We did a 'blend' of 4 6 x 6 in a tub surround on all three walls. The idea was that the tiles looked random, however, in actuality, I laid the entire thing (all three walls) out on the bedroom floor and moved them around until I liked the layout. They looked randomly placed, but they weren't. You could probably use that method with a backsplash. Just lay it out like you like it and he can place them on the walls in that order. Here is a pic of the tile. You can only see one wall, but you get the idea.

It took us quite a bit of work to get a pattern that looked random. We ended up moving tile around on the floor until we found a placement that looked good to us, then made a chart of this pattern for our contractor to use. He wasn't thrilled with the extra work, but I would not have trusted him to come up with a pleasing arrangement on his own. And he was a good tile person, too.

If you have the time, I would lay it out yourself and label the tiles with tape.

sas95, I believe that is the tile I want!! Is that WZ? I am going to see it on Thursday and have to drive a bit to find a dealer to see it in person and will order it if it goes with my counter sample. How do you like it and if not the Alhambra what tile is that please. Very pretty! What are your counters?

Thanks all. So I assumed right that thought needs to go into it and glad I asked. Then I can only blame myself if I don't like it.

Yes, it is the WZ Alhambra. But it's not their pre-mixed colors. We chose the colors and ordered them separately. Also, it's not the beveled brick they show in their mix. It's the 2x6.

Our counters are Caesarstone Champagne Limestone. If you go with these tiles, you may find it helpful to choose tile first, then countertop. I knew I wanted a limestone-type color from the outset, but when I brought the tile samples to the store there really was one Caesarstone color that looked "best" to me out of the 4 or 5 available there at the time. We are really happy with the tile and feel it "makes" our kitchen.

Your kitchen is beautiful and that is my goal also to have the tile "make it." Great minds think alike and I was already considering my own mix in the case the blends won't work. I think the non beveled style would be better on the budget. This stuff can get pricey.

I will have green soapstone counters and a black sink so want some gray in the mix and not too much brown.

Can I ask how you figured quanity for your mix? As in ho many colors and percentage of each color?

Thanks and again, awesome kitchen!

Tinker, we ended up using 6 colors, mainly because when we were playing around with them in the store we liked how they all worked together. It's a mixture of uvas, trigo, sagebrush, paja, perla and river rock. We ordered equal amounts of the first four, then a smaller amount (I forget the percentage) of the perla (cream) and river rock (grey) tiles, figuring that they would be more of an accent.

I am thinking the Alhambra tiles would look very nice with soapstone.

This post was edited by sas95 on Wed, Mar 19, 14 at 13:13

Thanks again sas95. I am taking a bit of a drive tomorrow to a tile store that carries it and will see if it will work and what the pricing is.

Anyone know of a similar tile, maybe something that is tonal without having to blend?

Horus Art has a nice blend, Cristalli but yellow and white blended tiles and not sure I would like it. I have attached a picture.

Hmmm, maybe I could make a blend of other colors from Horus Art if the WZ idea does not work out.

Custom Mosaic Designer will create the blend and the design for you. If your tile size isn't given, just design it with the closest size they have. You'll still get a design that you can lay out yourself.

Here is a link that might be useful: how to blend tile-Custom Mosaic Designer