Here are a few other pics.

http://s1011.photobucket.com/albums/af233/flatman/Kitchen%20Oct%202011/

The colors go well, but IMHO, the little 1"x1" mosaic is dated.

Another pic. Folks usually get more response with pics embedded.

Your kitchen is looking great, btw! How nice to get to the bs stage!

I couldn't resist posting one more pic. The money shot! What kind of granite is that?

This is a possible choice for BS.

http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af233/flatman/Kitchen%20Oct%202011/0d1dbbb5.png

Let's try this again...
Thanks...been a long time comin...4-5 yrs in the making.
Granite is cashmere gold.

How do you embed the pics?

Once you do it, it's easy. With the photo open in photobucket, copy the HTML code. Come to GW and open a message box. Paste the code into the message. It will just look like text at that point. When you hit the "preview message" button, the photo should appear.

Let me know if that doesn't work for you.

Thank you so much for your helpful hints and comments. I know it can be very time consuming t respond to everyone's posts and you sure do post a ton of info for GW'ers. Thx again!

I don't know if this will help, but I converted a tiny bit of one of your pics to greyscale. Converting to greyscale really helped me when I was picking cabinet colors to contrast with my wall paneling.

Do you think the overall tone (darkness) of the tile is perhaps too close to your cabs and countertop? Would you prefer a backsplash that was noticeably lighter? Squinting at the image to blur detail makes it easier to see this.
Also, notice that from a distance the effect of the tiles in your picture is more nearly one of texture than pattern. More like a nubby upholstery than a check or stripe, if that makes any sense.

I think your choice depends on the picture in YOUR mind of what you want it to look like.
{{!gwi}}

I am in the camp that says yes you have a busy granite and your choices are too busy. (I can hear marcolo sighing )
This is all about personal taste. You might like lots of action and this is appealing to you.
When you look at inspirational kitchens, do you keep coming back to a granite like yours and a mosaic? Or, on closer inspection, do these kitchen have a calmer counter? A good example of this is sas's kitchen.

Could you do the mosaic tile in the backsplash area?
That's what we did (and grease stains aren't a problem.!)
I wouldn't worry about current trends, just go with what you love.
Btw...they have been using glass tiles for thousands of years, And the 81st station in Manhatten has 1930 glass tiles. It's just as tendy as any other material lol.

@ Bellsmom, yes the colors do match..I def think that I would like to keep it calmer..not so busy. I thought this in the beginning but just wanted to see what the Random Mosaic (combo of stone and glass in a rectangular shape would look like. Just got a bigger sample today...think it's to much to do all Ranom Mosaic.
Maybe do something like Jillsky...just enough color to pull from the granite to the walls. The total square footage for the whole Backsplash is only 24.
I will take a look at sas's kitchen if I can find it.
Thanks again and if I can download pics of more sample of BS I will.

i actually really like the horizontal tiles. could possibly be too busy... but i like the line.
kawh

I was all set to try to describe how to use the mosaic but not all of it, and Jillsee's pic showed up as I scrolled down, and is a perfect example.
If you don't have room for the feature perhaps a stripe or 2, each of a row or 2 of the mosaics, would be enough pizazz to liven up simpler field tile. Less can be more....

Jillsee, thinking about doing exactly what you did here but with the random mosaics, how many inches is your mosaic strip off the counter?
12 inches? And how many inches from bottom of cabs to counter?

How thick are the mosaic strips ?

We have 17 1/2 inches of Backsplash (empty wall) under cabs and then we have a small knee wall w/ 7 inches in height (empty wall) . So I am trying to figure out if it will look strange if I leave the random mosaic on one wall and not the knee wall b/c it's only 7 inches

Jillsee, what is the width of your box?
Do you have a hood?
What os the size of your hood?
What os the width of your range?

Our hood is 36" and range is 30". Trying to figure out how wide the mosaic box should be.

Thx

Don't rush the decision because the contractor is ready to tile!!! The backsplash can wait until you find exactly what you want. People on this site have waited up to a year or maybe even longer to do the B/S. If you're not sure and want to wait, maybe you can get a credit from your contractor and have an independent tile installer recommended from where you buy the tile do it down the road. If we hadn't decided to do a full-height granite B/S, I would have waited to see how everything came together and then taken my time to shop...there were too many other decisions that have to be made that you CAN'T wait on...the B/S you can!

I like the square mosaics, especially for the backsplash, behind the range. Jillsee's example is very nice and I think you'll be happy with the 'pop' that the framed mosaic tile will give your backsplash. Pretty kitchen and the warm granite and wood tones are wonderful, together :)

Ok..here is what I chose for the BS. Tumbled 3x6 Stone T711 from DalTile (in pic it's a 4x4 shape) in a honed/enhanced finish w 4or5 strips of the Random Mosaic on the left side of pic (SA58)also from DalTile about 6 inches off the counter. Then for over the range a 3x3 square shape of Random Mosaics framed w 1x12 pencils. ....very similiar to Jillsky's...
What do you think?

[IMG]http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af233/flatman/Kitchen%20Oct%202011/7d8fbee1.png[/IMG]

Here are a few more pics of the BS. Sometimes the pics don't show well.

http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af233/flatman/Kitchen%20Oct%202011/e2c2b464.png

http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af233/flatman/Kitchen%20Oct%202011/52d12858.png

I would aim for a tile in the same color as the base of the island to bring it all together. This one is a bit contemporary in keeping with your other choices.

Here is a link that might be useful: random mosaic

Here is the kitchen....BS and all! Ahhhhhhhh! Finally...
Just have to enhance the BS to make it a tinge darker...not so white.

[IMG]http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af233/flatman/Kitchen%20Oct%202011/31b526c3.png[/IMG]

Excellent choices. Your kitchen is beautiful.