the range or 42" like the hood. It would be easier to use tile.

I really don't want to clean the grout and tile behind the rangetop every time I cook...I am such a messy cook. My mom used to have those plastic covers on her couch when I was little. That is what I need for the backsplash when I cook! LOL.

Maybe I can put glass there, but I would have to figure out how to trim it out next to the tile.

Here are the tiles during the day.

I like these tiles.

Just playing. Not fond of the celery.

Love Riviera. It doesn't have much color variations like the Bali does. The two Bali tiles look totally different.

I love these two together.

Still like the Riviera. Bali tiles are very different. The Bali on the right is perfect though.

I like these two together.

Riviera and sky

Riviera, Moonlight, and Cashmere. Square tiles remind me of a bathroom with these colors. I like the Riviera and Cashmere together. A lighter version of Lagoon and Slate.

May_flowers, it is confusing. Some companies call them crackle glass.

If I go with a light gray or cream tile, I am not sure how I would get a blue green paint color to complement.

If I go with a blue green tile, I can go with a cream color paint, but the rest of the area would be cream, brown, and light blond oak. Boring! Save that for if we ever sell!

I will try putting paint with the tiles to see what I come up with.

Peke, you will get a beautiful look with just one color of the crackle. My silver has about 4-5 different tiles within the mix of them, having plenty enough interest. If you start mixing more than one color together (unless it's a mosaic), it's going to be crazy. I know cuz I wanted to mix some blues in with the silver & both my KD & the tile sales girl said NO. I can see now that it would have ruined the mix. It ends up all blending together & creating a beautiful, interesting look with depth (and sparkle when you get close). Not a busy look. It all blends. I like the Riviera better than the Bali. Sounds like you do too. That's one eliminated. You don't like the celery (the description has yellow sage in it). Two gone. The Moonlight isn't doing much for the Sea Pearl & I'm guessing the Ice isn't either? The Storm is going to give you the most variation, the 5th on the left side of the tile board. My tiles sat on my counter for 6 weeks because I thought they were too taupey & I wanted some blue. Once they were up & grouted, a totally different look. Like Bookworm said, you just have to pick. I think you now have the largest collection of Encore samples on Gardenweb. I love crackle tiles. If Seapearl's tile isn't in this bunch, there are more manufacturers of beautiful crackle. Here the level of variation in your samples:
Ice -minimum variation
Moonlight-moderate
Sky- minimum to moderate
Bali - moderate
Riviera - moderate
Mint - moderate
Celery- minimum to moderate
Cashmere- moderate to high
Lagoon-moderate
Slate-moderate to high
Storm-high
Stream- high
Cameo (bookworm's) - moderate
Silver- (mine) - moderate

This post was edited by romy718 on Sun, Mar 16, 14 at 13:35

[Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Chicago Photographers Marcel Page Photography

I am loving this look and the lighter tiles you are looking at in this color vein. It flows so beautifully and would provide many options in the future rather than going with a color. I think the sparkly tiles will date themselves eventually as much as I do love them. I could be wrongâ¦I often am!!!

[Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Edina General Contractors John Kraemer & Sons
Everyone must put a red plate on their counter. I love how it looks like a big red American Beauty Rose in full bloom.

If my monitor is accurate, I'm liking Riviera also.

This morning Sky is in the lead. Riviera, then Bali. Riviera looks good during the day, but not at night.

I am going to keep them up on the wall for a while. I will have to ask the guy if he gave me his only two samples of each though.

Finally!!!

Way back, I couldn't decide between Cameo and Mint. when I had KD join me at tile shop, he asked about mixing them, "NO!" cried the saleswoman. "You will have enough subtle variation as it is."

She was correct. I listened to them, and went with the paler one.

I'm liking the Bali. I have to go back to files to find the names behind the colors. For example, the top right is what? and the one below, what? (I think that is silver)

Are you getting them square, or the large rectangle?

The top right is Bali. The one below Bali is Riviera. Peke, did you get a blue/green & a dark grey tile with the Storm? I thought you might like that one because the blue/green kind of reminded me of Cashmere & some of the aqua sparkly accent tiles you liked.
Here's a pick of a couple of rows of Sky I found. Very pretty.
Peke, email me if you want me to send my two pieces of Bali?
What's wrong with the Riviera at night? It doesn't need to match the Sea Pearl, just blend. And it's all going to look so different upright & grouted. The grout (light grout) will lighten the look & highlight the variations.

This post was edited by romy718 on Mon, Mar 17, 14 at 0:16

Here's a pic of Cerulean & Bali. Cerulean in the frame & the subway tiles are Bali.